tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-81304312162812697262024-02-07T16:43:32.728-08:00A Big SparkJLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02788910696619827090noreply@blogger.comBlogger173125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8130431216281269726.post-22931378872836902922018-01-13T02:18:00.000-08:002018-01-13T03:19:02.948-08:00The Greatest Showman ... Circus of life<b>ONE </b>can see why Hugh Jackman had been hankering to play circus showman P.T. Barnum. Jackman's love of singing, which shone in <i>Les Miserables</i>, is embodied in director Michael Gracey's <i>The Greatest Showman</i>, released in December 2017.<br />
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Jackson said he related to Barnum's rag-to-riches story, but he didn't say anything about Barnum's crass lies and scams to take advantage of the deformed to make money.<br />
However, I will confine my review to the film, which I enjoyed because of the pop songs set in a period piece.<br />
I will also say that the film is imbued with good values, among which is a destitute man's desire to make good and provide for his family things that he never had as a child.<br />
The film's start is vital as it provides the motivation for Barnum to excel in life and come up with imaginative ideas.<br />
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One scene has him and Charity, his future wife, dancing as kids in the compound of a dilapidated mansion. His idea of success then is having him buy and renovate the mansion and present it to her as a gift later on in life.<br />
His desire to achieve success sees him risking his family and fortune, but he's at pains to tell Charity that she does not understand his desire to achieve fame and fortune, because he wants his two daughters to have more than he ever did as a child.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Come on, come all, says P.T. Barnum (Hugh Jackman).</td></tr>
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Charity, meanwhile, is a curiosity because she gives up a palatial family life to take care of her husband and kids, which entails washing sheets on the rooftop of the flat. Which pretty rich blonde would ever do such a thing?<br />
The second positive value has a theatre critic telling Barnum that his collection of oddities is more like a celebration of humanity in all its colours, shapes and sizes. This will resonate with audiences as the film urges viewers to accept different people with open arms.<br />
The third positive value shows Barnum's business partner, Carlyle (Zac Efron), going out with the "help", black trapeze artist Anne Wheeler (biracial Zendaya). The film shows Carlyle's parents sneering at him for dating a black woman, but our studly hero goes against societal norms and follows his passion to date the woman of his dreams.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Anne (Zendaya) and Carlyle (Zac Efron) have a swinging <br />
good time.</td></tr>
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Interracial romances hit a nerve because they urge us to look beyond the comforts of our racial group. The film can be seen as reproaching US President Donald Trump's racist and incendiary comments about minorities.<br />
The final positive value is when bearded female singer Lettie Lutz (Keala Settle) belts out: "When the sharpest words wanna cut me down/ Gonna send a flood, gonna drown them out/ This is brave, this is bruised, this who I'm meant to be/ This is me."<br /> Lettie urges people like her to be strong and accept themselves for who they are and not be intimidated by society.<br />
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<b>3 out of 5 stars</b><br />
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JLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02788910696619827090noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8130431216281269726.post-28263342656439442422017-03-23T02:30:00.002-07:002017-03-23T09:48:11.729-07:00Life ... Keeping out the alien (refugees)SPACE horror film <i>Life </i>is about a sample from Mars that grows from humble beginnings to a killer <br />
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that will stop at nothing to survive. Naturally, in most horror films, there's an abundance of people for the evil specimen to devour with gusto.<br />
I am not ashamed to say that <i>Life </i>is the first horror film to make me jump out of my seat; the scare is so unexpected. You watch with fear at how the killer stalks its prey and you pray that the humans can survive the onslaught, despite the many protocols or barriers they have put in place.<br />
<a name='more'></a> At first glance, <i>Life </i>seems like your typical horror film. Dig deeper, however, and a different story appears. The alien specimen probably refers to refugees, and the International Space Station probably refers to a host of Western nations and Japan that opened its arms to welcome them.<br />
A researcher, Hugh Derry (Ariyon Bakare), refers to the specimen as "beautiful", but it soon grows and becomes dangerous and parasitic.<br />
A beautiful doctor, Miranda North (Rebecca Ferguson of <i>Mission: Impossible -- Rogue Nation</i>), is concerned about protecting the spacecraft. Her first protocol is to confine the specimen to the laboratory. Her second protocol is to confine it to the spacecraft. Her last protocol is something you'll see at the end.<br />
Her focus on protocols is worth noting because they are a euphemism for border controls. If the first <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jake Gyllenhaal and Rebecca Ferguson float about the ISS.</td></tr>
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border control fails, there is a fallback control. And if that fails too, one can expect the worst. .<br />
But before the specimen wreaks havoc on the close confines of the space station, the film introduces us to a bunch of six hardworking and jocular astronauts.<br />
There are Derry, North, maintenance guy Rory Adams (Ryan Reynolds), ex-military man David Jordan (Jake Gyllenhaal), Russian commander Ekaterina Golovkina (Olga Dihovichnaya) and Japanese computer technician Sho Murakami (Iroyuki Sanada).<br />
Jordan loves living on the ISS and can't stand what people do to each other on Earth. Is he referring to the US imposing its might on other nations and Trump being a God-sent hate object for the Islamic State?<br />
The arrival of the single-cell Martian sample sets off a round of dancing on the ISS, with the crew excited about the first proof of life beyond Earth. The sample looks docile and cute, but appearances can be deceiving.<br />
I enjoyed the claustrophobic setting of the ISS and how the meek and mild specimen turns<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">'Life' isn't a bed of roses for Jake. </td></tr>
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on its hosts. The editing and music are riveting and will keep viewers on the edge of their seats.<br />
The tense atmosphere is cranked up as the crew quickly becomes cognisant of the specimen's true colours.<br />
I was enthralled watching the specimen figuring out how to outsmart the humans, who believe their protocols or firewalls can prevent them from being harmed and overrun.<br />
They're just like Western governments who watched helplessly as refugees overwhelmed their borders and swept into their countries.<br />
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<b>3½ out of 5 stars</b><br />
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JLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02788910696619827090noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8130431216281269726.post-90801144850277012982017-03-19T01:59:00.000-07:002017-03-27T08:46:42.503-07:00Power Rangers .. No powerPOWER Rangers is a <i>Breakfast Club</i> (1985) copycat mixed with science-fiction daring-do, and the latter <br />
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is certainly an invigorating classic compared with this film. You throw five screw-ups together in a small town's high school detention class and viewers are supposed to be uplifted by their sorry tales of woe.<br />
The five of them discovering their superpowers is nothing new. It resembles Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire and Andew Garfield) going wild with his newfound Spidey senses. In fact, there's a scene showing them jumping over a mountain gap, which is similar to Peter Parker leaping from one building to another.<br />
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The battle between good and evil is not worth mentioning. The evil baddie is the campy Rita Repulsa (Elizabeth Banks), who has a predilection for gold. The final and usual big battle is plain ludicrous and hilarious. I won't even bore you with how she ended up on Earth in the first place.<br />
The famous five are led by white quarterback Jason (Dacre Montgomery, looking like a young Rob Lowe), brunette Kimberley (Naomi Scott), black geeky IT whizkid Billy (R.J. Cyler), ethnic Chinese mother's boy Zack (Ludi Lin) and petite Latina lesbian Trini (Becky G).<br />
They find a glowing object that gives them superpowers and they train under the watchful eye of <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Can we all get along?</td></tr>
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Zordon (Bryan Cranston) and robot Alpha 5 (voiced by Bill Hader).<br />
I wish I could say that the film was entertaining, but I quickly got bored with the teenagers' high jinks.<br />
So what if they must learn to work together to transform into colourful Power Rangers? Isn't that the purpose of superhero films? And do people care if Jason's relationship with his dad is tenuous?<br />
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<b>2 out of 5 stars</b><br />
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<br />JLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02788910696619827090noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8130431216281269726.post-87538860096344326572017-03-13T04:31:00.000-07:002017-03-20T02:18:45.292-07:00Beauty and the Beast ... 'Beauty' is not in the eye of the viewerI WISH I could say that Malaysians lost an opportunity to catch a great film, but Disney may have done them a favour by pulling director Bill Condon's <i>Beauty and The Beast</i> from Malaysian cinemas.<br />
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Netizens have expressed their displeasure at Disney, who did so because Malaysian film censors snipped off a gay moment in the film. Disney will appeal against the decision (on March 21), but it looks like the censors will stand their ground.<br />
This live-action film is great to look at, with its palatial interiors and grounds, and some of the songs are catchy, but they won't leave an impression on viewers.<br />
<a name='more'></a> Part of the reason is the casting of Emma Watson as Belle. She's white, fair skinned and has lovely straight hair, all the virtues that make her the epitome of a Disney beauty. But she does not engender trust in her. I had little invested in Belle's relationship with the Beast.<br />
The film is similar to that of French film <i>La belle et la bete</i> (2014), starring Lea Seydoux and Vincent Cassell, which I've seen.<br />
Condon overwhelms viewers with titillating sets and mushy songs, but Belle's love for her father is glazed over and her relationship with the Beast is uninspiring. Dan Stevens's Beast growls and chomps hard while hardly making us swoon over him.<br />
Luke Evans plays incorrigible scalawag and ladies' man Gaston, who expects every woman to fall at <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Belle (Emma Watson) wonders about the Beast's <br />
(Dan Stevens) hairstyle.</td></tr>
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his feet while he treats them with contempt. He too doesn't fare well with audiences. I wondered why anyone would fall for him.<br />
Malaysian filmgoers should now know the name of Gaston's sidekick and manservant LeFou (Josh Gad), whose showing of a love bite on his tummy during a song and dance earned him the ire of Malaysian censors.<br />
LeFou accepts being bullied and mocked by Gaston, and his effeminate antics give rise to some laughter.<br />
The biggest difference in Condon's Belle is that she's an activist. The character of Belle has always been a bookworm, and in this live-action film, she bonds with the Beast because of their love for books and his gargantuan library.<br />
But she also reads to a girl in her village, which earns her disapproving looks from two townsfolk, who don't take kindly to girls learning to read. Malaysian audiences would relate to Belle, as the number of females in local varsities outnumbers that of men in varsities.<br />
<i>Beauty and The Beast</i> films are about scratching beneath the surface of someone to get to know the real person. It could also be about looking beyond the imperfections of life, or a place, and learning to love them.<br />
Of course, it helps that the Beast is rich, suave and lives in a Buckingham Palace-like home.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Were Malaysian censors wrong in snipping off<br />
LeFou's gay moment?</td></tr>
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Would Belle have fallen for him and his erudite behaviour if he had consigned her to a life of sweeping floors and cooking for him? Would she have turned a blind eye if her abductor was from Balakong or Sentul in Malaysia?<br />
<i>Beauty </i>is sweet and gorgeous to view, but its dependence on special effects, Watson's casting and the uninspiring acting will make Malaysians give Disney a backhanded compliment.<br />
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<b>2 out of 5 stars</b><br />
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JLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02788910696619827090noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8130431216281269726.post-27721470327354115502017-03-06T02:03:00.000-08:002017-03-16T10:58:18.856-07:00Kong: Skull Island ... War at its worstI STEPPED into the cineplex expecting director Jordan Vogt-Roberts's King Kong reboot, <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvx7PAgLbkStvAmoLhonUIhO9zQ5IrDZz4cGriC8GiourrMbxNmMtFkZLOmSiyK11_EVrJNf2t0oaj9EhlrELiycCFAqM-moG_Uqod9H5_rkHkl_6Bef0iq36WvW96ElWYfni2pCAoW1w/s1600/kong+skull+island.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvx7PAgLbkStvAmoLhonUIhO9zQ5IrDZz4cGriC8GiourrMbxNmMtFkZLOmSiyK11_EVrJNf2t0oaj9EhlrELiycCFAqM-moG_Uqod9H5_rkHkl_6Bef0iq36WvW96ElWYfni2pCAoW1w/s200/kong+skull+island.jpg" width="135" /></a></div>
<i>Kong: Skull Island</i>, to deliver a political statement on the Vietnam War, and it doesn't disappoint. The film may be set in the wake of US forces leaving Vietnam in 1973, but its tentacles reach until the present day.<br />
The film, which takes its inspiration from <i>Apocalypse Now</i> and <i>Jurassic Park</i>, overflows with references to Vietnam War and possibly every other conflict the US is mired in. It's part war film, part horror film, and can't seem to decide which is more important. <br />
The moral of the story is the US accepting the status quo in God-forsaken parts of the world, and that attempting to change it brings only more death and destruction.<br />
<a name='more'></a> The scientific expedition members and the accompanying US army helicopters and soldiers get their asses beaten by the hairy beast in their first encounter, and a hard-headed officer, Colonel Packard (Samuel L. Jackson), reflecting on the many casualties under his command, vows to exact revenge on the gargantuan beast.<br />
But the Americans come to realise that it's better to leave things alone because the evil monster (read: baddies) is actually protecting the populace from other more evil things.<br />
Heck, the Americans may even have to go to the aid of the evil monster, and they'll certainly keep mum about its existence.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6KIB1Q0iMaHvAYz-jJr_MMATMXwgCp651Ii-gJB-k-f3JPcLbdcemiHJp3hOlp_B2Q9a8W_Pw5Oci4903EfIv6Mz5GWujB-QsgCEHpKojCWd53adU98rAhJPqbU8W7qUJm7f-zGKqoNM/s1600/kong+skull+island+b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6KIB1Q0iMaHvAYz-jJr_MMATMXwgCp651Ii-gJB-k-f3JPcLbdcemiHJp3hOlp_B2Q9a8W_Pw5Oci4903EfIv6Mz5GWujB-QsgCEHpKojCWd53adU98rAhJPqbU8W7qUJm7f-zGKqoNM/s1600/kong+skull+island+b.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tom Hiddleston wishes he's with Taylor Swift.</td></tr>
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Packard, on hearing news that the US army has to pack up and leave the country, looks at his many medals for bravery and says: "All that for what?"<br />
He's referring to the US army being ordered to leave, and he can't contain his joy when his squadron is asked to take up a final mission to accompany an expedition to a deserted island.<br />
He's the kind of guy who finds his reason for living by massacring Asian enemies.<br />
He later says: "We didn't lose the war. We abandoned it." He's referring to the just finished war, but he could be referring to recent conflicts (Iraq War) in which the US deserted the country it had invaded.<br />
His final words of wisdom are: "This is a war we're not going to lose."<br />
A soldier under his command says: "Sometimes, an enemy doesn't exist until you look for it."<br />
Let's talk about the big hero. My gosh, he's huge, probably as big as the hero on which this movie is based, <i>Godzilla</i>.<br />
And you feel the love lavished on it by the director. You see Kong enjoying a light display at night (a sensitive Kong) and you empathise with it being injured when Kong cleans his wounds in a lake.<br />
The <i>Apocalypse Now</i> links are seen in the loudspeakers in helicopters blaring music, the convoy of helicopters, a boat ride on a snaking river, and the mad army officer who becomes unhinged when executing his plan. The <i>Jurassic Park</i> links are seen in the use of a tropical island with limestone cliffs and ancient-looking birds attacking prey.<br />
<i>Kong</i>'s at its best when the action is frenetic, for example, the helicopter attack on Kong will keep <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTA5WERSVHZa6ZlwzGx7iF5a7zUXJJPSHt0n6g-otaAbsZ-7mob7D20OxS9AMvJKcY7Zxj4aP-AKV9UpZ1cf9MbCt_CANafS5fI6h4EIY8mit8eW5lAuaE-mdHEIx4LkiLykMM3olJcs0/s1600/kong+skull+island+c.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTA5WERSVHZa6ZlwzGx7iF5a7zUXJJPSHt0n6g-otaAbsZ-7mob7D20OxS9AMvJKcY7Zxj4aP-AKV9UpZ1cf9MbCt_CANafS5fI6h4EIY8mit8eW5lAuaE-mdHEIx4LkiLykMM3olJcs0/s1600/kong+skull+island+c.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Chinese biologist who doesn't do biology, but can use <br />
a gun with ease. Her American counterpart<br />
can use a machine gun without training.</td></tr>
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viewers on the edge of their seats because the editing and sound are terrific.<br />
I particularly enjoyed the ingenuity in a giant spider's legs looking like bamboo sticks, or a soldier not realising that a tree trunk he's sitting on may be something else.<br />
The final fight between Kong and a big creature is straight out of Peter Jackson's <i>King Kong</i> (2005).<br />
The characters don't do much, except Packard and WWII survivor Hank Marlow (John C. Reilly), the former because of his rants, and the latter because his whiny voice and curly hair add dimension to his character of a man stranded on a weird island for nearly 29 years.<br />
Him surviving on the island and becoming best friends with the Japanese pilot who crashed at the same time he did is also noteworthy, because it suggests that US has let bygones be bygones, and that your former enemy could become a great ally.<br />
Things are more interesting when Marlow is on screen. Marlow adds to the theme I mentioned about Kong's ties with the populace. He tells the Americans that the natives honour Kong because its their protector. "He's God to this people."<br />
He explains to the belligerent Americans that Kong attacked them initially only because they had invaded its territory (like Americans being attacked whenever they invade a country).<br />
James Conrad (Tom Hiddleston) plays an ex-British Army officer who's now a tracker who's good at playing pool, except he doesn't do much tracking because Kong always seems to find them effortlessly.<br />
Anti-war photographer Mason Weaver (Oscar winner Brie Larson) is supposed to be the one Kong <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX-7ZVUg602LvxN2T-dDdaTnwQ5GEhFgL_e93AsmIQ1wIxEWkzLUA1YT5fi8p_DaHEPpIH-8QcPXUDztg9ZkRZ2uQvL285IdXBC5udvYdIajoTpmKsffh80-ebZP-HWAWhnE-B0HsB2gI/s1600/kong+skull+island+d.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX-7ZVUg602LvxN2T-dDdaTnwQ5GEhFgL_e93AsmIQ1wIxEWkzLUA1YT5fi8p_DaHEPpIH-8QcPXUDztg9ZkRZ2uQvL285IdXBC5udvYdIajoTpmKsffh80-ebZP-HWAWhnE-B0HsB2gI/s320/kong+skull+island+d.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">WWII survivor Hank Marlow (John C. Reilly) has seen much <br />
while being stranded on the island for 29 years.</td></tr>
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pines for, but nothing much happens in that area.<br />
She's supposed to take pictures of destruction, but laughs it up when staying with a native tribe with painted faces, who look like they stepped out of a <i>National Geographic </i>article on weird tribes.<br />
A Chinese biologist (Tian Jing), who can hardly speak English properly, is also in the expedition, but she's just there for the huge Chinese market. She can use a gun without training, just like her US counterpart (Corey Hawkins), who goes one step further by accurately hitting a target from a distance with a machine gun.<br />
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<b> 3 out of 5 stars</b><br />
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<br />JLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02788910696619827090noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8130431216281269726.post-5843818151690424032017-02-27T02:11:00.000-08:002017-03-03T11:29:44.075-08:002017 Oscar/Academy Award winners <h3 class="mol-factbox-title" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1em; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
89TH ACADEMY AWARDS WINNERS </h3>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0izmWtqCsVDIRzXob53mBkXsajUIezRRuAKB4LrmlR57HZhmZTI6r33V6tsN5vFuuuZe363DazOxiI5mkYBC7XSq5Vsz0rhXUZfndLXpSYhkwHo6cT3hMBBD7r8pfvFcNb0pseef12yM/s1600/oscar+2017.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="271" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0izmWtqCsVDIRzXob53mBkXsajUIezRRuAKB4LrmlR57HZhmZTI6r33V6tsN5vFuuuZe363DazOxiI5mkYBC7XSq5Vsz0rhXUZfndLXpSYhkwHo6cT3hMBBD7r8pfvFcNb0pseef12yM/s400/oscar+2017.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Warren Beatty explaining the confusion as the cast of 'La La Land' hands over their Oscars to the producers of 'Moonlight' on stage</i>. AFP pic<br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 10px; text-align: left;"><br /></span></td></tr>
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<div>
<br /></div>
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<h4 style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
<span class="mol-style-bold">MOTION PICTURE OF THE YEAR</span></h4>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
Arrival</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
Fences</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
Hacksaw Ridge</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
Hell or High Water</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
Hidden Figures</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
La La Land</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
Lion</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
Manchester by the Sea</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
<div style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px;">
<span class="mol-style-bold"><b>Moonlight - WINNER</b></span></div>
<span class="mol-style-bold" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 10px;"><b> * My review: http://abigspark.blogspot.my/2017/02/moonlight-slow-and-atmospheric.html</b></span></div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
<span class="mol-style-bold"><br /></span></div>
<h4 style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
<span class="mol-style-bold">ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE</span></h4>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
Casey Affleck in Manchester by the Sea - WINNER</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
Andrew Garfield in Hacksaw Ridge</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
Ryan Gosling in La La Land</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
Viggo Mortensen in Captain Fantastic</div>
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Denzel Washington in Fences</div>
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<br /></div>
<h4 style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
<span class="mol-style-bold">ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE</span></h4>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
<span class="mol-style-bold">Mahershala Ali in Moonlight - WINNER</span></div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
Jeff Bridges in Hell or High Water</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
Lucas Hedges in Manchester by the Sea</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
Dev Patel in Lion</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
Michael Shannon in Nocturnal Animals</div>
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<br /></div>
<h4 style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
<span class="mol-style-bold">ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE</span></h4>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
Isabelle Huppert in Elle</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
Ruth Negga in Loving</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
Natalie Portman in Jackie</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
<span class="mol-style-bold">Emma Stone in La La Land - WINNER</span></div>
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Meryl Streep in Florence Foster Jenkins</div>
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<br /></div>
<h4 style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
<span class="mol-style-bold">ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE</span></h4>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
<span class="mol-style-bold">Viola Davis in Fences - WINNER</span></div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
Naomie Harris in Moonlight</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
Nicole Kidman in Lion</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
Octavia Spencer in Hidden Figures</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
Michelle Williams in Manchester by the Sea</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<h4 style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
<span class="mol-style-bold">ANIMATED FEATURE FILM</span></h4>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
Kubo and the Two Strings</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
Moana</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
My Life as a Zucchini</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
The Red Turtle</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
<span class="mol-style-bold">Zootopia - WINNER</span></div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
<span class="mol-style-bold"><br /></span></div>
<h4 style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
<span class="mol-style-bold">CINEMATOGRAPHY</span></h4>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
Arrival</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
<span class="mol-style-bold">La La Land - WINNER</span></div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
Lion</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
Moonlight</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
Silence</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<h4 style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
<span class="mol-style-bold">COSTUME DESIGN</span></h4>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
Allied</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
<span class="mol-style-bold">Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them - WINNER</span></div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
Florence Foster Jenkins</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
Jackie</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
La La Land</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<h4 style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
<span class="mol-style-bold">DIRECTING</span></h4>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
Arrival - Denis Villeneuve</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
Hacksaw Ridge - Mel Gibson</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
<span class="mol-style-bold">La La Land - Damien Chazelle - WINNER</span></div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
Manchester by the Sea - Kenneth Lonergan</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
Moonlight - Barry Jenkins</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<h4 style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
<span class="mol-style-bold">DOCUMENTARY FEATURE</span></h4>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
Fire at Sea</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
I Am Not Your Negro</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
Life, Animated</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
<span class="mol-style-bold">O.J.: Made in America - WINNER</span></div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
13th</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<h4 style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
<span class="mol-style-bold">DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT</span></h4>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
Extremis</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
4.1 Miles</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
Joe's Violin</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
Watani: My Homeland</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
<span class="mol-style-bold">The White Helmets - WINNER </span></div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
<br /></div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="mol-col span6 mol-col-2" style="display: inline-block; float: left; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: top; width: 305.41px;">
<div class="cleared mol-col-content" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 5px; max-width: 100%; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
<h4 style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
<span class="mol-style-bold">FILM EDITING</span></h4>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
Arrival</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
<span class="mol-style-bold">Hacksaw Ridge - WINNER</span></div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
Hell or High Water</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
La La Land</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
Moonlight</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<h4 style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
<span class="mol-style-bold">FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM</span></h4>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
Land of Mine</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
A Man Called Ove</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
<span class="mol-style-bold">The Salesman (Iran) - WINNER</span></div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
Tanna</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
Toni Erdmann</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<h4 style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
<span class="mol-style-bold">MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING</span></h4>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
A Man Called Ove</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
Star Trek Beyond</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
Suicide Squad - WINNER</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<h4 style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
<span class="mol-style-bold">MUSIC - ORIGINAL SCORE</span></h4>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
Jackie</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
<span class="mol-style-bold">La La Land - WINNER</span></div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
Lion</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
Moonlight</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
Passengers</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<h4 style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
<span class="mol-style-bold">MUSIC - ORIGINAL SONG</span></h4>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
Audition (The Fools Who Dream) - La La Land</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
Can't Stop The Feeling - Trolls</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
<span class="mol-style-bold">City Of Stars - La La Land - WINNER</span></div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
The Empty Chair - Jim: The James Foley Story</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
How Far I'll Go - Moana</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<h4 style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
<span class="mol-style-bold">PRODUCTION DESIGN</span></h4>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
Arrival</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
Hail, Caesar!</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
<span class="mol-style-bold">La La Land - WINNER</span></div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
Passengers</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<h4 style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
<span class="mol-style-bold">ANIMATED SHORT FILM</span></h4>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
Blind Vaysha</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
Borrowed Time</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
Pear Cider and Cigarettes</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
Pearl</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
<span class="mol-style-bold">Piper - WINNER</span></div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
<span class="mol-style-bold"><br /></span></div>
<h4 style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
<span class="mol-style-bold">LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM</span></h4>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
Ennemis Intérieurs</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
La Femme et le TGV</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
Silent Nights</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
<span class="mol-style-bold">Sing - WINNER</span></div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
Timecode</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<h4 style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
<span class="mol-style-bold">SOUND EDITING</span></h4>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
<span class="mol-style-bold">Arrival - WINNER</span></div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
Deepwater Horizon</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
Hacksaw Ridge</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
La La Land</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
Sully</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<h4 style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
<span class="mol-style-bold">SOUND MIXING</span></h4>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
Arrival</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
<span class="mol-style-bold">Hacksaw Ridge - WINNER</span></div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
La La Land</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<h4 style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
<span class="mol-style-bold">VISUAL EFFECTS</span></h4>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
Deepwater Horizon</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
Doctor Strange</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
<span class="mol-style-bold">The Jungle Book - WINNER</span></div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
Kubo and the Two Strings</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<h4 style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
<span class="mol-style-bold">WRITING - ADAPTED SCREENPLAY</span></h4>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
Arrival</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
Fences</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
Hidden Figures</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
Lion</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
<span class="mol-style-bold">Moonlight - WINNER</span></div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
<span class="mol-style-bold"><br /></span></div>
<h4 style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
<span class="mol-style-bold">WRITING - ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY</span></h4>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
Hell or High Water</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
La La Land</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
The Lobster</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
<span class="mol-style-bold">Manchester by the Sea - WINNER</span></div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
20th Century Women </div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 10px;"><br /></span>JLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02788910696619827090noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8130431216281269726.post-39413016660027041042017-02-26T04:19:00.002-08:002017-03-03T12:47:02.845-08:00Logan ... Logan's on the run <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimb60TJy5skoo6ToTVJ0JeNdjzU0Lxbbf1sLLlWxD4DHkkktOu5QsynaKFX52VckxBT1yeyy4b5YyXAvgImH983AgjnGj2roO3ZKXoslOOjlX0ksW9bU_SOV8DUiUUOiM_-ozdTx9lM8s/s1600/logan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimb60TJy5skoo6ToTVJ0JeNdjzU0Lxbbf1sLLlWxD4DHkkktOu5QsynaKFX52VckxBT1yeyy4b5YyXAvgImH983AgjnGj2roO3ZKXoslOOjlX0ksW9bU_SOV8DUiUUOiM_-ozdTx9lM8s/s200/logan.jpg" width="135" /></a>IT'S been 17 years since the first <i>X-Men</i> film appeared, and in that time, Hugh Jackman's Wolverine has taken the world by storm. <i>Logan </i>is supposedly the final film in the <i>Wolverine </i>trilogy. The film is chockful of violence, and it's also about the loner Logan shedding his inhibitions and learning to be part of someone's life, and standing up for that someone.<br />
Logan is introduced to new young bilingual mutant Laura (Dafne Keen), whose skills are introduced through an awesome scene in an abandoned industrial plant in the Mexican desert.<br />
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Thanks goes to co-writer and director James Mangold for the terrific editing for this scene. It took my breath away, not just with its in-your-face violence, but also because of Laura's age and gender. It used to be white men inflicting pain on people, but the tables are now turned.<br />
Violence, meanwhile, takes centrestage in this film, and it's definitely more interesting to watch this violence than, say, the gratuitous killings in <i>John Wick 2.</i><br />
Mangold has also cleverly inserted a scene from 1953 Western <i>Shane </i>to give context to the violence in <i>Logan</i>.<br />
Laura and Charles watch <i>Shane </i>in a hotel room while hiding from the mercenaries. The scene shows a <br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNQucOlSXkGeKSUxSl18egpvMhKtHIfQUlspSEpDnt3UuydVt6dgLwQ4swXxOeVKL7jrWytyJ2hcTtD_mDKLrZwfhE6HFkjh2ZgUVDMmY1uBSWC5ILLJTvdLZoT2ONV15x2TP1zpgSIWI/s1600/logan+b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNQucOlSXkGeKSUxSl18egpvMhKtHIfQUlspSEpDnt3UuydVt6dgLwQ4swXxOeVKL7jrWytyJ2hcTtD_mDKLrZwfhE6HFkjh2ZgUVDMmY1uBSWC5ILLJTvdLZoT2ONV15x2TP1zpgSIWI/s1600/logan+b.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Logan's wheeling and dealing with Prof Charles.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
young boy pleading with gunfighter Shane to stay, but Shane replies: "Joey, there's no living with a killing. There's no going back from one. Right or wrong, it's a brand. A brand sticks. There's no going back. Now you run on home to tell your mother, and tell her, tell her's everything all right. And there aren't any more guns in the valley."<br />
Mangold wants viewers to link Shane to Logan, who has probably accepted his volatile nature and lust for blood.<br />
In the book <i>Why Do People Hate America</i>, the authors say that is <i>Shane</i> is a coming-of-age myth. They write that <i>Shane</i>'s themes are that the blood is the bond that legitimates appropriation of the land, meaning the spilling of blood through violence. "What <i>Shane </i>eventually establishes is that violence is a redemptive act of justice by which civilisation is secured and advanced."<br />
Logan using his claws to take down baddies is part of his nature, so he has finally come to accept it. But the link to Shane suggests that Mangold agrees with Logan's violent nature, and that it's necessary to achieve peace.<br />
Is it any surprise that those who grew up on <i>Shane</i> glady use violence to solve problems? Mangold doesn't sidestep it as much as he shoves it down our throats. <i>Logan</i> is littered with violence, and it's a smart move by Mangold to use <i>Shane </i>to justify the violence in <i>Logan</i>.<br />
<i>Logan </i>is set in 2029, in which most mutants have been obliterated. Our hero is a dying alcoholic with bouts of violence. He's grey haired, wrinkly, coughs blood and not as muscular as he was in <i>The Wolverine</i> (2013). He and albino mutant Caliban (Stephen Merchant) take care of the sickly Charles, who's confined to a wheelchair in an oppressive building.<br />
Logan is soon on the run with Charles and Laura. His acquiesces to her request to send her to a place called Eden, where mutants converge before seeking to cross the border into Canada. This scene hits home, because illegal immigrants are crossing the border into Canada due to US President Donald Trumps' attempted ban on refugees from seven mostly-Muslim countries.<br />
The film is an attempt to show Logan bonding with a kid, but films like this abound. In <i>Real Steel <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ3o1JFchZZXcCrqdlP4xBFLunQlAg5JqeN65hHzMkyTdkipG5BG_QYsxDJiYgk0zu6ojGtmm9jlnMjGXfBpYuRh38k_YhFsOf4YQOu5aZP-NNfzj0Oxn8Ghp5kjPj85KJuwxObHOm5kk/s1600/logan+c.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ3o1JFchZZXcCrqdlP4xBFLunQlAg5JqeN65hHzMkyTdkipG5BG_QYsxDJiYgk0zu6ojGtmm9jlnMjGXfBpYuRh38k_YhFsOf4YQOu5aZP-NNfzj0Oxn8Ghp5kjPj85KJuwxObHOm5kk/s1600/logan+c.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Logan and Laura.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</i>(2011), a self-absorbed father (Jackman) finds himself taking care of a son he had completely forgotten.<br />
When Laura pleads with Logan to help her and her friends finish their mission, it's not surprising for Logan to say no, insisting that it isn't part of the job. Viewers know that protagonists often change their minds later on.<br />
Laura being part of a biological experiment is also nothing new. Viewers would have seen countless films about thoroughbred and biologically-constructed soldiers of various ages. Constructing soldiers without a soul is also nothing new.<br />
<br />
<b>3 out of 5 stars</b><br />
<br />
<br />
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JLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02788910696619827090noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8130431216281269726.post-17963516375946502422017-02-25T01:57:00.000-08:002017-02-25T01:57:54.043-08:00Lion ... Tracks to nowhere<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgloogagO75G5m1OsSCw9_SgxWgVFte7xQ1ujYykVeegdQIoTxPuEfmHxdhgnOes_PQGu6IulXj47riYKoM9k7j8IG8NkeOC_lfZezZi9cyOCkxMSBitrypB-5kj6iz5o5fCmz2JktcSOw/s1600/lion.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgloogagO75G5m1OsSCw9_SgxWgVFte7xQ1ujYykVeegdQIoTxPuEfmHxdhgnOes_PQGu6IulXj47riYKoM9k7j8IG8NkeOC_lfZezZi9cyOCkxMSBitrypB-5kj6iz5o5fCmz2JktcSOw/s200/lion.jpg" width="136" /></a>VIEWERS can be forgiven for thinking that the first act of Australian director Garth Davis's debut feature film <i>Lion </i>resembles the porn poverty in<i> Slumdog Millionaire</i>. An irresistible Saroo (Sunny Pawar), 5, steals the show with his impish grin and indomitable spirit to survive amid the hustle and bustle of Calcutta, India.<br />
The scenes with his elder brother Guddu (Abhishek Bharate) are strong and emotional, as are the scenes of him escaping a would-be abductor.<br />
The him, however, flounders when Saroo is adopted by an angelic white Australian couple, John Brierley (David Wenham) and his wife Sue (Nicole Kidman). After one meal, one bathtime session and one nice talk, Sue has bonded with the illiterate Saroo.<br />
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The film is based on the book <i>A Long Way Home </i>by the adult Saroo Brierley. He writes about how he was accidentally separated from his brother, mother and sister and ended up thousands of kilometres away in Calcutta. He was sent to live with his adoptive parents in Australia, and at university, he used Google Earth to find his village. He met his mother and sister in 2012 after a gap <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sue Brierley (Nicole Kidman) and Saroo (Sunny Pawar) <br />ponder their Oscar chances.</td></tr>
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of 25 years.<br />
One can surmise why <i>Lion </i>is being nominated for Best Picture at tomorrow's Oscars. Firstly, the tale of reconnecting with a long-lost loved one is powerful, and more so when it's done unconventionally using technology like Google Earth.<br />
Secondly, people love the story of whites helping black and brown helpless children.<br />
One pivotal scene has Sue telling the adult Saroo (Dev Patel, nominated for an Oscar Best Supporting Actor) that she could have had kids of her own, but agreed with her husband that they wanted to adopt because there were so many children in the world.<br />
Saroo not wanting to tell Sue about him searching for his hometown and origins is also nothing new. There have been many movies about adoptive children not wanting to hurt their adoptive parents' feeling when they were searching for their identity.<br />
His relationship with American girlfriend Lucy (Rooney Mara) is a hindrance to the film's narrative.<br />
The Brierleys also adopted another Indian child, Mantosh, who hits himself repeatedly on the head. But the film never explains why he does it, even when when he does it as an adult. The book says Mantosh was abused before he was adopted.<br />
<i>Lion </i>is inspiring and a bit of a tearjerker, just like <i>Hidden Figures</i>, but it hits the high notes only in <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikX7V2lnGZ3ELcX8C8SSMN_fbnMbUg3GatID9nck0l40diBFzti9IViB48GxlruGAmSbsa29d6cYD9pUEA5TB-i0Nshh3EPNFTYkxb8ecsa3zXDBLyecJiToxeMsGy7kprNSXVyck_Id4/s1600/lion+c.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikX7V2lnGZ3ELcX8C8SSMN_fbnMbUg3GatID9nck0l40diBFzti9IViB48GxlruGAmSbsa29d6cYD9pUEA5TB-i0Nshh3EPNFTYkxb8ecsa3zXDBLyecJiToxeMsGy7kprNSXVyck_Id4/s1600/lion+c.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rooney Mara and Dev Patel check out the view.</td></tr>
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the first part. The film doesn't tackle the problem of missing children, but instead offers a nice conclusion.<br />
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<b>2½ stars out of 5</b><br />
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JLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02788910696619827090noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8130431216281269726.post-84311244319885338272017-02-23T11:48:00.000-08:002017-03-07T05:14:39.404-08:00Moonlight .. Atmospheric and meditative<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBQkoYSigAQWK0iHAd8z2jR_qTNaipfx3Mxd1RGBttueds0VX4pnKvbmf2TL0Ejr9h4soc5d1RUM1V9nQE3FakG1N5GXylaL7dO4Ml9wESjYweNuasNZ3NDpU_iVWw5aewmemIU6ACKSM/s1600/moonlight.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBQkoYSigAQWK0iHAd8z2jR_qTNaipfx3Mxd1RGBttueds0VX4pnKvbmf2TL0Ejr9h4soc5d1RUM1V9nQE3FakG1N5GXylaL7dO4Ml9wESjYweNuasNZ3NDpU_iVWw5aewmemIU6ACKSM/s200/moonlight.jpg" width="137" /></a><b>IN </b>Richard Linklater's <i>Boyhood</i>, viewers see the transformation of an actor playing a kid over the years. In writer-director Barry Jenkins's <i>Moonlight</i>, viewers see the transformation of a character played by three actors in pre-pubescent, teenage and adult years.<br />
This is a delightfully slow and atmospheric film that washes over you with its great acting, long takes and rocking soundtrack.<br />
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It's a coming-of-age story about a poor, black kid in a depressed Miami neighbourhood who grows up unsure of himself and his sexuality, but eventually learns that he must follow his heart.<br />
What amazes me is Jenkins ensuring that all three characters exhibit the same personality, that is, quiet and hardly saying a word, but yet showing great emotion with their body language and sensitive eyes.<br />
In fact, in the third (adult) part, someone who knew the protagonist when he was in high school says: <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hope floats for Little with Juan (Mahershala Ali).</td></tr>
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"You haven't changed. Still can't say more than three words at a time."<br />
The song that opens on the radio in the film is Boris Gardiner's <i>Every Nigger Is A Star</i> reflects Jenkins's love for his characters and the area in which the film takes place. I encourage readers to check out the film's original soundtrack on Spotify. The music and photography play a big part in ensuring the film's meditative mood.<br />
It's rare to see a film about a black man's life in US films, and it's rarer to see film nearly devoid of whites.<br />
In the first act, Little (Alex R. Hibbert), 9, is a sullen and withdrawn kid who's bullied because of his frail size. He lacks love from his single mum Paula (Naomie Harris), whose first desire is to satisfy her drug addiction.<br />
Little finds it in an unlikely source, a drug dealer, Juan (Mahershala Ali), who wears a bandana at all times and who takes a liking to him.<br />
Juan can't cajole anything out of him in an eatery, so he takes the kid home to meet his petite and ravishing girlfriend Teresa (Janelle Monáe), who also gives him food and attempts to squeeze something out of him.<br />
Little being silent while eating will be repeated in the third act in a restaurant.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kevin and Chiron sit tight.</td></tr>
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The first act's main scene comes when Juan takes Little to swim in the ocean. He keeps Little floating, telling the kid to trust him. Little is afraid because he's never depended on anyone in his few short years.<br />
Juan, who knows that the kid is different, later tells him: "At some point, you gotta decide for <br />
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yourself who you want to be. You can't let anybody decide for you."<br />
The boy will struggle with this statement for a long time.<br />
The second act shows Little, now known as Chiron (Ashton Sanders), 16, as a skinny teenager who's still being bullied. His mum is still a no-good junkie, so he's happy to spend time with Teresa, but there's no word about Juan.<br />
He gets along with Cuban-American Kevin (Jharell Jerome), who shares an affinity with him.<br />
The third act shows Little as Black (Trevante Rhodes), a muscular man who likes to pump iron and deal drugs in Atlanta.<br />
Kevin, now a cook, prepares a meal for Black, and the music that accompanies him preparing the meal is usually heard in gentle love-making scenes.<br />
Ali displays a solid performance, showing great empathy for a kid who would have probably have been left by the roadside if it hadn't been for his intervention. His sea scene with Little is <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Black and Kevin have a silent meal.</td></tr>
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the film's best moment.<br />
Harris also does a good job playing an unsympathetic mum whose first goal in life is to get high. Her rants and anger are believable.<br />
<i>Moonlight </i>says that people want companionship, love and physical contact. Some may wait 10 years for that fleeting moment of passion and intimacy to recur, but that it's certainly worth the wait.<br />
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<b>4 stars out of 5</b><br />
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JLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02788910696619827090noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8130431216281269726.post-5720370372853446842017-02-22T01:05:00.000-08:002017-02-22T01:05:36.646-08:00Hidden Figures ... Girl power blasts off<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT8-zh7sqvanq66YICRfV4o5jXvcKn9qEvyZhbcyMX3iP_cIDEvkFRm0OVYIIUxXU2Jkdw2wip9OcTpoNCyfF8kxA19TtX0J5_ns3hSW5ciE2U5-FjTi3zY1RUjyILiNy7bonF88HlwuM/s1600/hidden+figures.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT8-zh7sqvanq66YICRfV4o5jXvcKn9qEvyZhbcyMX3iP_cIDEvkFRm0OVYIIUxXU2Jkdw2wip9OcTpoNCyfF8kxA19TtX0J5_ns3hSW5ciE2U5-FjTi3zY1RUjyILiNy7bonF88HlwuM/s200/hidden+figures.jpg" width="135" /></a><b>AFTER </b>the fiasco of last year's #OscarsSoWhite, there are three black films up for Best Picture at Sunday's Oscars ceremony.<br />
The film opens in Malaysia today to coincide with the hoopla surrounding it, which is based on the book by Margot Lee Shetterly -- <i>Hidden Figures: The American Dream And The Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win The Space Race</i>. <br />
My first viewing of writer-director Theodore Melfi's film made me tear up. It's so blatantly an uplifting tearjerker. The same thing happened the second time. <br />
<a name='more'></a> Viewers will step out of the cineplexes feeling good about themselves and how Nasa conquered space and racism.<br />
The film focuses on three black female mathematicians at Nasa in 1961. The first, bespectacled Katherine Gobel Johnson (Taraji P. Henson), is a widow with three girls. She's the film's nominal protagonist as she's been plucked from obscurity as kid and enrolled in college, where the close-up shot of the teacher's hand proffering a chalk to her will recur at a critical juncture in her working life.<br />
She's also never had another man after the death of her husband.<br />
The second is Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer, nominated for a Best Supporting Actress), who <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(From left) Janelle Monae, Taraji P. Henson and Octavia Spencer<br /> show that some girls have all the fun. </td></tr>
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supervises black female mathematicians in a nondescript basement, but without the title and attendant pay. Her requests to blonde tough-nut Vivian Mitchell (Kirsten Dunst) for recognition are met with resistance. The third is Mary Jackson (Janelle Monáe), whose engineering talent is recognised by her Polish Jewish supervisor (Holocaust discrimination), but to become an aeronautical engineer, she must take classes in a white high school and gain admission to university. Her civil rights activist husband Levi Jackson (Aldis Hodge) dampens her enthusiasm, telling her he doesn't want to see her get hurt, or it could be because of his male ego.<br />
All three will encounter discrimination, right from the get-go in the film. For example, the white cop who chances on their broken-down car in the middle of nowhere is schocked to find out that Nasa employs black women.<br />
They even encounter gender discrimination by their own race. For example, Katherine's suitor, Colonel <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Katherine is the black rose among the white thorns. </td></tr>
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Jim Johnson (Mahershala Ali), like all men, is downright surprised to learn about Katherine's job.<br />
I found the film well done and it deserves its many accolades, but I also found it syrupy sweet and sometimes silly.<br />
Katherine's talent comes to the attention of fictionalised Nasa space task programme chief Al Harrison (Kevin Costner), who puts her under lead mathematician Paul Stafford (Jim Parsons). Stafford's ego won't let him acknowledge her superior talent, much less a black woman's. In fact, Katherine is the sole black woman working under Harrison.<br />
The film highlights racism Katherine faces daily. She's hurt when she's forced to get her coffee from a pot market 'colored'. She also has to disappear for more than 30 minutes each time she wants to go the loo as there are no 'colored' loos at her new building. However, her run to a coloured toilet is accompanied by a catchy Pharell song.<br />
All this happens under the watchful eyes of Harrison, whose office towers above his minions, meaning he has a clear view of everything. Harrison is portrayed as fair white man, but come on, how could he not have noticed the 'colored' coffee pot or Katherine's disappearance throughout the day and for many weeks? I notice a colleague coming to work late by 1 hour daily, and another is perpetually late by 1 to 2 hours.<br />
Katherine's outburst finally forces him to see things differently, although it's surprising to have a fair <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Katherine has many steps to climb to convince<br /> her all white male colleagues.</td></tr>
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white man among racists. Harrison gets to give the film's theme when he says "We are all the same race in Nasa."<br />
We have to ask whey the film is being released now, amid accusations of Russians hacking the Democratic party's website to give President Donald Trump an advantage in last year's election. Trump's national security adviser was forced to quit last week over his conversations with the Russian ambassador.<br />
The film is saying that everyone in the US has to band together for Nasa to overcome the Cold War enemy, Russia, and that includes making a saccharine film.<br />
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<b>3 1/2 stars out of 5</b><br />
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JLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02788910696619827090noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8130431216281269726.post-63654764163685355562017-02-16T21:41:00.001-08:002017-02-16T21:41:51.123-08:00Fifty Shades Darker ... Dull and deploreable<b>TWO </b>years ago this month, I kicked off my blog with a review of director Sam Taylor-Johnson's forgettable <i>Fifty Shades of Grey</i>, based on the best-selling book of the same name by E.L. James. The film was critically ravaged, but it made tonnes of money.<br />
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The sequel to that film is back to haunt us, or make us laugh, depending on your point of view. Director James Foley's<i> Fifty Shades Darker,</i> based on the book of the same name by James, continues from where the first film left off.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
They had separated in the first film, but billionaire Christian Grey (Jamie Dornan) pursues literary graduate Anastasia Steele (Dakota Johnson), and with a few shakes of his head, and dinner at an expensive restaurant, she's back in his arms.<br />
The film's biggest problems are the lack of chemistry between the two stars and the unbelievable lack of tension in the film. The plot is like something from <i>The Bold and The Beautiful </i>(sorry for insulting the TV show), with its risible twists and unlikely scenarios.<br />
Why would a smart, beautiful and no-longer-virgin white woman put herself at the beck and call of a manipulative and controlling white billionaire? Money? Maybe. Brawny body? Yeah. Personality? Zilch.<br />
Ana's now the aide of big-headed and lecherous literary editor Jack Hyde (Eric Johnson), but the film's attempt to create frisson between the two studly guys is feeble.<br />
And what billionaire wouldn't be worth his salt if he didn't have his ex-lovers popping in and out of his life? I'd have thought that a tycoon would have easily kept them at arm's length, but they intrude when they need to do so.<br />
Let's talk about sex, or the many times Ana strips to show off her smooth and silky breasts. The sex <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgniQrjSDVprrVYAcPHZMxnEeM8IAgVfs6nFTaTvoHrj-xPviPgxtACVBehWVNl3IVXHvX1E-KysP4QYVpcVIPJ20zBvwn0PRtW0YCX4spnAM0KN5s36bt6DA0pUCYEK9jD4dTYFHufF3Y/s1600/fifty+shades+darker+b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgniQrjSDVprrVYAcPHZMxnEeM8IAgVfs6nFTaTvoHrj-xPviPgxtACVBehWVNl3IVXHvX1E-KysP4QYVpcVIPJ20zBvwn0PRtW0YCX4spnAM0KN5s36bt6DA0pUCYEK9jD4dTYFHufF3Y/s1600/fifty+shades+darker+b.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Christian Grey (Jamie Dornan) makes Ana Steele<br /> reach for the stars in an elevator.</td></tr>
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scenes made me cringe. There's nothing more unappetising than seeing bad sex scenes. A scene where they went at it in a shower made me want to switch off the TV, or switch to another channel showing a documentary on global warming.<br />
While Christian may be cold hearted, Ana is all warmth. This film definitely belongs to her, for without her, it would have been an unmitigated disaster.<br />
Christian's concupiscence is supposed to be kinky, but it turns out to be soggy in an age of unbridled lust. In fact, his desires seem downright Victorian.<br />
His cantankerous behaviour is also a turn-off, but mild Ana accepts this flaw.<br />
Dornan's acting, meanwhile, is as hard as his sinewy body. It must be every woman's dream to reel in a white billionaire with a few skeletons in his closet.<br />
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<b>1 out of 5 stars</b><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">'Chin up', Christian tells the alluring Ana.</td></tr>
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JLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02788910696619827090noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8130431216281269726.post-31529071265443142942017-02-15T11:03:00.001-08:002017-02-15T11:03:33.176-08:00Rings ... The horror of watching this filmTHERE was a reason why VCRs and video cassettes became obsolete, and <i>Rings</i>, which is based on a <br />
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Japanese horror film, should follow the same path.<br />
You all know the drill: you watch a well-edited black-and-white video, and you get a call immediately after watching it (there's no mention of how the evil spirit gets your number) that tells you that you have seven days to live.<br />
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This is not the first <i>Rings</i>; the first one in 2002 had Naomi Watts in it.<br />
What spin could this <i>Rings </i>provide? Evidently not much. Spanish director F. Javier Gutierrez introduces us to this video idea, and then digresses into plotlines involving <i>Room </i>and spirits that haunt people for a reason.<br />
If you're looking for something scary, <i>Rings </i>isn't for you. If you're looking for regurgitated drivel, <i>Rings </i>is for you.<br />
Julia (Matilda Anna Ingrid Lutz of Italy) is in the throes of love with blond beefcake Holt (Alex Roe). After what I presume is ardent lovemaking, their pillow talk moves into philosophical territory, specifically the legend of Orpheus, who sought to retrieve his wife from the underworld.<br />
But Holt has to rush off to another town to start varsity life, leaving both of them desperately skyping each other, with mixed results. Even her attempt to initiate cyber sex fails.<br />
Holt mysteriously disappears, prompting Julia to drop everything and rush to his varsity. She meets <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Matilda Anna Ingrid Lutz, Johnny Galecki and Alex Roe stare hard.</td></tr>
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Holt's biology instructor Associate Professor Gabriel (Johnny Galecki), who has no problems sleeping with his students. He also conducts after-life experience experiments. (spoilers ahead)<br />
To make a long story short, brave Julia puts herself in danger by transferring's Holt death curse to her. This was the only part of the film that made an impact on me.<br />
You often see men putting their lives on the line for women, but the role is reversed in <i>Rings</i>.<br />
Funny things happen to Julia and she goes on a chase to track down the truth. She's on a seven-day deadline, and her life isn't made easy by the appearances of a spirit that intrudes on her paranoid life.<br />
Viewers know how these films end: the truth always prevails. Unfortunately, <i>Rings </i>will leave viewers wanting for more.<br />
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<b>2 out of 5 stars</b><br />
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JLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02788910696619827090noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8130431216281269726.post-20331423293935329332017-02-10T01:17:00.000-08:002017-02-10T01:17:19.133-08:00John Wick: Chapter 2 ... Speeding into oblivion<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj76tsuPK04eKSDQ0Dx1SAzJ6mhkeJF_sDyw3gK76rdcXzZ2G0iOM06pz4Hqz7Hx3DiRyP1imurO4SAGAjPsxjrdNjMM34MuUge6xr8qxqkfDDKfWx67AzvsZaPHYkuua9loyDLGb2R6y8/s1600/john+wick+chapter+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj76tsuPK04eKSDQ0Dx1SAzJ6mhkeJF_sDyw3gK76rdcXzZ2G0iOM06pz4Hqz7Hx3DiRyP1imurO4SAGAjPsxjrdNjMM34MuUge6xr8qxqkfDDKfWx67AzvsZaPHYkuua9loyDLGb2R6y8/s200/john+wick+chapter+2.jpg" width="137" /></a>"I'LL kill them, I'll kill them all."<br />
Assassin John Wick (a morose Keanu Reeves) utters this at the end of violent film <i>John Wick: Chapter 2</i>, directed by Chad Stahelski. I'm not sure why someone decided to make this sequel.<br />
It could be to satiate viewers' lust for blood. There's not much exposition in this film, and whatever dialogue present is strictly functional.<br />
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There's mumbo jumo about a promisory note and revenge in a secret world of assassins, but the film's sole purpose is to show as much blood as possible in the most goriest way.<br />
Therefore, bullets pierce bodies and heads with alarming routine, and even a pencil makes a walk-on role. The violence in this film would make Mel Gibson proud.<br />
Naturally, Wick exhibits terrific flexibility and ability to withstand knocks. He can hit anyone with deadly accuracy but hundreds of bullets just whiz by him. I started yawning at the midway point.<br />
Reeve is entering the elderly tough guy age, aiming to emulate Liam Neeson and Sean Penn. He's as dashing as he was in <i>Speed</i>, with the same gruff one-syllable responses. He was nice to look at some time ago, but he looks ragged and tired now.<br />
Wick's mourning the death of his wife Helen (Bridget Moynahan) and wants to quit the <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">John Wick (Keanu Reeves) is speeding into danger.</td></tr>
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industry, but is persuaded otherwise by Santino D'Antonio (Riccardo Scamarcio), who makes him homeless by blowing up his architecturally-gorgeous and minimalist home.<br />
Santino wants Wick to take out his sister Gianna (Claudia Gerini) in Rome so he can replace her at some Table.<br />
This kicks off Wick's descend into hell. The film goes into hyperdrive with a flurry of bullets and close-combat fights. There's no way Wick can survive this, but for the purpose of suspending our belief, we go along with the ludicrousness of it all.<br />
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<b>1 1/2 out of 5 stars</b><br />
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JLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02788910696619827090noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8130431216281269726.post-62863587048004267042017-02-04T01:26:00.005-08:002017-02-04T03:15:28.157-08:00Manchester By The Sea ... Honest, gritty depiction of griefTHE protagonist in writer-director Kenneth Lonergan’s mostly all-white film <i>Manchester By The </i><br />
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<i>Sea </i> is quiet, abrasive and prone to bouts of violence.<br />
He lives alone in a tiny room while working as a janitor/handyman in a few buildings. He’s proficient at his task and he’s a fly on the wall, privy to residents’ conversations while he goes about his job. It could be that he’s invisible to others.<br />
He’s lost interest in women and has a short fuse.<br />
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But underneath the rough appearance lies a melancholic character that’s hiding something, probably a certain pain.<br />
Casey Affleck digs deep to portray the haunted soul of Lee Chandler, and it’s to his immense credit that viewers look beyond his salty veneer and fix their eyes on his expressive blue eyes.<br />
Things weren’t always like this for Lee. Viewers see him enjoying his three kids and flirting with his beautiful blonde wife Randi (Michelle Williams). He was gregarious and open with them.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Casey Affleck and Lucas Hedges express <br />
their grief in different ways.</td></tr>
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His brother Joe (Kyle Chandler) dies and leaves the guardianship of his son, Patrick (Lucas Hedges), 16, to him.<br />
Lonergan shows Lee struggling to live in the present and how the past catches up with him. Viewers are invested in finding out how a loving family man became a recluse unclogging toilet bowls.<br />
There are long takes in this beautifully photographed film set in coastal town Manchester in Massachusetts.<br />
Lonergan gives his actors time to spread their wings; the pace is slow and fluid. The music is a mix of classical, choral, jazz and Broadway tunes.<br />
The film is set in winter, and in one scene, Lee and Patrick have to turn their backs to a blast of chilly wind. The winter setting suggests Lee is frozen in time and that it may be hard for anything to thaw him out.<br />
Patrick’s relationship with Lee forms the core of this film. Lee wants to return to Boston but he’s <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipkv8N70aqXARHGzGDNvRZow6RNny3wVA_k9ddR_rqKhXXgVN6gYLAChHg45GE_mFMTEz-6SGz2qQN1zNR9tunMRXIZVy3iMDw7U7AuOjbjVndYuja0sXbHjZZBMjJp74lf4pZMDYBdbA/s1600/manchester+by+the+sea+d.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipkv8N70aqXARHGzGDNvRZow6RNny3wVA_k9ddR_rqKhXXgVN6gYLAChHg45GE_mFMTEz-6SGz2qQN1zNR9tunMRXIZVy3iMDw7U7AuOjbjVndYuja0sXbHjZZBMjJp74lf4pZMDYBdbA/s1600/manchester+by+the+sea+d.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Michelle Williams is messy and sexy.</td></tr>
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torn between respecting his brother’s last wish and taking care of Patrick.<br />
Patrick’s way of dealing with his father’s death is unusual: he moves between his two girlfriends.<br />
In one scene, he cajoles Lee to spend time with a girlfriend’s mother at their house so he can fornicate with the daughter without interruption. He tells his uncle that his girlfriend’s mum likes the latter. “This can be good for both of us.”<br />
Lee's history is revealed in an encounter between Lee and his ex-wife, who is pushing a stroller with a baby in it, in a Manchester backstreet, which is perfect since there are no distractions.<br />
Williams doesn’t appear much in the film, but she kills this scene, and this is why she got nominated for an Oscar Best Supporting Actress award.<br />
(spoilers ahead)<br />
Williams and Affleck’s body language, facial expressions and vocal tones are perfect in this scene. Randi and Lee express regrets. She says: “I’m heartbroken, and I know you are too.”<br />
He says: “There’s nothing there.” It’s a simple statement that carries so much weight.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFeABEVecBsZmZHUCxEhc9O51A91-vwLRD1dUicPu9rk4lkrweg3y4mrLmyES-vPVfWPx_gU0btJ7LwXzrBqa7jJzSd2uw9ZHfSCIYmPHrALoqEZi1fj8RrKSp1ZIosyE2ktT5fT7eQfk/s1600/manchester+by+the+sea+c.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFeABEVecBsZmZHUCxEhc9O51A91-vwLRD1dUicPu9rk4lkrweg3y4mrLmyES-vPVfWPx_gU0btJ7LwXzrBqa7jJzSd2uw9ZHfSCIYmPHrALoqEZi1fj8RrKSp1ZIosyE2ktT5fT7eQfk/s1600/manchester+by+the+sea+c.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kyle Chandler comforts Affleck.</td></tr>
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The film is full of details: Lee has phone problems speaking to someone while driving to Manchester. Two hospital staff have difficulty pushing a stretcher into an ambulance. Someone’s handphone rings during a funeral mass.<br />
Lonergan’s depiction of how blue-collar white men deal with grief is touching and natural. I started wondering how I’d deal with such a situation if I were in Lee’s shoes.<br />
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<b>5 out of 5 stars</b><br />
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<br />JLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02788910696619827090noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8130431216281269726.post-25995456994441693982017-02-02T01:22:00.000-08:002017-02-17T09:30:13.483-08:00Hacksaw Ridge ... Oh Christ! the violence<b>DIRECTOR </b>Mel Gibson has his cake and eats it too in <i>Hacksaw Ridge</i>, about real-life US Medal of <br />
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Honour recipient Desmond Doss, a devout Christian and medic who single- handedly rescued 75 injured US soldiers, and some Japanese, according to the film, in the ferocious Battle of Okinawa in 1945.<br />
And conscientious objector Doss did it without carrying a gun, which he says, in the movie, is one of the Ten Commandments: thou shall not kill.<br />
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Gibson, the director of violent films <i>Braveheart</i>, <i>The Passion Of The Christ</i> and <i>Apocalypto</i>, can now add <i>Hacksaw Ridge </i>to this esteemed list.<br />
He obviously took a cue from Steven Spielberg's <i>Saving Private Ryan</i> in constructing the gruesome battle at Hacksaw Ridge. Limbs are blown apart, bodies are split open and bullets tear into heads.<br />
The violence, however, takes place in the second part of the film. The first 100 minutes focus on Doss's (Andrew Garfield) sedate civilian life and his decision to persevere in army training despite not wanting to pick up a gun, and the camp commanders wanting him to leave training.<br />
Gibson shows what Doss went through to serve as medic while holding strong to his Christian <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Andrew Garfield and Teresa Palmer <br />
wait until their wedding night in 'Hacksaw Ridge'.</td></tr>
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beliefs. Gibson, however, lets loose in depicting the grotesque nature of war.<br />
Doss is Gibson's Christ-like figure, but he wasn't always like that. He turned over a new leaf after he whacked his brother in a fight when they were kids.<br />
Their bitter, alcoholic WWI veteran father Tom (Hugo Weaving) encourages them to fight, instead of stopping them, much to the consternation of their mum Bertha (Rachel Griffiths).<br />
The Dosses household is mired in turmoil. Both boys go to sleep hearing their dad shouting and hitting their mum, and this went on until late in the boys' lives.<br />
I find it strange that although Desmond is a staunch Christian, Gibson does not show him in a church service. The only time we see him in a church is when he cleans its windows.<br />
Desmond enlists in the army after the Pearl Harbor attack but declares himself a conscientious cooperator, which means that he won't carry a gun in battle. This makes him public enemy No. 1 at the camp, especially to Sgt Howell (Vince Vaughn) and Capt Glover (Sam Worthington), who want to get rid of him by hook or by crook.<br />
The film has a courtroom scene (it didn't happen in real life), and in Hollywood courtroom scenes, <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUOwfHS4CTdITjGRMUPkjV9xv996eY0qzTEWl2XVTE7oaKRNWThTfgNvEQDVlkxhRTFtFAs0ePFeGGsaEitzdBPUVrV3Hz-Z7uGZty4xzAEJ2u51up3LlSP0pDOmSZx1ft9kER7s4mUnQ/s1600/hacksaw+ridge+c.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUOwfHS4CTdITjGRMUPkjV9xv996eY0qzTEWl2XVTE7oaKRNWThTfgNvEQDVlkxhRTFtFAs0ePFeGGsaEitzdBPUVrV3Hz-Z7uGZty4xzAEJ2u51up3LlSP0pDOmSZx1ft9kER7s4mUnQ/s320/hacksaw+ridge+c.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Desmond Doss (Garfield) is the film's pull factor.</td></tr>
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justice always prevails.<br />
Desmond's luminous wife Dorothy (Teresa Palmer) exists only in the film's first part. She's there to prop up his masculinity, ego and his sexuality.<br />
Asked why he won't pick up a gun, Desmond tells Dorothy in his cell: "But I don't know how I'm going to live with myself if I don't stay true to how I live."<br />
He adds: "I want to be the man you want to be in your eyes."<br />
She replies: "Do not think for one moment that you disappoint me."<br />
True to his Christian virtue, he has sex for the first time with her only on their wedding night.<br />
The Bible figures prominently too. Desmond keeps a picture of Dorothy in his pocket-sized Bible given to him by her. In Okinawa, he reads it alone, apart from the others, who are exhausted and just want a break.<br />
The battle scenes are messy and beautifully executed. Gibson thrives in the ballet-like carnage, but I'd like to have seen how the killings affect Desmond. Viewers don't get to see the <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzrpDdWMuV3NmedftJ1xiX5-4HFyCtHOjTWHrA9JoAz3HxbWXYM45Qubh1kKn4uByKIgGItI_-NNDlCn67519y5ukXbUKxI-yYG1jrWIamedBN8zqazOhCoc4oXiI5L3SLuRWRK6EscQk/s1600/hacksaw+ridge+d.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzrpDdWMuV3NmedftJ1xiX5-4HFyCtHOjTWHrA9JoAz3HxbWXYM45Qubh1kKn4uByKIgGItI_-NNDlCn67519y5ukXbUKxI-yYG1jrWIamedBN8zqazOhCoc4oXiI5L3SLuRWRK6EscQk/s1600/hacksaw+ridge+d.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Doss carries his own weight in the film. </td></tr>
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fighting from his point of view.<br />
Desmond is at the end hoisted up into the sky in a scene reminiscent of Christ's ascension into heaven.<br />
This is one of the many ways Gibson hammers home the idea that Desmond is a saviour to humanity, willing to sacrifice many things to stick to his ideals, and to save good and evil people during war.<br />
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<b>3½ out of 5 stars</b><br />
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JLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02788910696619827090noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8130431216281269726.post-28571120036233769282017-01-30T06:31:00.000-08:002017-02-03T12:13:28.076-08:00The Space Between Us ... Spaced out <b>ON </b>the surface, director Peter Chelsom's science-fiction flick <i>The Space Between Us</i> is about the first <br />
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and only person born on Mars wanting to return to Earth after 16 years to discover the identity of this father. In the process, the orphan, whose mother died giving birth to him, strikes up a friendship with an Earthling who's also an orphan.<br />
Dig a little deeper, however, and it's about the boy and the girl losing their virginity with each other. And the fact that they did it in near a campfire in an Arizona desert is icing on the cake.<br />
<a name='more'></a> The film doesn't break new Mars ground as Matt Damon had colonised the planet in <i>The Martian </i>(2015). A boy wanting to find out the identity of his father is also nothing new, as is him bonding with the pretty blonde orphan.<br />
The least the filmmakers could have done was to ensure that Gardner Eliot (Asa Butterfield, b. 1997), 16, looked similar in age to classmate Tulsa (Britt Robertson, b. 1990).<br />
Tall and lanky Gardner is earnest and has a big heart, while short and slim Tulsa is computer-savvy, rides a superbike, sings and plays the piano, and can fly a crop duster. Does this sound like someone who languished in the foster care system?<br />
Gardner struggling to find his footing on Earth is similar to someone from the past popping up in our <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Britt Robertson and Asa Butterfield hope the film won't crash .</td></tr>
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era in time-travel films. There are discordant moments, but the newcomer eventually strikes a common ground with his new moment in time.<br />
Therefore, Gardner's mouth dropping in awe at something unusual he sees eventually wears thin.<br />
He makes a reference to director Wim Wenders's German film <i>Der Himmel Uber Berlin </i>(Wings of Desire, 1987) three times. It's about an angel giving up his immortality and "falling" to Earth to be with a pretty blonde.<br />
I can understand Elliot wanting to fall to Earth too, but I sure hope he doesn't see himself as an angel.<br />
His guardian on Mars, astronaut Kendra (Carla Gugino of <i>San Andreas</i>), tells him that her husband divorced her when he found that she couldn't conceive. This is the director reinforcing the theme of a missing parent.<br />
Gardner finds a kindred spirit in Tulsa because the latter has been let down by her foster families many times.<br />
She says her stepfather is interested in her only because of the welfare cheques he receives. The orphan and the sidelined girl go on a road trip to find the former's father, and along the way, take in the sights and landscapes and explore each other's terrain.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Britt and Asa think they have a bright future together.</td></tr>
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Gary Oldman plays Nathaniel Shepherd, who conceived the idea of a Mars colony, and therefore. B.D. Wong plays Chen, a director of a space firm.<br />
The film proceeds at a snappy pace because it's got to get to the road trip quickly, but I didn't find the film convincing nor the theme engrossing. Also, the climax feels forced.<br />
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<b>2 out of 5 stars</b><br />
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<br />JLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02788910696619827090noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8130431216281269726.post-8825377312387313602017-01-24T12:01:00.001-08:002017-01-30T06:34:20.680-08:00The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) ...<b>DIRECTOR </b>Alfred Hitchcock's remake of his own film, <i>The Man Who Knew Too Much</i> (1956), <br />
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features an assassination plot that's supposed to take place during a classical music performance at the Royal Albert Hall in London.<br />
It's excruciatingly spine-tingling watching Doris Day watch the shooter, who in turn, watches his target.<br />
Then I remembered that I had seen something similar in <i>Mission: Impossible -- Rogue Nation</i> (2015), in which Rebecca Ferguson and Tom Cruise seek to foil an assassination plot that will take place during an opera performance of Puccini's <i>Turandot</i>.<br />
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The title, <i>The Man Who Knew Too Much,</i> is a misnomer, because James Stewart's character, Dr Benjamin McKenna, isn't as perceptive as his lovely blonde retired musical theatre singer and actress wife Josephine (Doris Day).<br />
Josephine's antenna is immediately raised when spy Louis Bernard (Daniel Gelin) bombards her husband with personal questions. She's also observant about the British couple watching them.<br />
Benjamin dismisses her concerns, but when things take a turn for the worse, he's forced to admit that his wife is right.<br />
Hitchcock makes a big deal about Benjamin being ill at ease eating in a restaurant in Morocco. Benjamin <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Doris Day watches James Stewart fumble with his food.</td></tr>
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is tall and ungainly, and can't fit his long legs under the short table. He's not used to eating with his hands, and is also ignorant of local customs regarding table manners.<br />
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<b>3 out of 5 stars</b><br />
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JLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02788910696619827090noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8130431216281269726.post-81720387082373768812017-01-24T11:27:00.000-08:002017-02-03T12:14:05.379-08:00KungFu Yoga ... Bent into boredom<b>JACKIE </b>Chan plays Professor Jack, China's most famous archaelogist, in director Stanley Tong's English and Mandarin film <i>KungFu Yoga</i>. This is a running joke in the film, as whenever someone calls him that, he looks abashed and demurely says: "One of the best."<br />
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A modest Chan? Age must be catching up with the 63-year-old martial arts proponent, who's rehashing his films so often that one can say that if you've seen a Chan film lately, you've seen it all.<br />
<a name='more'></a> There are exotic locations, Chan pairing up with a foreign male or female sidekick, and an abundance of his slick moves. Viewers would have been impressed with all these a long time ago, but now, they'll just yawn their way through and keep sighing.<br />
This is what happened to me, and it wasn't a good sign to welcome Chinese New Year.<br />
Jack teams up with lithe and sexy Indian Professor Ashmita (Disha Patani) and her equally lithe and sexy teaching assistant Kyra (Amyra Dastur) to find an ancient hidden Indian treasure.<br />
Jack's sidekick is young and handsome treasure hunter Jones Lee (Aarif Rahman), in a nod to Indiana Jones. Jack dresses as if he's Indy, but without the hat and whip.<br />
His team also includes Xiaoguang (Yixing Zhang) and lithe and sexy Noumin (Miya Muqi), who will <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jackie Chan and Disha Patani look to attract viewers <br />
to 'KungFu Yoga'.</td></tr>
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charm everyone in a white swimsuit.<br />
Their adventures take them to a cave in a freezing mountainous region in China, then the clean streets of Dubai that are perfect for a car chase, and finally, lovely and rustic India.<br />
Their adversary is rich slick-haired Indian Randall (Sonu Sood), a vulture whose life is based on the law of nature. His baddies will provide considerable but eventually ineffective opposition to Jack's team.<br />
Jack espouses the official Chinese line on respecting and protecting national heritage.<br />
Viewers can appreciate the hard work that went into making this film, and Chan does his best to keep them entertained, but the feeling of deja vu is hard to dispel.<br />
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<b>1 1/2 stars out of 5</b><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jackie Chan boosts Chindian ties with his slick moves.</td></tr>
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<br />JLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02788910696619827090noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8130431216281269726.post-15252516254840026602017-01-21T03:30:00.000-08:002017-01-21T03:30:31.322-08:00Split ... Personality plus<b>THE </b>verdict on <i>Split </i>comes down to the performance of James McAvoy, who gets to flex his acting <br />
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chops by playing a man who has 23 personalities, with a 24th about to burst to the surface. McAvoy gets to play a 9-year-old child, a woman, an effeminate fashion designer, and a man obsessed with cleanliness.<br />
While I applaud his versatility, I didn't really feel the impact of his performance. Yes, he gets the mannerisms and speech patterns down pat, but I always felt they were superficial.<br />
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His conversations with his psychologist Dr Karen Fletcher (Betty Buckley) are interesting only in the sense that she espouses a belief that each personality in a person with multiple personality disorder has a different IQ and different experiences.<br />
She wonders if the their sufferings can unlock the brain's potential. "Is this where our sense of the supernatural comes from?"<br />
Meanwhile, the dominant personality in McAvoy's character has abducted three teenage girls, including moody and reclusive Casey (Anya Taylor-Joy of <i>Morgan</i>), and keeps them in a dungeon. This, of course, resembles 10 Cloverfield Lane, where a female motorist fleeing an abusive husband is abducted and kept in an underground home.<br />
Casey tells McAvoy's character that she intentionally gets sent to detention in school so that she <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">James McAvoy keeps Anya Taylor-Joy in check. </td></tr>
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can be alone. There's a flashback about her as kid hunting with her dad and his fat brother.<br />
Her father tells her that the thrill of a hunt is in whether one can outsmart the prey.<br />
It's inevitable that those abducted and kept underground will eventually escape, but Casey finds the courage, from the most unimaginable of sources, to break free from a painful experience that's been holding her back.<br />
Early on, Dr Fletcher says "They are what they believe they are", in reference to those with multiple personalities. When McAvoy's new character appears, it says: "We are who we believe we are." These two statements are probably in reference to the power of believing, in that we can become whomever we want to be if we put our minds to it.<br />
While the psychologist talks up the power of those with multiple personalities, we are left with only a negative impression of people struggling with this mental health issue. This is writer-director M. Night Shyamalan's legacy for this film.<br />
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<b>3 out of 5 stars</b><br />
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JLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02788910696619827090noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8130431216281269726.post-31326250874656889052017-01-19T05:31:00.001-08:002017-01-20T13:22:34.934-08:00xXx: Return of Xander Cage ... XXX is ZZZZZssss<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6d3ebjWU0f5xzlgOdF2ZVDQQUDoMf9Yr6vE4d3SQx6U1AJPU23LfCvcfzkfaugUpYCxntvJrwcvlHJZqDXnHXVYiu9U5-YCQEGg_9Y57U32Pao5p_HkmQ8hcQ_6s3wnUOf_WKfj5qz2M/s1600/xxx+return+of+xander+cage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6d3ebjWU0f5xzlgOdF2ZVDQQUDoMf9Yr6vE4d3SQx6U1AJPU23LfCvcfzkfaugUpYCxntvJrwcvlHJZqDXnHXVYiu9U5-YCQEGg_9Y57U32Pao5p_HkmQ8hcQ_6s3wnUOf_WKfj5qz2M/s200/xxx+return+of+xander+cage.jpg" width="135" /></a><b>VIN </b>Diesel wants to recreate he chemistry of his <i>Fast and Furious</i> franchise in director D.J. Caruso's <i>xXx: Return of Xander Cag</i>e. He's got the multiracial cast, pretty babes in bikinis and preposterous action scenes, but considering that I rated the last <i>Fast </i>film low, it's not surprising that his reprisal of the role he first made famous in <i>xXx </i>(2002) falls flat.<br />
Diesel is 50 this year, so watching his character, extreme athlete Xander Cage, move like a hyena is hard to believe.<br />
<a name='more'></a> But we'll suspend our disbelief and enjoy the sight of burly Cage skating downhill on a skateboard, while being cheered on by Brazilian villagers. Cage is supposed to be incognito on a self-imposed exile, but he's willing to risk his life and expose his lifestyle just so he can help poor people. What a great guy.<br />
He's also got extrasensory perception that would put Sherlock Holmes to shame. In one scene, which is about the CIA wanting him to come out of exile and help it track down someone, he deduces that things are not what they look like. To me, that was the film's best and only intelligent scene because Cage uses his brains instead of his strength.<br />
The <i>Fast </i>films and the <i>Mission: Impossible</i> films share one thing in common: they have a good baddie. But <i>xXx: Return of Xander Cage</i>'s baddie is lame and won't scare anyone. In fact, he's absent for most of the film.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Vin Diesel, Donny Yuen and Deepika Padukone talk shop.</td></tr>
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His threat of using a so-called Pandora's Box to make a satellite crash every 24 hours is the motivation for Cage and his hastily-assembled team to move quickly. One satellite crash at the start of the film takes out an important person.<br />
Xiang (martial arts exponent Donny Yuen, recently seen in <i>Rogue One: A Star Wars Story</i>) and pretty Serena Unger (Bollywood star Deepika Padukone) work together to get their hands on Pandora's Box, but both have conflicting decisions on what to do with it.<br />
Xiang puts his martial arts to good use, while Serena speaks with a thick Indian accent, even though her last name is Unger. It's as thick as that of Diego Luna in <i>Rogue One.</i><br />
The CIA, represented by blonde Jane Marke (Tony Collette), is keen on hiring Cage: Marke says: "We need someone who can move like them, fight like them. It's time to be a patriot."<br />
Cage replies: "There are no more patriots, just rebels and tyrants."<br />
He sees himself as an unorthodox soldier, willing to bend the rules to get the job done. He's also willing to help the downtrodden (Brazilian villagers), so this must make his brand of justice palatable to all in the world. Even if the CIA is wary of his style, it knows that someone like him will catch the bad guys off-guard.<br />
Of course, it helps if he's a babe magnet, with most women throwing themselves at him.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Deepika and Ruby Rose have got each other's back.</td></tr>
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Sexism abounds in this film, with the camera zooming in on a woman in a bikini stepping out of a pool. The camera happily focuses on women's gyrating hips at a party. <br />
Deepika also gets to satiate the male gaze, with the camera caressing her figure from bottom to top in soft and seductive night light.<br />
But there's a saving grace at the end when Serena and sharpshooter Adele (Ruby Rose) have got each other's back and show us that women can defend themselves perfectly well without the help of men.<br />
Nevertheless, the film's action is mundane and nonsensical. Bringing down satellites may seem menacing, but I'm certain jet fighters can get to them before they inflict damage on Earth. Acting is not a prerequisite in this film, so the actors won't register with audiences. It just seems like a waste of time and money.<br />
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<b>2 out of 5 stars</b><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Vin and Deepika get close.</td></tr>
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JLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02788910696619827090noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8130431216281269726.post-64668067267709248552017-01-18T09:14:00.000-08:002017-02-01T11:15:48.886-08:00Resident Evil: The Final Chapter ... Kill, kill, kill<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSRlAALq1fff9CqHmwXZvJc1IZ03G4GyYPHwiRKD8Zjjd65JDYX49GJqIw_MER_DI1I6NicgFsKre-Zd-CmMf4CHViXiuDL6c5D-Z8h8tMZBilBL6Sq6T4BBHIe7uUthYZYA24a1w3D9o/s1600/resident+evil+The+Final+Chapter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSRlAALq1fff9CqHmwXZvJc1IZ03G4GyYPHwiRKD8Zjjd65JDYX49GJqIw_MER_DI1I6NicgFsKre-Zd-CmMf4CHViXiuDL6c5D-Z8h8tMZBilBL6Sq6T4BBHIe7uUthYZYA24a1w3D9o/s200/resident+evil+The+Final+Chapter.jpg" width="135" /></a><b>THE </b><i>Resident Evil</i> series thrives on incessant violence, and the violence in <i>Resident Evil: </i>(hopefully) <i>The Final Chapter </i>puts to shame the gore in <i>Saving Private Ryan</i> and sword-and-sandal flicks. Knives cutting through bodies like butter and decapitations are the norm. A laser slicing off a few fingers is considered mild by the film's gory standards.<br />
Our beloved heroine Alice (the lovely and indomitable Milla Jovovich) is on the warpath again, eliminating everything and anyone who stands in her way.<br />
<a name='more'></a> She survives two horrific car crashes early on without even wearing her seatbelt, and all she gets for her troubles is a small scratch on her cheek, which she carries with her like a red badge of courage for the rest of the film. She's like a female Rambo: cold and battle hardened.<br />
She also can't remember much about her life before 10 years ago when Umbrella Corp spread the zombie virus.<br />
The editing is fast and vicious, and this will keep viewers on the edge of their seats. The film doesn't give you a moment to catch your breath. It's as if writer-director Paul W.S. Anderson is bludgeoning you into submission.<br />
For her final adventure, Alice has 48 hours to get to The Hive in devastated Raccoon City, before Umbrella Corp gets rid of the last human survivors. Her digital watch conveniently informs her and viewers about the time left before Armageddon is unleashed on Earth.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Alice (Milla Jovovich) is on the run, again.</td></tr>
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Her motivation is to find an airborne anti-virus that will kill all infected zombies, including herself. But she's willing to go all the way to save humanity.<br />
Her nemesis is Dr Isaacs (Iain Glen of <i>Game of Thrones</i>), whom she believed she had killed in the last film, but is back to haunt her and provide decent opposition to her quest to save the world. Dr Isaacs, like most film baddies, doesn't appreciate challenges to his authority and removes them with alacrity.<br />
He is often seen surrounded by swaying crucifixes; in one scene, he keeps his guns together with a collection of crucifixes in a locker. This may help viewers decipher his motivation for wanting to eliminate humanity. Again, his twisted Christian reasoning is not a new thing affecting baddies in films.<br />
Breaking into highly-guarded facilities is a bread-and-butter idea for films, and nine times out of 10, the people doing the breaking-in succeed.<br />
Alice is aided by a bunch of ragtag fighters, including Abigail (Ruby Rose), Claire (Ali Larter), <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Alice stares down the opposition. </td></tr>
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Christian (William Levy), Doc (Eoin Macken) and sole black person Michael (Fraser James). They're there to provide fodder for Umbrella Corp's policy of extermination.<br />
There's a twist at the end regarding Alice, which is similar to that in <i>Morgan </i>(2016).<br />
(Spoilers ahead).<br />
I observe two themes in this film. The first is regarding Alice's identity. "I know who I am," she tells Dr Isaacs. Viewers will realise that memories play a vital role in humans' self-identity.<br />
The second theme is Umbrella Corp's reasoning for wreaking havoc on the world. The firm, seduced by greed and power, sees itself a biblical flood that will wipe out mankind, and that only rich ones will rise. "We can reboot our world in our image," says Dr Isaacs.<br />
In <i>2012 </i>(2009), the wealthy pay abhorrent sums to stay on a Noah's Ark to survive gargantuan natural disasters.<br />
<i>Resident Evil: The Final Chapter</i> moves like lightning, and all viewers will feel at the end is a <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The calm before the storm.<br />
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scratch on their cheeks.<br />
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<b>2 1/2 out of 5 stars</b><br />
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JLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02788910696619827090noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8130431216281269726.post-34791169289577578942017-01-18T09:08:00.002-08:002017-01-19T06:13:52.622-08:00The Bye Bye Man ... Say goodbye to itA FEW hours after I had seen <i>The Bye Bye Man</i>, I had forgotten about it. In fact, I had forgotten that I <br />
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had even gone to the movies. That's how exciting director Stacy Title's haunted house flick is, and not even the cameo by veteran actress Faye Dunaway can save it.<br />
The screenplay is co-written by her husband Jonathan Penner and based on the book<i> The Bridge To Body Island. </i><br />
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<i>The Bye Bye Man</i> is uninteresting because the scares and ideas come from a multitude of horror films. An evil spirit, who looks like Voldermort from the Harry Potter films, haunts those who say his name (Bye Bye Man) out loud. Voldermort can then manipulate what they see and hear and turn them against their friends.<br />
As usual, funny things happen to three varsity mates in Wisconsin who move into a rustic and isolated double-storey home. Why do funny things happen only when new people move into a home?<br />
Tall and lanky Elliot (tall and lanky Canadian Douglas Smith), who received a scholarship to go to <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Prince Harry's ex Cressida Bonas shows off her treasured chest.</td></tr>
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university, moves into the home with skinny blonde girlfriend Sasha (Cressida Bonas, an ex of Prince Harry). They are accompanied by handsome and muscular friend John (Lucien Laviscount).<br />
Elliot's brother, Virgil (Michael Trucco), tells him he should be studying instead of partying as the former got a scholarship.<br />
Elliot, meanwhile, tells his elder brother that he wants what the latter has: a wife and kid. Their parents died in an accident when they were young.<br />
Things start to go awry soon after, and the rest of the story is about preventing people from saying the name Bye Bye Man out loud. A person in the throes of the Bye Bye Man will repeatedly say: "Don't think it. Don't say it."<br />
The scares are nondescript. The people at the house notice funny things, and, as usual, they can't get a good night's sleep. They rush about seeking answers to their dilemma, and this even takes them to the varsity library. Ha ha. At least they put it to good use.<br />
Elliott talks about the Bye Bye Man using people's fear to strengthen itself.<br />
We shouldn't think about this film or say its name, lest we end up watching more ghastly flicks like it.<br />
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<b>2 out of 5 stars</b><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiykGuUpFz_faSbZD70ZHxftcp54OlX0dKhHuOXGcL_4bZx0SuF-hM25GdqSDX4xDuglnfxGdKWAmWnayFU920PkAMr4oDshFDC2L_QT47zR5J9cMueEWV81hZmil-Ui4f1DtlJbyLn9Vk/s1600/the+bye+bye+man+c.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiykGuUpFz_faSbZD70ZHxftcp54OlX0dKhHuOXGcL_4bZx0SuF-hM25GdqSDX4xDuglnfxGdKWAmWnayFU920PkAMr4oDshFDC2L_QT47zR5J9cMueEWV81hZmil-Ui4f1DtlJbyLn9Vk/s1600/the+bye+bye+man+c.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">No more criticism, says Douglas Smith. </td></tr>
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JLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02788910696619827090noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8130431216281269726.post-89060845583827168032017-01-12T21:31:00.001-08:002017-01-13T12:51:41.308-08:00Patriots Day ... Love is good, but why did bombers do it?<b>EVERYONE</b> would have heard of the Boston Marathon bombings on April 15, 2013. The<i> New Straits </i><br />
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<i>Times</i> newspaper in Malaysia provided indepth coverage of the event, right up to the capture of one of the two bombers in a boat in the Boston suburb of Watertown four days later.<br />
Director Peter Berg's film is a dramatisation of the event from the hours before the bombings to the capture. The bombings killed three people and injured 264.<br />
<a name='more'></a> Since people are familiar with what transpired, even if it's nearly four years later, what could Berg offer? Well, he dramatises how the authorities pored a multitude of evidence before releasing the pictures of the bombers.<br />
Berg, in his third collaboration with Mark Wahlberg, does action scenes well, and his dramatisation of the shootout between police and the two bombers in Watertown bears all the hallmarks he showered on <i>Lone Survivor</i> (2013) and <i>Deepwater Horizon </i>(2016). I felt as if I was one the neighbours in the street who witnessed the shootout.<br />
Wahlberg, while the poster child of this film, isn't the hero of this film. That award would go to the great city of Boston, which was called Boston Strong for its resilience in standing up to the attackers.<br />
Wahlberg plays the fictional Boston police Detective Sergeant Tommy Saunders, who is at the <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjftwTzjkYNbtAuooF-NCjF_4E91qCc8K4YUhj2srHKixa3s_uCzy8_oF3GfrLdnA9RFmAaNEjBYRmwNgCa5e7FYwQyXx5RaoL7PuqFy3jM6mlla2-VD_xuEpuPjHIugg8JWHqBqQ6pHI0/s1600/patriots+day+b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjftwTzjkYNbtAuooF-NCjF_4E91qCc8K4YUhj2srHKixa3s_uCzy8_oF3GfrLdnA9RFmAaNEjBYRmwNgCa5e7FYwQyXx5RaoL7PuqFy3jM6mlla2-VD_xuEpuPjHIugg8JWHqBqQ6pHI0/s320/patriots+day+b.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mark Wahlberg and Michelle Monaghan play <br />
a fictional couple in 'Patriots Day'.</td></tr>
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finishing line of the marathon to witness the bombings, help the FBI identify the bombers using CCTVs, and even be called upon to check out the aforementioned boat.<br />
A historical drama like this follows a certain path that viewers are familiar with. Viewers are introduced to some of the characters, for example, a married couple whose legs were amputated after the bombings, an MIT campus security guard who would later be shot dead by one of the brothers, a student from China whose black Mercedes SUV was carjacked with him in it, and the two bombers: Tamerlan Tsarnaev (Themo Melikidze), 26, and his younger brother Dzhokhar, 19.<br />
The two brothers spent part of their childhoods in the former Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan but lived in the US for about a decade prior to the bombings. They planned and carried out the attack on their own and were not linked to any terrorist group. Dzhokhar was sentenced to death in May 2015.<br />
Both brothers get equal time but it's the American-accented and big-eyed Dzhokhar who will leave a lasting impression on you.<br />
Berg directs the film competently, but Wahlber's presence hampers the film because his role is <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kevin Bacon, Wahlberg and John Goodman <br />
pore over evidence.</td></tr>
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becoming all too familiar in a Berg film.<br />
His background story, for example, his suspension from being a detective and him telling another officer about his wife, is a distraction and doesn't add anything worthy to the film.<br />
I empathise with what the city and country experienced, and even shed tears watching the carnage and the resilience of amputees in the film.<br />
But Wahlberg's character says something that got me thinking: We can't defeat them; we can only respond with love, and this is repeated at the end of the film.<br />
Berg, one of the writers of the film, should have asked why the brothers committed their dastardly act. It's easy to say that the US will respond with love whenever there's an attack on Americans. But wouldn't it have been better if Berg had triggered a debate on why people detest America and want to attack its citizens? The easy answers of "jealousy" and "hate" don't cut it anymore.<br />
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2 1/2 out of 5 stars<br />
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<br />JLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02788910696619827090noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8130431216281269726.post-28340077305613610012017-01-10T08:39:00.004-08:002017-01-10T08:46:15.604-08:00Elle ... Huppert carries sexually-charged film ISABELLE Huppert's performance is a tour de force in Dutch director Paul Verhoeven's disturbing and yet engrossing French film <i>Elle </i>(She). Watching Huppert navigate elite French society, dealing with people's negative reaction to her, and gaining the upper hand in her sexual liaisons is worth your admission ticket.<br />
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Huppert, 63, won the best performance by an actress in a film (drama) at the Golden Globes on Jan 8 for her role in <i>Elle</i>. She casts a spell on you from the first to the last scene. I watched the film twice on consecutive days and was enthralled by her performance.<br />
<a name='more'></a> The late film critic Roger Ebert says Huppert often plays repressed, closed-off and sexually alert women. "Many of her roles involve women it is not safe to scorn."<br />
In <i>Elle</i>, Huppert plays Michèle Leblanc, 49, the co-owner and founder of a video game design firm that entertains people's rape and violent fantasies. She wants the blood that oozes from an orc attacking a nubile woman to feel warm. This comes days after she has been raped at her opulent home in which she lives alone in Paris.<br />
The rape scene opening the film is abrupt and shocking. Viewers hear loud grunts, as if they're uttered in the throes of passionate lovemaking, but will recoil at the sight of Michèle on the floor being slapped hard in the face by a ski mask-wearing attacker.<br />
What is even more surprising is her nonchalance after the attack. She cleans up the broken glass, <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvSAbYCI5Jv9hrHwOhgfoFlymO4uyWl-VbQSyYcWB9L3V0uWWZq_v0NyPCCZkouZOZ81hJpGDAkIn_7nmqXHOHOWWQD5j3OgY57L3sXb-Ay_PH-_e2TNZYH-Gpt0X0HOuX6EP93SYtj3g/s1600/elle+film+c.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvSAbYCI5Jv9hrHwOhgfoFlymO4uyWl-VbQSyYcWB9L3V0uWWZq_v0NyPCCZkouZOZ81hJpGDAkIn_7nmqXHOHOWWQD5j3OgY57L3sXb-Ay_PH-_e2TNZYH-Gpt0X0HOuX6EP93SYtj3g/s1600/elle+film+c.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Isabelle Huppert flirts with handsome rich neighbour <br />
Laurent Lafitte in 'Elle'.</td></tr>
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dumps her blouse and takes a bath, noticing a splotch of red blood that rises to the surface of the bubbles. She then orders takeaway food, asking what's a holiday roll.<br />
She doesn't report the rape to the police, considering her experience with them. Her Christmas dinner table is filled with a menagerie of titillating characters, but some may find them too much to absorb.<br />
Her elderly mother, Irène (Judith Magre), encourages her to visit her jailbird father, 76, who killed 23 people 39 years ago when she was 10. A parole hearing rekindles people's disdain for her and her mum. The mother lives with a toyboy.<br />
* Her penniless author ex-husband is dating a nubile graduate student-cum-yoga instructor.<br />
* Her 20-something son Vincent (Jonas Bloquet) is an ex-weed dealer now doting on his "psycho" and "lunatic" heavily-pregnant girlfriend Josie (Alice Isaaz).<br />
* Her handsome broker neighbour Patrick (Laurent Lafitte) and his blonde staunchly Catholic wife Rebecca (Virginie Efira), and<br />
* Her business partner Anna (Anne Consigny) and her husband Robert (Christian Berkel), with whom she's been having an affair for about eight months.<br />
If the rape is not traumatic enough, the rapist then taunts her with demeaning messages: "I found <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqsYL2yuM_eBtrjodL7GbA7-SOSyuAnXDQT7e6fX4On2fYLTuQBpLoniYEjFW-FgReDx5g_KLcn4cvV2SZC4aoNrKwBP1ZRFXshC-0v2rNSt62EjylTA1toDh41lL56lgrABGjUzN7mcI/s1600/elle+film+b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqsYL2yuM_eBtrjodL7GbA7-SOSyuAnXDQT7e6fX4On2fYLTuQBpLoniYEjFW-FgReDx5g_KLcn4cvV2SZC4aoNrKwBP1ZRFXshC-0v2rNSt62EjylTA1toDh41lL56lgrABGjUzN7mcI/s1600/elle+film+b.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Huppert checks out an employee.</td></tr>
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you tight (etroitee)." It's not mentioned how he got her phone number.<br />
A hack at her office leads to someone attaching her face to the victim in the violent rape fantasy video game, and when she finds out who did it, her response is even more surprising.<br />
A lesser woman would have been crushed under the weight of these problems, but Michèle thrives in these situations.<br />
She has time to visit her ex-husband's new squeeze and also visit an apartment eyed by her son and his girlfriend. She has time to get in shooting practice, visit a store to get pepper spray and counsel her mum about shacking up with her toyboy.<br />
Where she gets the energy and mental fortitude to go through her day is beyond my imagination.<br />
<b><i>(Spoilers ahead)</i></b><br />
Her dalliance with the texting rapist is particularly interesting.<br />
After she discovers his identity, she goes back to him. She lies down without a fight, but he can't get into the mood because he didn't overpower her with force.<br />
Her consent for him to rape her has taken away his desire to commit the crime. So she slaps him to <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">She has an axe to grind.</td></tr>
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compel him to do the deed.<br />
Verhoeven, the director of sex-laced films such as <i>Basic Instinct</i>, could be saying that men desire to inflict fear on women through violence, and that receiving consent takes the fun out of it.<br />
Another question viewers may have is Michèle's reasons for doing it. It could be because she was linked to her mass-murderer father since the age of 10. It could also be because her ex-husband had beaten her.<br />
Viewers won't take their eyes away from the glimmering Huppert. Her wide-eyed innocence and milky skin, coupled with her strong attitude and willingness to cross sexual boundaries, make <i>Elle </i>a film that will stir up uncomfortable thoughts in you.<br />
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<b>4 out of 5 stars</b><br />
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JLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02788910696619827090noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8130431216281269726.post-72068087580892064392017-01-09T02:12:00.002-08:002017-01-09T02:12:40.007-08:00His Girl Friday ... Snappy dialogue but obsequious female roleWOW. That's how I felt after watching director Howard Hawks's <i>His Girl Friday</i>, with the witty <br />
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repartee between Cary Grant's newspaper editor Walter Burns and Rosalind Russell's reporter ex-wife Hildy Johnson leaving me breathless and wanting more.<br />
There was hardly a moment's silence in this 92-minute comedic black-and-white 1940 film. The characters talk incessantly, never giving others the opportunity to interject. The back-and-forth dialogue is a joy to watch and listen, and I wish there were more films like that nowadays.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
I refer to the title of the film, which is a reference to Man Friday, the loyal servant in Daniel Defoe's 1719 novel <i>Robinson Crusoe</i>.<br />
Wikipedia says Crusoe names the man, with whom he cannot initially communicate, Friday, because they meet on that day. The expression Man Friday describes a male personal assistant or servant, especially one who is competent or loyal.<br />
In the film, Hildy, who has been divorced from Walter for four months, goes to his bustling newsroom to tell him that she's going to marry bland insurance agent Bruce Baldwin (Ralph Bellamy). At the same time, a man sentenced to be hanged the next day is about to become the story of the day.<br />
So viewers have to two story lines. The first is Walter's attempt to convince Hildy <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell talk up a storm. <br />Notice Rosalind's busy dress.</td></tr>
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to remarry him before she leaves town to get married the next day, and the second is Hildy and Walter's attempt to save an a man from being hanged and break the biggest story in two years.<br />
The title is a racist reference to an obsequious servant, so Hildy, who is Walter's protegee and best reporter, is Walter's subjugated servant.<br />
At the end of the film, Hidly happily returns to Walter's arms, even carrying a heavy bag with glee.<br />
The snappy dialogue-laden film conveys the message that a strong and smart woman's role is to work for a man who doesn't appreciate her.<br />
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JLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02788910696619827090noreply@blogger.com0