Wacking out

The Wackness ( 2008 )

Top-billed among popular movie blog sites as The Movie Where Gandhi Sucks Face With That Olsen Twin, ‘The Wackness’ really IS that movie and a lot more. In the same vein as most coming-of-age movies, ‘The Wackness’ contains the usual ingredients of teenage angst tragicomedies set to a Manhattan ’90s summer backdrop.

There is definitely an autobiographical feel to this slightly maudlin drama, and it’s exactly the kind of storytelling that shows more love for the writer’s own material rather than reaching out to its audience. Josh Peck’s portrayal of the low-key teen Luke Shapiro is fun to watch (but delivers the oddest lines no human would ever say) and Ben Kingsley effortlessly steals every scene as Dr. Squires- a psychiatrist with more issues than all his patients combined. But with each ensuing scene, Peck’s character becomes less and less likeable- and so does the whole movie. Surreal elements stick out; and at the end of it all, it’s come down to the same material we’ve seen before- just lensed a different way. Shapiro’s eventual transformation isn’t rewarding, nor is it moving. In fact it stays true to the film’s nature. Uhmm, now that’s wack, yo.

Even YOU could paint that

My Kid Could Paint That (2007): 4/5

look mommy - art!

My Kid Could Paint That is one of those ‘art’ films premiered at last year’s Sundance Film Fest. If I wanted to intend the pun, then yes, it is a film about art. A documentary to be precise. Marla Olmstead is a 4 year old whose paintings echo the works of Jackson Pollack and Picasso, and has garnered worldwide attention and became an instant phenomenon.

The subject matter of this documentary pretty much tackles something I know a lot of people would love to debate for hours on- art! While abstract expressionism may be considered by some to express the inner workings of our consciousness, others may see it as a scam. My Kid Could Paint That tackles drawing the line between ‘art’ and absurdity, inspiration and manipulation. It’s come down to an emperor’s new clothes practice as they tell us to forget aesthetics when there’s profound abstract-ness to appreciate. But at the end of this documentary, after much debacle, I think everyone agrees it’s all narrowed down to plain silliness and mere child’s play.

$300,000 worth of paintings this 4 year old has sold, I mean geeeezz even I could paint that.

The world will never be without chickens

Pink Flamingos (1972): 3/5

nice dress

This movie is trailer trash at its finest, and a quintessential “exercise in bad taste”. It was a case of curiosity killing the cat that led me to finally watching this movie that’s been sitting in my DVD stack for quite some time now. Much like the “filthiest people alive” depicted in Pink Flamingos, this twisted little film has also garnered undeniable attention and notoriety for being the filthiest film ever.

A cult cinema classic and the epitome of outrageous cinema, John Waters’ Pink Flamingos is a bundle of cheap thrills and surreal visual gags that never ceases to disappoint. It’s awfully hard to swallow, yet so easy to get hooked. It’s sickening and disturbing yet all the same wildly entertaining (I think a part of me has already been incredibly desensitized as the whole movie struck me dumb funny). See it with an open mind and a strong stomach. Pink Flamingos encompasses superlatives; but to be brief, it was simply Divine!

Indy Phone Home

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008): 3/5

It’s hard to be a discerning moviegoer amidst the dozen of summer movies at hand,. especially with a movie this big invading theaters. Creators George Lucas and Steven Spielberg bring back the bona fide classic character we all know and love- Indiana Jones!

Opening credits. “I have a bad feeling about this”. A mix of emotions surface. There’s joy, despair, annoyance, and maybe frustration for some people. Wisecracks and whip-cracks, bugs and all sorts of creatures, Russians and guns, a greaser, a snake, and an old flame, area 51, psychic powers, great chase scenes, and impossible feats of physicality. Indy 4 in a nutshell.

Of course expect references to the old Indy episodes galore. But its controversial ending puts its viewers in a time warp, a la ‘Life of Brian’ (see this clip ) which makes us think twice about naming Indy the second most irrelevant summer blockbuster (next to Speed Racer).

It’s saddening knowing that we’ve lost some of Indy’s best adventures to time and something out of this world. However, In spite of everything bad I can say about this film, (as I type this Indy theme song plays in my head), and as much as I wanted to hate it, I’d have to admit that nostalgia still wins me over by a landslide

Tasty WKW

My Blueberry Nights (2007)

My Blueberry Nights (2007): 2.5/5

Sitting through the newest Wong Kar Wai film ‘My Blueberry Nights’ is like ending a meal with whatever dessert’s there to eat- it may not be what you’re craving for, it may not be all that good ,but hey any dessert is dessert. And before anything else, Norah Jones is a bad actress (‘bad’is an understatement) and the tried and tested WKW charm clearly doesn’t work in the English language.

It’s a film with expectedly beautiful cinematography as delicious as blueberry pie and visuals to make one slobber at the ingenious use of colors blue, red, and purple- but quite sadly, not to the advantage of the overall narrative. Unnatural screenplay + mediocre story+ endless ‘motion blur’ filming + annoying Natalie Portman sequence = there goes my blueberry afternoon.

August Trash

August Rush (2007)

August Rush (2007): 1/5

I knew I shouldn’t have had high expectations from this Oliver Twist-inspired Freddie Highmore starrer albeit the cutesy charming premise which sustained my interest in seeing this film for a good 10-11 months. (No wait, Jonathan Rhys Meyers was the reason you wanted to see this, ha ha) Now the long wait is finally over, and having already seen ‘August Rush’, I wish I had waited a bit longer- or wish I hadn’t seen it at all.

The pseudo-musical/fantasy/love story is about an orphaned musical prodigy Evan Taylor, a.k.a. August Rush (played by Highmore) and his perpetual quest to find his birth parents, a renown cellist Lyla (played by Keri Russell) and Irish rock star Louie (played by the terribly miscast Jonathan Rhys Meyers). While the story spans 11 years and all across New York and several other states, it’s the “music” that finally “brings them together”. Interesting plot but how very sad it wasn’t effectively exploited. In fact, I could name a hundred scenes in the movie that go past absurdity and into comic relief. ‘August Rush’ becomes even more tormenting to watch because of the genuine mawkishness in its dialogue (Robin Williams: “If you could choose any name in the world, what would it be?” Freddie Highmore: “Found”).

To cut the matter short, ‘August Rush’ is a feather!- it’s nice and clean, it’s lightweight for tickle-me-elmo moments, but at the same time it serves no real purpose and is basically just pretty to look at. The characters have no depth and the movie came to an awkward end without any real closure. But the one lesson we’re made to believe is this: One night stands can lead to happy endings!

The Blair-zombie project

The Zombie Diaries (2006)

The Zombie Diaries (2006): 3.5/5

It’s what the title says it is- a bunch of (video) diaries that chronicle a “virus” (zombie!) outbreak . Although the z-word is never mentioned in the film, the sub genre is really quite obvious while the audience has to accept that whatever happens, the person holding the camcorder will never ever drop it. It’s ‘Cloverfield’ set in London without the monster and ‘The Blair Witch Project’ with zombies. Anyway, there’s nothing really special about the film’s plot (what plot?) but it certainly gets interesting knowing that all 3 diaries start to cross over.

The ending becomes a rather pleasant surprise though; it has little to do with zombies and more to do with people- and that’s all I’ll give away. It’s not the best zombie movie I’ve seen but it’s very effective and consistent. I just wish they’d nix the film scoring as it totally ruined the realism. Realism- honestly, that’s the key word all throughout this film! There’s no storyline or main characters or attempts to cure the virus etc etc.- we simply watch a group of people react to this situation. And the result? Pure entertainment. Mwahaha

Clover-y fields forever

Cloverfield (2008)

Cloverfield (2008): 4/5

It certainly isn’t a milestone in contemporary filmmaking, nor is the story all that original. It’s far from perfect (nitpickers like myself will find a lot to well, pick) but the mystery and hype surrounding ‘Cloverfield’ definitely has its charms.

A harmless New Yorker yuppie farewell party goes amuck when a creature emerges without warning and wreaks havoc in the city. Don’t ask me what the monster looks like because honestly, I don’t remember. Just as well actually, because other filmmakers might have been tempted to cut away from the lead actors and allow more monster screentime- but not in Cloverfield.

When watching this movie, just remember: It doesn’t matter if it’s far from realistic (doh), it doesn’t matter if it’s geographically and physically inaccurate, if the shaky camera makes you wanna hurl, if the Statue of Liberty’s head looked so small; it doesn’t matter we didn’t get enough action from spider/lobster parasites- keep in mind it was intended to be a purely enjoyable roller coaster ride (to haters, admit it- you’ve been had!) but with a tasteful vague air of menace.

Oh, and just for the sake of nitpicking, what was with the nice soldier guy who lets them out the back door and totally explains everything to the convenience of the leads and audience — riiight!

Lusty Cautious-ness

Lust, Caution (2007)

Lust, Caution (2007): 5/5

The title says it all, really. In order to indulge in the former, they must give up being the latter, and in doing so we are thrown into a dark drama / espionage thriller. Set in WWII-era in Shanghai, a young college student gets mixed in a myriad of emotions with powerful political figure Mr. Yee (Tony Leung).

I had the pleasure of seeing this movie yesterday without knowing anything about its plot, and to those who are about to see it well, keep it that way in case you haven’t spoiled it for yourself yet. What got me was the strange iffy relationship between Mak tai tai (i am so forgetful of their names in the movie haha) and Mr. Yee..,it’s so dangerously wrong but you can’t overlook the subtle sweetness in it. it’s not a movie about endless trysts, nor is Lust, Caution a period flick. It straddles the fence between negative emotions of hate, lust, anger, frustration and sprinkles them all with excellent cinematography and a brilliant score. A rarity, this is!