[Movie] Far From the Madding Crowd

Rating: 8.5/10 (breakdown: 2.5+3+3, see scoring guideline here)

Far From the Maddening Crowd turned out to be the only movie I watched on my flight back to Boston from Chile, and it was not a waste of time. I’ve heard good reviews from it and having Carey Mulligan as one of the leads was a bonus for me. Despite its classical setting (which did not appeal to me initially), I was drawn to the plot and thought it was very well-paced. I even shed a few tears at the ending, which was very much predicted yet still touching.

*Spoilers Alert*

The most praiseworthy aspect of this movie was the performance of Carey Mulligan. She captured the subtle emotions of Bathsheba very well (that is, of a woman who is independent yet susceptible to brazen demonstrations of love from other men). I think Mulligan is made for this role, because she has this very genuine smile that displays the innocent and strong side of the main character, while at the same time showing fleeting expressions of fear and anxiety that indicate her weaker moments.

Aside from a strong cast, the movie also fared well in terms of pacing its plot. There was a little taste of suspense as we tried to guess which of the three suitors Bathsheba would end up with. And it was not until the very last moment we see Bathsheba and Gabriel finally expressing their affections to each other, which I saw coming from early on in the movie but still wept when I saw the final scenes. Since I’ve never read the original Thomas Hardy’s classic, there were quite a few plot twists that got me going (like Gabriel’s sheep jumping off the cliff and the Sergeant’s “return from death”).

Finally, cinematography of this movie was very well done–it had dazzling panoramic shots of the countryside, while making good use of certain color highlights (like the red soldier uniform of the Sergeant). And I thought despite living by herself for quite some time, Bathsheba has always managed to dress impeccably.

[Movie] Boyhood

Rating: 9/10 (breakdown: 3+3+3, see scoring guideline here)

Since I’m such a big fan of the Before Sunrise/Sunset/Midnight trilogy plus I’ve heard way too many good recommendations for this movie, I just have to watch it. I never got the chance to watch it in the theaters so I downloaded and watched it sporadically during my finals week (my excuse: study breaks). True to the rumors, this movie is as epic as it seems to be. Aside from the crazy fact that this movie took 12 years with the same core cast to shoot, it is the most genuine and down-to-earth movie I’ve seen so far.

**Spoilers Alert**

There’s nothing quite like Boyhood in the cinematic world. Ethan Hawke joked that when he and Linklater first thought of the idea, they thought some Russian guy must have already done it, but no. The closest resemblance I can think of is Forrest Gump, which also threads through several decades following the growth of the main character. However, as much as I appreciate Forrest Gump, its plot is intentional and artificially dramatic–true, it can take you alongside a fictional character who can teach you much wisdom, but how many people can confidently say that they identify with Forrest? On the other hand, this question can be easily answered by viewers of Boyhood. There’s part of us that identify with Mason (Ellar Coltrane) or Samantha (Lorelei Linklater) at some point during their 12-year growth. For me, it came at the very end, when Nicole (this girl who went hiking with Mason) said:

You know how everyone’s always saying seize the moment? I don’t know, I’m kind of thinking it’s the other way around, you know, like the moment seizes us.

We don’t catch up with life anymore; it’s more like life gives us a ride and we should savor the ups and downs instead of anticipating too much.

Since the movie runs on a natural flow, there aren’t too many quotable lines like the Before trilogy, but its improvisation is what makes it so imperfect that it’s perfect in reflecting the reality. I’m sure most of us had, at one point or another through the movie, wished the father and the mother would get back together. But instead the movie chose the hard path and we saw the mother (Patricia Arquette) going through several husbands before finally settling down with herself and the father starting a brand new family. We also see the mother using harsh words on her kids without any sugarcoating and the kids, inconsiderate as they always are, arguing back when they feel the right to and almost too eager to leave their mom. In other words, the movie is not at all about what one “should do” in order to teach us a lesson like Forrest Gump, but instead acts as a mirror through which we can be the spectators of our own lives and evaluate upon that.

The other really fun part of this movie is how we get to see Mason and Samantha grow into teenagers and finally pre-adults in college. I took screenshots throughout the movie both to keep track and flip through after finishing the movie. And here are some of them:

 

This is from one of the first scenes and it cracks me up to see the first Apple computers so bulk some 🙂

 

Samantha was played by Linklater’s daughter, Lorelei. And her Britney Spears dance was gold!

 

In the background, news reels of 9/11 was playing.

 

When the kids got their first new dad, who turned out to be an abusive drunk.

 

Then Samantha went through her rebellious high school years…

 

The kids visited their father’s new family and Mason celebrated his 16th birthday.

n

 

Mason got into the art of photography.

 

Mason finally graduated from high school and the family gathered to take a picture.

 

And this is one of the final scenes, in which we again meet the Mexian plumber who thanked the mother for telling him to go to school.

[Movie] Interstellar

In case you’ve missed it, I’ve written 50 movie reviews so far and published a roundup in which I listed all my 50 reviews according to their scores (highest–> lowest). I’ve found my scoring system quite fair when I’m comparing movies against one another, so I’ll continue using the same system in my future reviews.

Thank you for those who have been following my blog–you rock! Also thanks for those who took the time to glimpse through some of my reviews 🙂

Rating: 9.5/10 (breakdown: 2.5+3+3+1, see scoring guideline here)

Where should I begin to describe this movie? I’ve actually watched this almost a month ago, but never found the right moment to write all my feelings down. I cried so much during this movie, which was totally unexpected because 1) I never cry in theaters, 2) I never cry in front of my friends (except for maybe under 3 times), and 3) I haven’t cried in a while. I also ran into my high school friend afterwards, which made the whole thing rather embarrassing haha. Christopher Nolan definitely met my expectations and went beyond. I’m looking forward to watch this movie again. This time hopefully I get a better seat than the first row lol.

**Spoilers Alert**

This movie probably tackles the two most complex and intriguing topics in science fiction: time-traveling and space-traveling. Yet it manages to combine and explore both topics in depth (as for clarity, it can be over the head sometimes). Although the plot can be difficult to follow sometimes, but at least the pace kept the movie going at an interesting enough pace. The emotional contents of this movie were charging. I was most impressed by the part when Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) and Brand (Anne Hathaway) came back from their first planet and lost some 20 years in the process, and Cooper was going through all the videos his son and daughter have sent him. I bawled my eyes out during that part, because I’ve never felt traveling into the future can be so disconcerting and involve so much loss. I later talked with a friend about my thoughts on this part and he said he used to tell his dad he really wanted to travel to the future and his dad said one time how it could be so lonely, devoid of friends and family and you would wander by yourself and not know yourself anymore.

The multitude of characters was also quite something. From the self-absorbed yet guilt-striken antagonist Dr. Mann (Matt Damon) to the conflicted and betrayed daughter/scientist Brand, this movie also manage to explore many facets of the human nature without too much generalization.

The plot has unpredictable elements, especially the twists with Dr. Mann and Professor Brand (Michael Caine), but it can be cheesy at times. Brand’s spiel on why love was important got my friend and I rolling our eyes. Nolan could have done better with these moments. Nevertheless, I like how the plot came around in a loop, much like the new cylindrical world they’ve built at the end of the movie.

The logistics of this movie were.. beyond stellar. All the data and physics knowledge involved were calculated accurately (we can see how much Nolan cared about getting things right), special effects were mind-blowing (the plane crashing scenes towards the beginning literally made me feel like I was in the actual scene, so if you have the chance, watch it in IMAX!), and the endless corn fields and the ceaseless sand storms were all too surreal and went really well with the idea of vastness that threaded throughout this movie.

[Movie] The Piano Teacher

In case you’ve missed it, I’ve written 50 movie reviews so far and published a roundup in which I listed all my 50 reviews according to their scores (highest–> lowest). I’ve found my scoring system quite fair when I’m comparing movies against one another, so I’ll continue using the same system in my future reviews.

Thank you for those who have been following my blog–you rock! Also thanks for those who took the time to glimpse through some of my reviews 🙂

Rating: 7.5/10 (breakdown: 2+3+2.5, see scoring guideline here)

I’ve heard of this movie for as long as I could think of and had to watch it in segments because of time constraints/busy schedule at school. Nevertheless, it was a thrilling movie and a lot of psychological dramas were going on. Isabelle Huppert’s performance, needless to say, was phenomenal and a cult classic.

**Spoilers Alert**

The very beginning of this movie delineates the complex mother-daughter relationship that threads through everything. The Mother (no name was given, played by Annie Girardot) was overbearing, overprotective, a control freak, but nevertheless loved her daughter beyond limits. It was the kind of love that could drown you and suffocate you and drive you crazy, and that was exactly what happened to Erika (Isabelle Huppert), who tried freeing herself in unconventional ways (including peeing while watching a couple having sex in a car, going to porn movie stalls and smelling semen from used tissue balls from the waste basket etc). However, all this came to a stop when Erika met Walter (Benoît Magimel). Walter came into her life as a fresh, strong blow of force, not to mention that he was dedicated, talented, and attractive. My favorite scene in this movie was when Walter leaned over the bathroom stall–it’s almost like a literal metaphor: him reaching over Erika’s indestructible wall around her and trying to connect with her.

The relationship between Walter and Erika was the most tumultuous I’ve seen in movies thus far, even more psychological than the one in Basic Instinct. As the old saying goes, it takes two to clap–Walter and Erika kept on playing the cat-and-mouse chasing game towards the very end. The ending was also one of the most chilling and bleakest one I’ve seen so far.

One thing worth noting was the changes in Erika’s clothing throughout the movie, they reflected well with her physiological and emotional states.

[Movie] Birdman

Rating: 9/10 (breakdown: 3+3+3, see scoring guideline here)

This movie seriously has EVERYTHING: an inexhaustible pace, a stellar cast, some beyond imaginable actings… all this brought to the next level with some fantastical elements that can always leave us something to think about when we leave the theater at the end of the day. I was genuinely impressed, and even though I didn’t feel very connected with the characters, I felt I’ve definitely took an exhilarating journey with them through the art of theater and acting.

**Spoilers Alert**

One of the things that really stood out to me from this movie was the incessant drum beats in the background (which seemed to pace the movie throughout) and its incredible acting. It’s kind of ironic, since the movie is also on acting and there was this amazing scene in which Mike (Edward Norton) and Riggan (Michael Keaton) talked about acting and finally acted out (did I mention this was amazing?) this dialogue from Raymond Carver’s short story collection What Do We Talk About When We Talk About Love. You can watch an NYTimes video on how the director orchestrated this scene here.

Edward Norton, as usual, did a top notch job of playing an arrogant yet superbly talented actor who could only live in reality on the stage and lose himself when he’s off stage. Norton has actually played quite a few roles as an arrogant alpha male, like in American History X and in The Italian Job. Michael Keaton, whom I’ve never heard of until this movie, literally blew my mind. His depictions of Riggan were phenomenal, especially when he was struggling with the two voices in his head: one that’s telling him to go back to superhero blockbusters and the other urging him to pursue real arts in the theater. Other big names, including Naomi Watts, Emma Stone, and Zach Galifianakis, all did great jobs. One thing that I thought could be better was the fleeting romance between Mike and Sam (Emma Stone). I thought it would be cute, but it didn’t get developed much and was a bit awkward to be honest.

The angle with which this movie uses is very dynamic: it’s never stable and always following someone or waiting for something to approach. I also like the montage towards the end of a asteroid crashing through the sky, a beach littered with dead jellyfish, among others. It’s a blend of grandeur and disaster, which was what Riggan’s life like. When he lived in his inner “Birdman” voice, he felt grand and admired, and when he lived in the reality, he felt motivated yet humiliated. Sometimes these antagonizing elements crashed with each other and Riggan’s reality and stage life were blended into one (the same happened to almost all the characters in this movie).

The fantastical elements incorporated in this movie were ingenious. They were like magical realism in literature–bizarre, supernatural things happening without any discrepancy from the reality presented in the movie. My favorite part is probably the ending, in which Sam walked into an empty hospital room, only to end up gazing up in the sky with a growing smile (presumably Riggan was flying again).

[Movie] Volver

Rating: 7/10 (breakdown: 2+2.5+2.5, see scoring guideline here)

It’s my first time watching Penelope Cruz using her native tongue and it’s definitely very different from Vicky Cristina Barcelona, her other movie I’ve watched. Although this movie has mainly female characters, they came out as strong and independent characters that echo well with the female empowerment sentiment these days.

**Spoilers Alert**

The plot is full of conniving twists, which I think might be typical of Spanish movies (I’m not an expert on this, but I’m saying this based on the Spanish movies I’ve watched thus far). There involves several incests, a dead mother returning alive, another mother gone missing, yet without any supernatural component. It also has quite a lot of comical moments, like Tía Paula with her enlarged eyes and diminishing wits, and Sole with her over-exaggerated facial expressions whenever Raimunda comes to visit. The only problem I had was with the ending–all ended too quickly and too happily and within expectations.

Penelope Cruz did a wonderful job playing a daughter who has a shameful secret in the past and a mother who has to shoulder the responsibilities of a drunk husband and a teenage daughter. There was a lot of crying, but I can feel her genuine emotions pouring out, especially in this scene in which she sings for both her mother and daughter.

The movie used some interesting angles when shooting and made conscious efforts to coordinate colors. For instance, in the scene in which we found out that the drunk husband was stabbed, Raimunda and her daughter Paula were both wearing red and needlessly to say, there was a lot of red when they were trying to clean up the body.

[Movie] 22 Jump Street

Rating: 6/10 (breakdown: 2+2+2, see scoring guideline here)

Since Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill are two of my all-time favorite actors, it is no surprise that 22 Jump Street is listed in my to-watch list. I mildly enjoyed 21 Jump Street and want to see how far this comedy sequel can go. It turned out that it didn’t fall below my expectations and I had quite a few good laughs.

*Spoiler Alert*

To some extent this movie reminds me  lot of Jonah Hill’s Superbad, since both movies explore the implications of a bromance when people start drifting apart. Continuing the plot from 21 Jump Street, Jenko (Channing Tatum) and Schmidt (Jonah Hill) were assigned to infiltrate a college to get the source of a new kind of drug. The plot is quite predictable, but it’s more about the laughs. The movie also tried a few interesting cuts, in particular the scene in which Jenko and Schmidt were both having trips from the drug but experiencing totally opposite worlds and of course Schmidt is the one to have the bad trip 😛

The scenes can be a little overdone at times: for instance, towards the end there was a helicopter scene that’s just in for the drama. Maybe my experience would have been better if I’d watched it in a big theater instead of on a computer screen lol. The ending credits were pretty cool: there were a lot of surprise cameos and themes for potential Jump Street sequels.

[Movie] Gone Girl

Rating: 9/10 (breakdown: 3+3+3, see scoring guideline here)

I have huge expectations for this movie, since it’s directed by David Fincher and there were so many raves about the bestseller that this movie is based on. Surprisingly, this movie exceeds all my expectations and I left the movie theater more than shocked (in a good way).

**Spoilers Alert**

This movie excels on so many different levels. Let me just start with the fact that it dares to portray a female psychopath. The last psychopath I remember as well was either Norman Bates (Psycho) or Patrick Bateman (American Psycho). Depicting a female psychopath can be risky. It’s kind of going along with the stereotypical female narrative–a woman who wants attention, likes to dramatize her life, and manipulates all those around her. But Gone Girl includes another line of narrative that cannot be neglected: Amy’s real diary entries and her inner voice that Fincher so skillfully threads together with the proceedings of the missing person case (I think part of it might also be how well-organized the book is, even though I have yet to read it.. but I definitely will!). From Amy’s narrative, we see how her marriage with Nick disintegrates and how she might think of this entire elaborate plan to make herself disappear and place the blame and guilt on her own husband. We rarely see that side revealed in many other movie villains. The biggest challenge that this movie poses us is whom to trust: Amy or Nick. Amy is psychotic, yes, but she has her reasons. Nick is a terrible cheater, but definitely does not deserve such a big punishment. The game that Amy and Nick are playing with each other is sick yet fascinating. It’s almost like a hyperbole of what many married couple face: insecurity, dissatisfaction, and how quickly a couple in love can turn against each other in such deadly ways.

I’ve never heard of Rosamund Pike before, but she is an actress to watch out for in the future. Pike did a terrific job in this movie, playing the perfect sweetheart and the cold-blooded psychopath at the same time. Her complexions in this movie are just perfect–her arched eyebrows are always challenging and questioning us on our judgements of her and the plots she’s scheming. Ben Affleck also did a convincing job of portraying the jerk husband Nick, probably because of his natural smugness 😛

There is one scene I have to include here. When I watched it, my mouth literally hung open for a good 5 minutes. To be honest, I’ve read the plot on Wikipedia before and more or less know what’s going to happen. But this scene, oh man, this scene completely took me off guard. The scene I’m talking about is when Amy slits Desi’s throat (btw, Desi is played by Neil Patrick Harris, which I find very funny). It’s very Basic Instinct–in the sense that it’s in almost the same sequence: weapon under the pillow, violent sex, even more violent death while the victim is approaching an orgasm, and lots and lots of blood. Compared to Basic Instinct, Fincher definitely magnified the shock value in his own version–he was not shy with the amount of blood shown and even had Amy covered in blood for a good amount of time (I think because of this scene, this movie is borderlining the horror genre). It’s probably the most evocative movie scene I’ve seen thus far.

[Movie] The Maze Runner

Rating: 6.5/10 (breakdown: 2+1.5+3, see scoring guideline here)

Bored on a Friday night, my friends and I went to watch The Maze Runner, of which I’ve seen the trailer before and was slightly interested. I kind of saw this movie as another of those Divergent-esque teenager dystopia sic-fi flick, and to some extent it is. However, I do have to admit the ending came as a pleasant surprise and I enjoyed the suspense of this movie overall.

**Spoilers Alert**

The story follows when Thomas (Dylan O’Brien) got sent into “the maze.” Throughout the entire movie, we are kept in the dark about why the maze exists, why only boys are sent in, and why there are those horrible creatures called “grievers” wandering in the maze. The suspense kept me at the edge of my seat, but I was a bit more than disappointed and confused when I found out that the ending does not really address these issues. The ending itself, however, is not something I would have guessed and nicely (also at the same time making sense logically) paved for the sequel.

One major issue I have with the movie is its lack of unique characters. The main character, Thomas, is a pretty generic brave dude who can be a little impulsive (but somehow gets away with a lot of things, like killing a “griever” for the first time and dodging a bullet that actually ends up killing one of his best friends). I also don’t see the point of plugging in a girl in the movie, since she does not really bring about any plot development and no romance is ever even slightly hinted at. The other boys just all blur into a mass and I wasn’t able to keep track of many, except for the one Asian face (which I though was kind of random since there was only one of him, but maybe I’m just super racially conscious).

The cinematography is applaudable. The maze seems truly intimidating and the  “grievers” are not only disgusting with their dripping mucus but also quite terrifying with their tiny sharp teeth filing up the lining of their mouths. Also I know this movie is supposed to have very few laughable moments, but for some reason my audience (and I personally) think that the movie is super funny, especially with Will Poulter’s hater face in the corner all the time. 

It’s just that I find it so different to see him as a big bully here in this movie instead of the slow-witted innocent guy in We’re the Millers 😀

[Movie] Pompeii

Rating: 4.5/10 (breakdown: 1+1.5+2, see scoring guideline here)

I found this movie on my 12-hour plane ride back to the States from Israel and decided to check it out because Kit Harington is in it. I love his role of Jon Snow in Game of Thrones and want to see how he does in a movie. So it’s a pity that this movie is very loose and does not showcase his acting skills but rather his unbelievable ab muscles (can we also see them when he’s serving in the Night’s Watch?).

**Spoilers Alert**

I guess the main point of this movie is the romance between Milo (Kit Harington) and Cassia (Emily Browning), but this romance is forced at best. They’ve barely met before the disaster strikes and instead of running away together (which would have been romantic at least) they choose to go back, which results in Milo getting whipped fifty times (Yikes!). I also think the movie did a terrible job doing the right accent. Some of the characters just outright speak with a blatant American accent while others do English ones. I don’t think the movie is trying to do a modern version of what happened in Pompeii, so I was at a loss when all the accents sound super modern.

Despite the face that this movie tries to explain the background stories of the main characters, I feel pretty indifferent towards them. The cinematography, as tend to be in movies trying to recreate an epic event, is nicely done, but I couldn’t feel the immensity of it just because I was watching on a super small screen on the plane :P.