Monday, January 23, 2006

lord of war

le seigneur de guerre. BASED ON ACTUAL EVENTS .. nicholas cage plays yuri the arms dealer, his wife ava fontaine played by bridgette moynahan, and jared leto plays vitaly the brother. and finally the government agent played by ethan hawke.

it is about an arms dealer living off the transgressions / wars between countries, dictators and the people he oppresses, and regular folks who have reason to buy a gun and use it. exploitation, corruption, oppression are explicitly shown in the film. almost everyone is corruptible. it is an ethical question. are arms dealers responsible? when they dont actually kill people. they just sell the means that people kill themselves or defend themselves. but is it not the same as selling drugs, alcohol, and to a largely remote degree fastfood?

i like the relationship between yuri and vitaly. where the brothers show solid confidence and loyalty, honesty to each other. it protays that yuri despite his business dealings of selling arms is still a human being. with the same desires and needs as any.

it touches briefly on the issue of arms in the states. where citizens have the right to bear arms. so that it might appear to be an anti-gun campaign film. but more importantly, it urges us to examine what kind of society we will be if citizens are allowed to have weapons. the arms dealer leads a rather complicated life. a double / triple / quadruple life. the story builds up into a judgement against him but overturns right at the end where he is eventually caught and gives out his biggest defense. i wont say here what hehehe.

rating 5 out of 5 *****
"evil prevails .."

Wednesday, January 18, 2006

Rare But Good CDs

Ever had a CD you love that hardly anyone has heard of? Here are a couple of my most treasured CDs in the collection. It's likely that any of them will be found in retail music shops. Their recording labels have either closed or discontinued new releases. Here's the list:

5. Marc Almond - The Stars We Are
I was a big Marc Almond fan in high school so this was the very first cassette tape I bought with my allowance. If you haven't heard his two songs: 'Bitter Sweet' and 'The Very Last Pearl', then you're in for a real treat. These are two of the best little-heard new wave songs ever and it evokes wonderful memories every time I hear them. Sixteen years later, I finally acquired the CD version and the music is still as good as it was back in high school.

From 'The Very Last Pearl':

Well I've seen the sights of New York
I've seen day become night
I've seen the Brooklyn Bridge
All covered in lights
I've dived to the depths
I've scaled the heights

Call me romantic
Call me deluded
I've had it all

I've seen a Mediterranean night
The ships on the sea
The most beautiful eyes in the world
And the saddest eyes in the world

Call me romantic
Call me deluded
But I didn't care at all

4. Frente! - Labour of Love EP

I had to scrounge through the amazon used CD resellers to get this rare Frente release. What makes this CD 'rare but good' is that it contains two little-known Frente songs that I consider some of their best work: 'Not Given Lightly' - a cute love ballad, and 'Paper, Bullets and Walls' - a folksy, angst-ridden, quirky song. Nicely done Frente. But what we really need is a new Angie Hart release.

We also reviewed it previously on dangerousreviewers.


3. For the Kids (various artists)
A children's CD makes the list? You bet! Well, this is a children's CD with some kickass covers of popular kiddie tunes song by none other than three of my favorite bands. There's a CAKE cover of 'Mahna Mahna', a Barenaked Ladies version of 'Lalalala Lemon', and a rendition of 'Good Night Children Everywhere' by Sixpence None the Richer. Add to that, the very best version of 'Rainbow Connection' I've heard, performed by Ms. Sarah Mclachlan herself. This ain't no kids album.


2. The Other Two - The Other Two and You

The Other Two are Gillian Gilbert and Stephen Morris, two of the lesser-known New Order band members who recorded an album on the side. And what an album it is! This was released sometime in 1994, when the popularity of new wave music had all but passed. I remember hearing the single 'Selfish' on the radio and thinking 'Holy.... new wave lives on!'. This song has string instruments, synth, cool vocals, and a smooth beat. One of my all time faves.

From 'Selfish':

Someone I hate,
she think she's great unless you state the obvious.
You're next to me, entirely let's wait and see

Someone like you, selfish it's true
All you can do it's play to see entirely you disagree

No sense of reason, you think it's true
Why did you have to believe them?
No sense of reason,
What do I have to do?
There's no one else
You're deceiving

The rest of the album is good too because of the high musical quality of tracks such as 'Innocence', 'Movin On', 'The Greatest Thing' and others. How can you not like a song that has 'The Greatest Thing' as its title? This album is the greatest thing. Well, maybe the second greatest thing, especially after you read my number one pick.

From 'Innocence':

It’ s not the city or this town
I’m not the only girl that needs your affection
To satisfy this need that you’re the same boy now and that’s what I want

Since the very start you took control of my heart
And in the very end you pretended to be my friend
But you could never see the innocence in me
The innocence in me

By the way, I intend to get their follow-up album Superhighways in the near future if I can find it.


1. The Lizard's Convention - Here's a Funny Fish, Hurrah!

This is the ultimate rare but good CD. No longer sold in stores after its japanese distributor, Pony Canyon folded. I still have the original CD I bought in the mid-90's when the group had a minor hit in some parts of Asia with their cover of the Elvis Presley song 'Wooden Heart'.

The Lizard's Convention is a Singaporean band composed of Leon Lim, Adrian Loo, and lead singer Kristine Oehler who has one pretty unique singing voice. Its two cover songs 'Wooden Heart' and 'Rock the Boat' are superior over the originals. You've got to hear Kristine's rendition of these songs, absolutely amazing. It has a power and chatty friendliness that is hard to describe.

And who can resist other cool tracks titled 'The Goat that Haunted Me', 'Pleasant Song', 'If Cows Grew on Trees', and 'La Di Da'. Very cool songs. Kids will love 'em because they are sweet sugary pop melodies that are immediately appealing to the senses. Adults will love 'em because this is high quality music performed by people who love creating music.

Shortly after The Lizard's Convention's brief bout with fame, the group kind of disappeared. They had troubles with their recording label, was forced to record their follow up albums on their own, each band member going their own separate way. I can't even find their mysterious second CD titled 'Quarkstar' (if anyone has seen it or has it, please leave a comment). Such a pity as this little-known Singaporean band was pretty good. We want more Lizards Convention!



If I can continue to collect more hidden gems such as these in the next ten years, I will be a very content man.

Batman Begins

This is a do-over of the previous Batman movie series that had gotten stale. Batman Begins is not bad. It's actually pretty good.

The first forty minutes of the movie is well-made. In fact, it's my favorite part. Essentially it provides the background story of how and why Bruce Wayne became The Batman. How he trained hard under a mysterious ninja organization that had Liam Neeson as one of its leaders. How his parents were murdered and how he dealt with it as a young heir. Great effort is made to make the reasons for his transformation believable to the viewer, as if it could actually happen. I liked the lines about fear, and how Wayne eventually learns to unleash it for his own purposes. A very entertaining extended opening sequence.

Such a fine intro, but the rest of the movie was kind of subdued. It felt a little bit uninspired, as if all the good ideas were used up in the opening scenes. Don't get me wrong, relatively this is still quite a movie. It was like the rest of the film was stuck in slow motion. The good parts were few and far in between. For instance, I liked the contrast between billionaire Bruce Wayne and The Batman, and the realization by Katie Holmes that he no longer is Wayne, he has become Batman. The Scarecrow is a fascinating villain as he enables victims to visualize their greatest fears.

I think this movie's main purpose is to set up the rest of the series. It introduces several key characters, sets up how Lieutenant Gordon develops into Commissioner one day, establishes Arkham Asylum as a future breeding ground for villains. And it reveals exactly which bad guy Batman will face in the sequel.

All in all, not bad. Just got boring and uninteresting in some parts. But hardcore fans will love this.

Rating: 3/5 * * *
Good intro. Promising setup for future sequels.

Sunday, January 15, 2006

north country

a mother was trying to earn a living for her and her family by taking on a job tradionally taken by men, at the mines. it immediately sets a clear backdrop of sexism at work. and her journey towards her liberation and along with it, the liberation of all women. its an important message especially for a country like ours which has a rather archaic view of women.

sexism can be as little and insignificant as a joke. it happens all the time and women are subject to it everyday. i can only imagine what it would be like for them. and the movie was clear to make that distinction. between a joke and a joke.

women are human beings. how difficult is that to understand. she is capable of doing anything she puts her mind on. that includes doing police work. fireman work. drive a car. teach. advocate. take care of the sick. lead a flock to worship. lead a country. we see proof of this in progressive socieities.

rating 3 out of 5
important message, but it lacked punch

Wednesday, January 11, 2006

narnia

narnia is a typical disney movie. there was no blood shed. and problems were magically whisked away by some powerful force that is beyond the world and undertanding.

the villains appeared ugly save for the witch who was enchanting. the heroes were valiant and noble looking. clear templates of what defines noble and not so noble. the villains were doomed and didnt have a chance. perpetuating yet again the myth of good and evil in the world.

i got a strong feeling that it fell short of showing a very good battle scene (potentially). like the ones in the lord of the rings. or with la coeur valiant. i didnt feel the same desperation as i did when i watched these other films. i wished that edmond had sticked to his true convictions. and that is to bring destruction to his meddling siblings. i mean, i would .. ^_^

i like the two sword wielding centaurs. the creatures. the taurens. the polar bears! and my personal favorite la sorcière. the acting was good, convincing. and the english accent was charming.

this movie is definitely for kids. im predicting that local producers will start copying certain elements of this film. and make it appear as if they were original.

rating 3 out of 5
stereotypes abound

Monday, January 02, 2006

Primer

I just finished watching this on DVD. My head is spinning. My brain is working overtime, trying to figure out all the details. I've spent the last hour reading up on the imdb messageboards trying to make sense of the story.

Primer is a movie where time travel is used to brilliant effect. Two young engineers invent what appears to be a device that allows you to travel short distances to the past. It starts with a lengthy fictionalized scientific discussion on how the two guys actually create the machine. This part is told in a realistic manner that makes the premise of time travel actually plausible. What happens if it actually works?

The ability to go back in time, armed with full knowledge of what the present has in store, is a very powerful weapon. We see subtle changes in our two protagnists' behavior. They start out innocently, using future knowledge of stock prices to their financial benefit. But they end up doing more, seduced by the power of being able to know everything in advance. There are major plot twists near the end of the movie, at which point I completely lost track of what was going on. It becomes a complex puzzle, as layers upon layers of time travel adjustments and interactions between different iterations of past selves takes place. And it's a fun, bewildering ride.

You really need to pay attention while watching this film. The ending left me saying 'huh?' and it took me some time browsing the message boards, reading alternate user interpretations before I got a semblance of what actually happened near the end. If you like thinking and puzzle movies you will love this one. But if your idea of a good movie is to relax and watch the next car chase scene with explosions you will probably hate this one.

My personal interpretation: The focus of Primer concerns various time travel possibilities. How does this affect the parties who can control time. How does it deal with certain causality conflicts i.e. killing one's own grandfather, thus preventing your birth, etc. We are given a realistic interpretation of what could actually occur and a subtle commentary on how power and control affects the human psyche.

This movie was made on an extremely tight budget, reportedly just $7,000. Many of the scenes were shot in one take. And the two main actors end up telling the story of events that happened rather than us seeing the events ourselves. One major complaint I have is that a lot of the big points that would have made the story easier to understand were not emphasized to the viewer. So we are left with lots of small clues and left wondering whether they are significant or not. The movie could benefit by making some of the important parts easier to understand, with dialogue and timing organized to underline the key events. Because this was not done, I found myself having to watch the DVD more than once to get a better grasp of the story.

I'd like to see this movie remade with a bigger budget. With some of the scenes shown to the viewer as it occured rather than have it narrated by the actors. Perhaps tweak and revise the screenplay to dumb it down slightly and make it easily digestible in small doses rather than all at once. I can't wait for director Shane Carruth's next film.

All in all, a unique story. A brilliant geek movie that didn't get much mainstream attention.


Rating: 4/5 * * * *
What happens if it actually works?