Black Panther: Despite Strong Performances it Suffers from Horrible CGI

I just got back from seeing Black Panther, feeling underwhelmed and a bit disappointed. It's a good movie with great characters, but suffered from poor visual effects, poor lighting, and an over-abundance of scenes using green screen.

My biggest problem with the movie is why Marvel didn't just shell out enough cash to film it on location in Africa. I found myself being pulled out of suspended disbelief numerous times when the clearly fake landscape of Wakanda is shown on screen. It was blatantly obvious this was filmed in a studio adorned with blue and green screens and I found myself glancing at other people in the theater wondering if anyone bought it. Wakanda itself is a confusing mess and not fully realized. My wife pointed out how it's shown as a metropolis at the start, but when battle breaks out, there's suddenly a vast expanse of desert with no skyscrapers to be found.

Anyway, the movie starts out really safe and felt generic at times but picks up once Killmonger sets foot in Wakanda and challenges T'Challa for the throne. What follows is the best scene in the movie. For the first time, there was real risk and the stakes were high. The one-on-one battle to the death between T-Challa and Killmonger was reminiscent of Achilles and Hector's fight in the movie "Troy".

The female supporting cast was great as well, especially Danai Gurira who played the ever-loyal-to-the-throne general. But this movie would not have been anywhere near as good if not for Michael B. Jordan- who played Killmonger with feverish intensity and charisma, even eclipsing Chadwick Boseman's T'Challa. 

While this movie had fake visuals, the performances clearly saved it from mediocrity. But even the otherwise good performances suffered from the poor lighting and CG graphics. There were scenes where actors seemed plastered on a static blurred-out background. For anyone to really enjoy this, you'd have to be okay with the abundance of fake vistas and backdrops.

What If / The F Word (Review)

What If - I've watched this several times now and I still can't see the connection between the title and the story. I heard it was previously named "The F Word", which I think made more sense, but it was later changed probably for marketing reasons - not that there's still any taboo in the obvious nod to the infamous cuss word used as euphemism for "friends". Which is ironic because if anything, this movie is devoid of sex, except maybe for some hard smooching from its side characters.

This is the first movie I've ever watched of Zoe Kazan (haven't watched any of her past films at that point) and of Daniel Radcliffe post-Harry Potter. Daniel did a pretty good job as the romantically jaded Wallace, a guy who's still reeling from a messy break-up a year earlier, spending most of his time grieving alone on the rooftop of his sister's house listening to past voice calls from his ex. For the first few minutes of the movie, I could still see Daniel as Harry Potter in a different movie, but the illusion quickly vanished as it went on, especially when he meets and begins his friendly banter with Chantry (played by the wonderful Zoe Kazan).

I'm actually surprised to find out that Daniel has comedic chops, not so much for his rapid-fire delivery of the witty script, but more so his comic timing at certain scenes- like the one where he's irked at being called an "asshole" by Chantry whilst completely naked and shivering at the beach in a cold night, or in the climactic moment where he was rejected by an angry Chantry after confessing his feelings for her, claiming "it's not like you caught me bathing in orphan blood or masturbating in your kitchen!". Those really had me in stitches.

While this movie has its laughs, it's actually quite pragmatic and grounded. There is no villainous boyfriend out to spoil our hero's advances. The conflict mostly arises within Chantry, the other protagonist in this movie. In all honesty, a case can be made that this movie revolves around and is actually about her - how she deals with this budding new relationship with Wallace, and how she balances this new relationship alongside her long-term relationship with her boyfriend, Ben, all while having a strong sense of morality while trying to be socially happy. That said, Zoe Kazan is a delight in this role.

Like Wallace, Chantry is sort of a loner, but while Wallace is quite transparent to the audience, Chantry is not. She's complicated and layered, even secretive. While Wallace has his best friend (Alan) to share his misery and anguish for being friend-zoned, Chantry has no one, not even her sister (who's busy with her own agenda with Wallace). Chantry is seemingly imprisoned by her relationship with Ben. She is left alone to her thoughts - and the film expresses her loneliness through symbolism, aptly intertwined with her profession as an animator. We see a flying winged caricature of herself throughout the film, always a direct reflection of her feelings and state of mind.

In all situations she takes the moral high ground, always remembering that she has a boyfriend and she and Wallace are just friends. This all comes crumbling down on that night on the beach. In her mind, she thought she could get away with a 'friendly' naked night swim with Wallace if she played her cards right. This immediately backfired when their friends caught on, stole their clothes, left them with nothing but a sleeping bag for the night, exposing the fact that she and Wallace are being egged on as a potential couple, and exposing her - despite the careful steps she took with Wallace - that they knew she could no longer deny her feelings for him. She was angry at the situation, at their friends, at Wallace - calling him an asshole as previously noted - but she was angrier at herself. She had clearly crossed the line and her own boundaries as a girl in an existing relationship. This scene was brilliant and also exposes the difference between the mindsets of the two leads. Wallace remained playful, but failed to empathize with Chantry at that moment. Conflict ensues. She goes home devastated, with a look on her face only Zoe Kazan could pull off, and flies to Dublin to be with Ben.

It's a delight to dissect Chantry. And yes, I could see other actors taking on the role. After all, this film is at its core a light-hearted rom-com, but I doubt they'd be as affective as Zoe Kazan. I've since watched more of her movies (most notably Ruby Sparks) and I think she's an incredible actress. This film also proved to me that Daniel Radcliffe could play other characters besides Potter. What once was an uneasy feeling when I see him in a leading role that isn't a Harry Potter movie now feels natural. And it helps that he's adventurous enough to take on more challenging and diverse roles (most recently Swiss Army Man). All in all, this film is enjoyable as a light-hearted comedy, but goes deep if you want it to.

The Edge of Seventeen (Review)

Whoa. This looks like another teen movie, but actually is one of the best coming-of-age movies I've ever seen. This literally starts with the main character asking her teacher for help or she'll kill herself. I scoffed and muttered "not another whiny teen angst movie" but then a few minutes further you quickly realize the many layers of rhetoric this movie utilizes that in hindsight, her uttering the words "kill myself" felt more interesting than annoying. It kind of reminded me of Juno - if that movie didn't painstakingly try to be witty. I have to laud the script of this film. It felt really minimalist - not really using big words or speeches but instead relying on really simple dialogue you hear every day and I found it immensely interesting to see those words being used in the oftentimes awkward and silly repartee between the characters.

The 'family resolution' right at the end felt abrupt I must say, and is one of the weakest parts of the movie. I never wanted the momentum from the first half of the film to end, I just wanted it to go on and on - particularly the exchanges between Woody Harrelson and Hailee Steinfeld's characters (first time seeing her but I thought she was phenomenal in this). Woody's lines in particular had me in stitches. Oftentimes, you feel the momentum of the film go in one direction, but abruptly pulls you out of your expectations and throws you a curve ball. The irony in most of Woody's and Hailee's scenes is there's actual wisdom in the not-so wise words exchanged between them. This movie doesn't even seem to try to be wise.

Overall, I felt this deserved more than the 1 hr 40 minutes allotted time it had to come to a better resolution between our troubled main character and her family. I could probably watch a TV series based on these characters. Other than that, this movie aced it when it came to the script. Silly, hilarious, authentic. 9/10

Ruby Sparks: Why Not?

What I'm trying to say is it's almost like I'm writing to spend time with her.

Who?

The girl. The one I'm writing... I go to sleep at night just waiting to get to my typewriter again so I can be with her. It's like... It's like I'm falling in love with her.

That's wonderful.

No it's not. I can't fall in love with a girl I wrote.

Why not?

Because she's not real!

Isn't she?

No.

Are you sure?

Yes! She's a motherfucking product of my imagination!

The Fantasy

If you haven't seen the movie Ruby Sparks, you have to go see it. This particular exchange between the main character, Calvin, and his shrink was so compelling. I'm more so amused with the shrink's reaction - why can't you fall in love with a girl you wrote? Why isn't it okay to do so? Followed by the quick retort: because she's not real. The irony about the whole thing is, people do it all the time. They fall in love with their own imaginations and the idea of the "perfect person".

The thing is, it's become quite the phobia for people who've ventured into idealizing love at least once in their lives. They've rewired themselves not to make the same mistake twice, or else risk summoning the familiar world of confusion and, ultimately, heartache all over again. Once they feel themselves being pulled into this wormhole, they stop, take a step back, re-evaluate and investigate their emotions further before taking the plunge. It should be real, first and foremost. It has to be.

The shrink's take is amusing though. Why not? Why does it have to be real? What's wrong with fantasy? Vulnerability? Stupidity? Why would you want to miss out on the chance to be confused and miserable? Partaking in it is an opportunity to celebrate life as it is joyful and colorful as much as it is a mess of confusion, sadness, and misery. Do it!

We may forever be slaves to the lessons of reality, but it's a fascinating stand regardless - to be consciously masochistic just to feel the elation of falling in love - however misplaced it might be - or perhaps just to feel anything at all.

The Shrink

What I Feel After Watching 500 Days of Summer for the Nth Time

"To die by your side is such a heavenly way to die."

I've come to realize there are two types of good films. One being your run-of-the-mill, critically-acclaimed, entertaining films; while the other not only shares the same qualities as the first, but also changes you. Such is the case for this movie. It alters moods, changes perceptions, and makes you feel its fictionalized world is somehow in tune with your own reality. And it helps that music is used to perfect effect here, guiding you through the different galleries of emotions throughout the film. It's a well-balanced examination of unrequited love, one that becomes more apparent on subsequent views. It's perhaps the best attempt at the subject matter by any movie.

Time and again, after subsequent views I emerge from it a little bit different. A bit altered. A bit off. A bit more grateful and enthused. And somehow a bit mad. It takes and gives back a piece of me each time, and it's remarkable to see such an exchange happen between a person and a piece of media.

It's been 5 years since the movie came out, and I've no doubt it will stand the test of time, never to disappear into the abyss of the post-contemporary. It's strangely depressing actually. In every respect a classic, the central characters are immortalized and frozen in time, always emanating youthful exuberance and delivering on the film's victory of fiction. The real world, in contrast, rots. And as the decaying world watches a joyful Tom walk through the park to "You Make My Dreams" and later joined by Summer huddled in a silly game of tourettes, we are eternally reminded of our own mortality.

I never get tired of this film.

500 Days of Summer: The Chronological Timeline

You must know that 500 Days of Summer IS one of my all-time favorite movies. For those who haven't seen it, it had a scrambled timeline to contrast between the good and bad days in the couple's relationship as well as to reflect how normal people remember things in the past - usually jumping from one memory to another and not necessarily in chronological order. Fortunately, someone was obsessed enough to put it together. All credits go to sunsjk @ IMDB for putting this up.

DAY 1: January 8, 2006 - Tom sees Summer for the first time as she's introduced in the department meeting. Instantly smitten.
DAY 3: January 10, 2006 - Summer is declared a bitch by the office grapevine, and Tom seems pretty neutral about it. Makes sense, as he doesn't know her yet.
DAY 4: January 11, 2006 - The elevator ride. We discover that the heroine shares his musical tastes and can sing. Hero doubly smitten. Onward.
DAY 8: January 15, 2006 - Office party for Millie's engagement, though the wedding doesn't happen for another year (see DAY 402). Tom and Summer finally have their first real conversation, successfully covering the exposition bases about Summer's move to LA and a little bit of Tom's history.
DAY 11: January 18, 2006 - Wii tennis with Rachel.
DAY 22: January 29, 2006 - Tom declares that it's off, though he's really just too chicken to ask her out.
DAY 27: February 3, 2006 - "The whole office is going..."
DAY 28: February 4, 2006 - Karaoke night. McKenzie outs Tom on his crush. Summer is more amused by it than anything, but her interest in him is finally visible.
DAY 31: February 7, 2006 - And that's probably why she kisses him in the copy room three days later. And goes to his apartment after work, then to dinner with him. The first official day of their romance, I suppose.
DAY 34: February 10, 2006 - IKEA, when things were so fresh and playful. Then sex. Sex on the fourth day of the relationship? I must be really old-fashioned.
DAY 45: February 21, 2006 - Two weeks in and they're talking and laughing on their cell phones at work, despite being 20 feet from each other. Ah, the silly things new couples do.
DAY 87: April 4, 2006 - Record store and shower sex. The movie skipped March completely, but we can safely assume our couple has only grown closer. Still playful and fun.
DAY 95: April 12, 2006 - Tom shows Summer some of the great architecture around town. I love this stage of their relationship, where they're just quietly in tune with each other. This is also their first time on the bench together, and both bench scenes have this soft, whimsical quality that I love.
DAY 109: April 26, 2006 - Tom's first time in Summer's apartment. Very telling that she was at his place on day 1 of their romance, but it takes him 2.5 months to see her place.
DAY 118: May 5, 2006 - Still going steady, though Tom's starting to question what they are. He goes to Rachel's soccer game and gets a pep talk there before driving somewhere with Summer, back in downtown LA. She sweeps his uncertainty under the rug, where it will fester later. Dun dun DUN...
DAY 154: June 10, 2006 - Tom's "I love Summer" montage.
DAY 167: June 23, 2006 - "I love us." Both still on Cloud 9.
DAY 191: July 17, 2006 - Art gallery date, followed by the movies. This is the only transition scene we get, the only scene that isn't completely their puppy love stage or their distance stage. They've been together several months and are probably bored of their usual routine, but can still have fun together.
DAY 259: September 23, 2006 - Bar fight. Big jump. We can only conclude that Summer has gotten increasingly bored with Tom, as she's only half-heartedly listening to him now. Somehow, she went from comfortable to disinterested in these two months. They made up and went to the park the next day ("Penis" game), showing that they can still get along, but the relationship is definitely different.
DAY 282: October 16, 2006 - IKEA, this time not so fresh and playful. In the month since the bar fight, they haven't managed to recapture their old magic.
DAY 290: October 24, 2006 - The movies (The Graduate), record store again, and finally, the breakup over pancakes. It was an 8-month romance.
DAY 303: November 6, 2006 - Tom receives the e-mail o' doom from Summer. It's that awkward post-breakup stage, where you try to act like friends and keep in touch. Such a horrible stage.
DAY 314: November 17, 2006 - Tom sees the French movie alone, still depressed.
DAY 321: November 24, 2006 - Tom is moved to the Sympathy department. His depression has lasted exactly 1 month now.
DAY 322: November 25, 2006 - "I hate Summer" montage.
DAY 345: December 18, 2006 - Blind date. Two months since the breakup and Tom is only slightly more functional.
DAY 402: February 13, 2007 - Train ride to Millie's wedding. Four months since the breakup and Tom seems to be his old self again. Sees Summer on the train, however, and immediately reverts back to schoolboy mentality. They rediscover their friendly, easy chemistry, which I thought was nice.
DAY 408: February 19, 2007 - Rooftop party. Sometime in the 7 days since Millie's wedding, Summer's new boyfriend has proposed to her, and she's accepted. (But even if she started dating him in, say, November, after she broke up with Tom, that still only puts them in their fourth month together. *whistle* When you know, you know, I guess. That was the point, right? :D)
DAY 440: March 23, 2007 - Tom's alcohol and junk food binge, even though it's been a month since he found out about Summer's engagement. Has he been in this state for a month?
DAY 441: March 24, 2007 - Alcohol and junk food binge continued.
DAY 442: March 25, 2007 - Tom quits New Hampshire Greetings.
DAY 450: April 2, 2007 - Tom goes to one of Rachel's soccer practices for another pep talk. Still pretty down, but he's found some solace in sketching again. Let the healing begin.
DAY 456 - DAY 476: April 8 - April 28, 2007 - Job search. At some point in these days, Summer's wedding occurs.
DAY 488: May 11, 2007 - The second and final bench scene. I think it happened, I don't think it was Tom's imagination, but to each their own. I thought it was a great conversation, and a necessary one for both Tom and the audience.
DAY 500: May 23, 2007 - Autumn. Finally.

Taken 2 - Review

My first thoughts while watching it was feeling pity over this Mills family - especially for the mother and daughter. They could not be any more unlucky with two consecutive kidnappings in just a span of 2-3 years (I'm guessing). As an action movie, it works. But you'll have a hard time believing this much bad luck can befall a family. So much that as an attempt to pacify this string of horrible events, they toned down the violence to its hostages. For one, I always thought the face of the mother should be covered in blood- but we only see red smudges that barely resemble blood. Overkill averted. I felt the producers made a conscious effort not to torture Mills' family too much since it would become too ridiculously far-fetched for anyone to believe considering what happened to them in the first movie. Not that it isn't "far-fetched" already- movies have always been about shoving realism aside, but this was almost unrealistic even for a movie. Almost.

That's pretty much my only complaint. The rest of the movie is exactly what I wanted the sequel to be. The title itself says "Taken" so what did you expect? Neeson is bad-ass as always, and seeing this lump of testosterone interact with his divorcee ex-wife and love-struck daughter is a delight in itself. He is the glue that ties everything together, and I can't think of anyone else who could remotely fill his shoes.

Did I mention the movie was incredibly entertaining? 8/10

The Avengers was great (a really short review) + Captain America lifting Thor's hammer

Just came from the cinema watching the highly anticipated movie adaptation of The Avengers. I thought it was great. At first I doubted how they could possibly make this movie work, considering its scale, but they pulled it off with flying colors.

The film is still fresh in my mind and I'm thinking about stand-out scenes right now, but couldn't - because there's just far too many memorable scenes in this thing. Definitely a delight to watch, especially for long time fans. There's this one scene though that tickled the nerd in me. It's the scene where the Hulk and Thor are fighting and Hulk tries to lift Thor's hammer but couldn't. After watching that, I immediately thought whoever wrote this movie knew exactly what he was doing.

There were a few things that bothered me- one had to do with the green behemoth, Hulk. In a scene aboard Nick Fury's ridiculous carrier-slash-hovercraft, Bruce Banner loses his temper and with it, his ability to control himself as he made it his personal goal to squash little ol' Black Widow as she desperately scampers from one corridor to another, trying to hide in hopes of draining out Hulk's attention span.

Hi. I'm the incredible Hulk. I'm amazing and inconsistent.

This will be the last scene you'll see Banner completely lose control over himself. The next time you see him transform into the Hulk, almost miraculously, he's in total control of the green lump of muscle, able to identify enemies and allies accurately, whereas a few minutes ago he was intent on pounding Black Widow's ass to the mezzanine floor. Talk about blatant inconsistencies. I felt the crowd (and myself) let that one slip, convincing ourselves there must have been something we missed that justified this 'turn of events'. "Meh, it's just a movie." Surprisingly, this kind of looking-the-other-way-when-something-is-definitely-wrong-here worked for this movie, since I came out of the theater feeling a bit stupid, but fully entertained.


Interesting facts

In the Marvel universe, it is well known that Thor's hammer, Mjolnir, can only be lifted by those deemed 'worthy' to harness its powers. So it's never a matter of strength (Hulk). The interesting thing is Captain America, considered one of the less powerful Avengers, actually was able to lift the hammer at some point  (specifically Steve Rogers, in US Agent costume). There were a bunch of other people that lifted the hammer, but thought Cap was the most interesting out of all of them.

Kick Ass Kicks Ass!

I just watched it and all I've got to say is.... DAMN.
 
I've never heard of the comics before and going into it I expected a little family movie a-la Spy Kids just to waste my time with, and boy was I so wrong. Seriously, this has to be one of the best movies I've seen in a long time. The movie is just terribly INSANE, and the director's got really huge balls to film the movie the way he did. I give it a 9/10.

 My new favorite superhero!