the life and death of peter sellers (2004). directed by stephen hopkins.

i don't know why i have not write about this movie yet. a very good film about the strange personality of famed comic british actor peter sellers, who described himself as "having no personality which then eased him to take on a character". great acting from geoffrey rush, which makes the portrayal painful to watch, i thought, it must be hell to be this guy because i came to one conclusion, this is what happens to guys who never really did grow up. 

sherlock (season 1) (2010). created by mark gatiss & steven moffat.

i spent a good part of my childhood poring over the sir arthur conan doyle's fictional characters, and the recent update in the form of robert downey jr. and jude law was a fun take on the stories but not necessarily an accurate one. pffftt..does accuracy matter at all?

it does when you read the book(s) page to page, in small prints, no less. this sherlock nailed that part. everything is 21st century, but holmes and watson are old souls from the books. he is cynical and unfeeling, the other he is loyal and human. they are two peas in a pod, but they are strictly friends. alright, that is just victorian sensibilities. but who cares, i want the book and i get it!

the casting of benedict cumberbatch is a huge plus since he embodies "the" holmes; tall, moody, calculative, the visage is nothing but a mask. martin freeman as dr. watson is not relegated as a sidekick but a friend who cares a lot about holmes (that part jude law got it right). since it is a mini series, each show takes about 1.5 hours. it is well written and not surprisingly it is engaging. that's the advantage tv series have over a full fledged film - that it has the luxury of time to develop the character and the story, the audience gets to know the characters better and bond. i guess that's why a lot of people can follow tv shows so religiously. 

i'm already on season 2. 

the man from nowhere (ajeossi (original title)) (2010). directed by jeong-beom lee.

i think this is a worthy remake of leon: the professional (1994) if the director/writer ever wanted to admit that he was inspired by the latter. i don't watch korean soaps, i am especially not familiar with won bin of autumn in my heart (2000) fame. he was pretty good as the mysterious pawn shop owner who established a relationship with the little girl from next door, who needed attention from an adult because her mother is busy doing heroin (or crack?). it's a story of urban poverty and desperation seen in pretty much all developed/developing countries - of people who lose hope and live in the shell of their former selves. some lost it all together, others, they need to be recalled of how precious that hope and the will to live can be.  

the bourne legacy (2012). directed by tony gilroy.

i can watch jeremy renner. he can hold my attention. but the story? nah. i find the story silly. there's is no greater aim other than chasing a guy half around the globe, only to introduce a new character. i am sure a new hero can be combined with an interesting story - think of the numerous actors who play james bond at least they try to take a spin on the over familiarity of that particular spy genre. on top of that - i think the good actors casted for this movie, like edward norton and rachel weisz were underused. 

see you at the next bourne..err..aaron. 

animal kingdom (2010). directed by david michôd.

this movie blends a family of gangster with art. young joshua "j" cody is lost, lost his mother to heroin addiction and had to seek shelter at the family matriarch home that housed three of his violent, gangster uncles. joshua is oblivious to the going ons of the family, the show offs and the obvious fear of living by the seconds. this is his coming of age, having to fend for himself from his own family but unable to tear himself from the situation. great performances all around, particularly jackie weaver and ben mendelsohn. a quiet australian film is hardly un-opinionated about the truth of criminal life.  

dragon (wu xia (original title)) (2011). directed by peter chan.

shown at cannes 2011, this film stands on its own despite comparison to cronenberg's a history of violence (2005). i like the fact that hong kong film makers are looking for ways to reinvent kung fu storytelling, and the pairing of kaneshiro and yen work. both men snapped at some point in their lives and looking for redemption. yen, who i think has limited acting range, is pretty good as the tight lipped gangster trying to escape a life of violence and relished being with his small family, living in a nondescript village. the anonymity suits him fine until a city detective nosily pries on his life upon a killing of some bandits. the city detective played by kaneshiro is your typical cynical, self righteous bastard who hunt people down out of a misplaced sense of justice. 

i won't give the story away, because it deserves some watching. 

the dark knight rises (2012). directed by christopher nolan.

my brother dared to say that this is the worst nolan movie he had ever watched. i thought of it as a big clumsy machine trying to wade through too many characters and subplots. the script is problematic, which is a surprise because it was written by the nolan brothers. by the time the movie ends, and i ran a lot of nolan movies in my head, i thought, man you can't out do yourself. but then again, i can't think of a third installment that could top the second - think of the lord of the rings and the godfather trilogies. 

the biggest problem with the movie is the mix of realism and comic book short cuts that nolan doesn't usually use in his previous films. this guy made inception (2010), i can't see why the dark knight rises has to be that clunky. the action sequences are not memorable, i don't care about the characters, bane is an uninteresting villain which means tom hardy was severely underused. his back story and cotillard's talia are unsubstantial (he was her protector? thats all?!), anne hathaway being anne hathaway and has no chemistry with bale's bruce wayne. 

i could go all day. if only nolan is micheal bay, but he is not, so i still think he could come up with something better. 

beginners (2010). directed by mike mills.

a 75 year old father comes out to his son as gay after 44 years of marriage. a son trying to make sense of his disbelief of relationships, fueled by years of watching his parents' passionless marriage. it is a parallel story, of a father who always have faith in finding happiness, and his son's discovery that such a thing exists. in a world where some straight folks think it is alright to deny basic rights to gay people, this story asks many pertinent questions about the nature of happiness - that it is what we make do of what we have, that it needs work to sustain it, that denying something so basic is ruinous to people who are being forced to fit into the "normality". 

christopher plummer is such a pleasure to watch. 

red riding hood (2011). directed by catherine hardwicke.

i do not find any redeeming quality in this film other than the salem-like witch hunt for the warewolf responsible for terrorizing the village. the movie has gary oldman in it and i don't know why he's in it...he played too many baddies perfectly i don't see this is going to add to his reputation.  yeah the movie has nice effects yada yada...but no story, no interesting characters. the trees with thorns are more interesting me thinks. 

another mindless movie on a sunday night. next!

men in black 3 (2012). directed by barry sonnenfeld.

written by etan cohen (not to be confused with the famous ethan coen of the coen brothers) this movie is pretty funny and strikes the right notes. i like it. this is what happens when you watched so many mindless films, that anything that is slightly good becomes a huge relief.