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. 

milk (2008). directed by gus van sant.

doesn't matter if you gay or not gay - i think everybody should watch this movie. it is as inspiring as watching edward r. murrow in good night and good luck (2005) fighting against uncivilized, ignorant majority who insists that what two consenting adults do in their home is the state's business. it is not. the film is very well done, and god, sean penn was so so good i didn't recognized that it was the permanently-irritated-looking penn as the eternally positive harvey milk. in short the cast was great - emile hirsch, james brolin and james franco. 

the film is unapologetic about milk's sexuality, and i like the feel of the film depicting the climate of the early gay movement. 

a must watch, i say. 

abraham lincoln: vampire hunter (2012). directed by timur bekmambetov.

i must be lacking sense of humour to not be entertained by the thought that the great president lincoln deserves a bit of publicity in his honour even through a comical film like this one. i know the film doesn't try to be high brow or anything like that, but still, lincoln axes vampire in his spare time? that the civil war was as much a fight against slavery as well as against a bunch of evil vampires hell bent on taking over the united states of A? you gotta be kidding me. anyway, purely for entertainment value director bekmambetov shows a really agile president with moves unthinkable in the early 19th century. the problem with summer movies like this i often do not find the characters memorable and the story is forgettable too. 

in the context of malaysian audience, i think it is good that they get to see that some people in other parts of the world had practiced free speech hundreds of years ago and it is not dirty to have political conviction and will. 

laugh a bit, will ya? heck, it's summer alright! 

snow white and the huntsman (2012). directed by rupert sanders.

i am not really familiar with the snow white legend and forgot what it was all about. coming from zero knowledge of fairy tales (in the internet world, that is not much an apology) - it is an amalgam of various tales  - traces of sleeping beauty and at times joan of arc. having seen mirror mirror (2012) earlier, i feel i've seen much of the same story again albeit with a bit of difference here and there. doesn't really make an impact to me, i think the natural landscapes of the forest and the sea are more interesting than the characters. fine, evil step mother, step mother kills king, step mother imprisons princess, princess escape and vows revenge. yeah yeah. 

kristen stewart is set to make a career of half frowning, but i like the little people with faces of normal height good actors morphed seamlessly into midgets. now, that's believable.  

prometheus (2012). directed by ridley scott.

i don't know if anyone notices this - but - this film is pro to the idea of god. that the creator is being destroyed by its much advanced inventions, making the creator is the lesser mortal - begs the question that there has to be the indestructible being out there that creates the creator. 

dreams of a life (2011). directed by carol morley.

she was dead for 3 years before anyone discovered her remains. ironic really, the flat she rented was right above a shopping mall. so many people going in and out and none of them knew a dead person amongst them. makes you think, has she no family, no friends, no one who cares at all? the documentary attempts to re-create the life of the wallflower girl by the name of joyce vincent, one minute the centre of the party, in another the girl with no past. we don't know why she pulls back from the company of friends she has and disappear, appearing in times of trouble, refusing to confide to anyone. was she sick when she passed? she was alone. the tv was on when they found her. 

all the connection in the world, it takes 3 years for the county to break down her door for unpaid rents to find a skeleton on the bed. tragic.