THE TOURIST

Directed by: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck

Have you ever cried after watching a film? This one will make you cry so hard you forget what the film is all about. Check this fact; it is directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, an Oscar winner for The Lives of Others (which I have seen three times since I loved it very much), then there is the eternally sexy Angelina Jolie (she can wear a potato sack, thrown into a puddle of mud and screaming something in Latin and still look sexy) with Johnny Depp (He's a talented actor with Ed Wood and Donnie Brasco in his resume).

Throw Lady Gaga into the mix and a 3-D convert, this one is a sure Oscar winner. It is a a sarcasm in case you don't get it. Donnersmarck just waste a handful of talent and money for this soulless film. To add salt to the wound, The Tourist made it into the Golden Globe awards. Was the jury also crying when they watch this film?

The remake of Anthonny Zimmer, a French movie made in 2005 is more glossy and expensive but has no chemistry between the two lead.

The story is around Frank Tupelo (Johnny Depp), a tourist visiting Italy. He crosses his path with Elise (Angelina Jolie) a woman who wanted to shake the Interpol and mafia of her tail.

Elise met Frank on a train so the one who trail her will be fooled that Frank is Anthony Pearce, the man sought by mafia and Interpol for stealing so much money from the mafia and tax evasion from the government.

In paper it is an interesting story, with the spirit of North by Northwest from Alfred Hitchcock, but on screen it just fail.

Johnny Depp seem has no interest in acting in this film, he looked like as if he is just a tourist in this film. Meanwhile Angelina Jolie looks dazzling as ever, she is perhaps the only reason why this film still has appeal.

The rest is just another yawn-fest with weird dialogues, no chemistry between actors and so-so action scenes.

I don't know what Donnersmarck want with this film, is it a comedy? Some scenes can make you grin politely but that's it. Drama? Zero chemistry between actors . Action? It feels like a TV movie. Does it make you want to visit Venice? Only if your bank account is as fat as Jolie's.

So feel free to cry since all of the good element Donnersmarck had, he cannot manage it to make it into a good film. It makes you wish that perhaps Donnersmarck just have to stick with making serious movie only.

BURIED

Directed by: Rodrigo Cortés

Call it crazy, cheap, film student-like movie, but Buried is a scary thriller. This is not recommended for claustrophobic people or those who wanted to become a vampire.

The idea behind this is crazy, just one person in one coffin for the whole film and that's it. With an opening which can remind you of Hitchcock film in the 60s, the whole film rely on Ryan Reynolds as Paul Conroy, tight editing and a thrilling script.

Paul Conroy is a truck driver in Iraq, he is captured and confined alive in a coffin somewhere in Baquba, Iraq. Armed with only zippo lighter, a hand phone and some fluorescent light he has to race with time and oxygen supply to save himself.

It is clear that the kidnapper wanted to contact him through the hand phone. Using the phone he contacted the FBI and his family too.

Only Conroy get screen time, you seen him from the beginning to the end and the rest of the cast like FBI agent or his wife and mother existed only in voices Conroy heard from the phone.

This is a thought provoking film from another level, it puts a lot of thing in a new perspective. War, innocence, guilt, ignorance and humanity can be put inside one small coffin and one actor only.

Although set inside a coffin, no shot is boring, Cortés managed to squeeze many shot inside a small space and Ryan Reynolds do a convincing job as a man trapped inside a coffin.

Sure some flaws existed like how come his zippo lighter can burn for so long without consuming the oxygen inside the coffin and other 'gadget' that seem to be added so the film has a dim light. But the whole idea behind this claustrophobic adventure is fresh.

THE TOWN

Directed by: Ben Affleck

There's something about The Town that remind me of Heat (1995) by Michael Mann. First the template story about a bad guy trying to live a straight life, a smart law enforcement agent that will do anything to nail that guy, one last heist for the protagonist to make it right and a deadly shoot out to finish everything. In the middle of it stand one woman the protagonist really care.

Stemming from Bostonian sub-culture, there is no better filmmaker to capture this than Ben Affleck. As we know, he and his buddy Matt Damon successfully write Good Will Hunting but strings of his appearances in Gigli and Daredevil turns me off. However having read all the raving reviews on this film, it turns me on again.

The Town opened with a sophisticated and successful bank robbery. Here Ben Affleck plays Doug MacRay, a guy with bank robbery runs in his blood. His father is also a bank robber and sentenced in prison for so many years.

Doug head a four men team and most notably is the trigger happy temperamental Jem Coughlin (Jeremy Renner, showcasing his acting muscles) who happen to be angry all the time and being a best friend to Doug. During the robbery Doug and his team take Claire (Rebecca Hall) as a hostage and release her afterward, without harm.

It turns out that Claire lives only four blocks away from the robbers and Jem, being paranoid wanted to 'eliminate' Claire. But Doug has better option, he start dating Claire, thus make things more complicated.

In other end of the town there is an FBI agent Frawley (John Hamm), itching wanting to nail Doug and his crews for bank robberies, he just have no evidence at all and his only witness is Claire.

Meanwhile Doug has to lay low while the neighborhood crime boss known as the Florist (a chilling Pete Postlethwaite), who has a strange hold over Doug, insists they pull off one more heist. This is the last heist that will determine everything, including Doug and Claire's fate.

Perhaps you have seen such story in dozens of movies but what makes The Town different and a strong Oscar contender is how tightly paced and stunning the performances are. The shootout is generic, Heat is better but still, it can make you hold your breath.

BABIES

Directed by: Thomas Balmès

Prove it that you have a heart by watching this film, If you are not moved or at least utter 'aww wasn't that cute' I believe you might be Chucky from that Chucky franchise.

It is the documentary without any narration or dialogue at all, leaving the audience to watch the babies as they do their thing all by them self. Actually, even though you had a baby at home and can say 'Damn, documentary on babies? I have at home and it's like 24/7' this film is still attractive.

There are four babies being featured here; Ponijao from Opuwo, Namibia who drink water from the gutter, Mari who is being raised in Tokyo, Japan. Bayar (short for Bayarjargal) a boy from a farm in Mongol and Hattie from San Francisco, California.

It is a modern vs traditional way of upbringing. Marie and Hattie has a clean environment where their parents shower their kids with toys and activities whereas Ponijao and Bayar is one with the nature with less toys and activities but still active to search and explore their new world.

They are cute in their own way, Marie is frustrated with her toys and cries while Bayar was left in the field with goats. Although they were raised in a different situation but they all went into almost the same phase, crying, sitting, crawling, babbling and then standing.

Babies is enlightening, it open new horizon on cultural differences in raising children. I feel this one as a visual lecture on socio-ethnology class and it is entertaining. What come as an objection is this parade of cuteness lasted for 80 minutes only, since I believe no one would mind if it runs for four hours. Those who mind are people without heart I guess.

SCOTT PILGRIM vs. THE WORLD

Directed by: Edgar Wright

I am not a big fan of game or console. I don't even have one. Sure I have once played a game on Nintendo, PlayStation and PC, but not XBox. I just play for the sake of curiosity and I didn't even play all of the games, it is just a simple fun for me. In fact, I am not a gamer at all and I am not interested that much in game.

Not only that, I don't watch movies adapted from video games seriously, not only it has bad quality, I am not interested in it at all.

So this movie is the combination of things I rarely do in my life, reading comics and playing a video game, although I am familiar with its visual style. As for me I didn't read Scott Pilgrim comic at all, I tend to see this film as a stand alone art.

At first I am a bit skeptical on this film, it is a bit campy and laughable but then after I saw it, actually this one is cool and fun to watch. Unlike that excruciating Uwe Boll's adaptation, this one is full with hyper indie music and quirkiness.

At the center of this movie is Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera) some sort of guy next door with ueber geek/nerdy attitude. He dated a High School girl and hasn't recovered from being dumped by his ex-girlfriend.

Then he falls for Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) some sort of generic version of Summer from (500) Days of Summer, lest bitchy though.

But to win Ramona's heart is an uphill battle for Scott, he has to fight her seven ex-lovers (one of them is a girl!) to have Ramona. Not only that he has problems with his High School Girlfriend. In the ultimate battle, he will settle all bad bloods and tie all the knots.

Anyone familiar with video game visual style will be entertained by this third film from Edgar Wright, there are heavy use of CGI to enhance the story and all the funny things that can make you feel nostalgic as you have once play arcade games as you were a boy. This is a homage to video game culture and please, just suspend you disbelief for this one since everything and everyone in this movie seem to have no problems with characters suddenly fighting and destroying each other in a video game fashion. If you never ever played any arcade games or video games at all, don't bother watching this one, it could bore you.

The story itself is quite fresh and interesting, how the search and battle for love can be tied into video game culture is an achievement of it's own. Actually I don't know which game this movie adhere into (if there is one) but I can enjoy the whole thing.

As for Michael Cera, I think he need to chose another role besides being a nerdy and a social misfit character, he began to look like a typecast for such role.

UNSTOPPABLE

Directed by: Tony Scott

Trying to catch a speeding train? You can ask Denzel Washington and Chris Pine for that. As for Chris Pine, this can be his new career choice, after being Captain Kirk now he can become the machinist-minus insomnia and dark imagination. Why train? Since Keanu Reeves has already chase a bus in Speed and Steven Seagal messed up with his horse tail hair in Under Siege 2 so someone should give the train a proper stand off and that guy is Tony Scott.

As for Denzel, I like his movies but I haven't seen his latest flick like The Taking of Pelham 123, since I always remember him as Malcolm X and that guy from Training Day. I do have hopes for Chris Pine since he acted good in Star Trek. However I watch this movie with an expectation. It has a good rating from rottentomatoes. I am expecting this film to be as exciting as Die Hard series.

I have to say I forgot their character's name, even the back story since the main actor of this film is the train! Yes an unmanned half-mile-long freight train barreling toward a city, with poisonous tank behind it. If it crashes it can make a huge disaster. The authority has tried anything to stop it (including trying to shoot it with a machine gun, they must have forgot that Willie E Coyote has more chance stopping a speeding train that a bunch of hot shot SWAT team trying to shoot a small button with a machine gun) but still it doesn't work. Now it is left to these two machinist to stop it.

I like how Tony Scott direct this film. It is quick, fast and entertaining. It looks expensive too with trains collided and helicopters and stuff. The dialogs are also nice, heavy with specific terms on train with Washington and Pine give their best.

It is thrilling and entertaining. If there is one big flaw is that the train is an unmanned train. It has no villain at all except the mysterious train that suddenly went away because of human error.

It would be cool if the train was train jacked by Justin Bieber wearing nothing but a kilt made of Lady Gaga's album cover, demanding the authority to buy his album. Or if Bieber declined to do so make it supernatural, like a ghost manning the train. Now that would make this film an Oscar material.

EASY A

Directed by: Will Gluck

I have no idea why virginity is such a big deal in American teen movies. Is it like that in real life? I have no idea. However virginity is like some inspiration for most movies, from American Pie to The 40 Year Old Virgin.

Just like most teen rom com I have no expectation on this one, in fact I was kinda hoping that this one is like some MTV skit that is a bit funny and forgettable. But I was wrong, Easy A is this year's (500) Days of Summer, a fresh, witty, smart and funny idea for a movie about virginity.

It explores themes many movies have explored,;insecurities, the power of rumor and the hidden will to fit in but in a way smarter (and avoiding stereotypes) than most teen rom com.

Olive Penderghast (Emma Stone) is just an ordinary high school student from Ojai, California. I don't know why, but why does a film portraying an unpopular girl put an attractive girl acting as the unpopular girl? In my high school, Emma Stone could lead a cult of men worshiping her with me as the cult leader.

One day, Olive lied about losing her virginity and overheard by Marianne (Amanda Bynes), a self-righteous religious type. Seriously, these types existed in here too and they are freakishly hilarious.

It takes minutes until the rumor spread and Olive is no longer invisible on the radar of popularity, now even though she could be just a crack on the pavement, Google Earth can locate her.

Losing one reputation, Olive gain a new one. She helped a gay friend named Brandon (Dan Byrd), who has been bullied at school of being gay to make an impression on the public that Brandon is straight. Then it is just an opener, the 'let's not but say we did' antique attracts hordes of geeks and nerdy students who want their 'reputation' to be elevated to a new level. Actually Olive don't do sex at all, she just lied about it and it works.

So where does lie going to take Olive? To a new level and a new problem. Filled with reference to 80s movies and the letter 'A' from Scarlett Letter novel, in which Olive advise people to watch the original film version instead of the Demi Moore version with fake British accent, this one is a surprise for rom com fan and certainly will gain many fans.

Like many good comedies, Easy A manages to make you laugh out loud but also thoughtful in the execution. It proves that a film about virginity doesn't necessarily need to visualize gratuitous nudity, although the word 'twat' and 'skank' is abundant here.

SAME SAME BUT DIFFERENT

Directed by: Detlev Buck

A story about a HIV positive ex prostitute from Cambodia and naive fresh graduate student from Germany could be a very serious and murky film. But with a romantic title which is taken from an Asian-English phrase mainly used in South East Asia can make this film looks beautiful.

As always I am afraid that if a film from Europe/United States try to portray a third world country (as far as I know there is only one world) it would fall into a film which degrade or mock the way people live there, as some movies used to portray. But avoiding postcard scenery (and poverty exploitation) plus the usual stereotypes, Buck has managed to deliver a decent and intimate inter cultural love story between Benjamin Prüfer (David Kross, you know him from Krabat and The Reader) and Sreykeo (Apinya Sakuljaroensuk) as they met in a party in Cambodia without over exploiting.

What I find as amazing is I directly recognize the song played in the club, it's Rammstein's Amour which lyrics are great in my opinion. Try to Google the lyrics and find the translation (if you understand German the meaning is more wonderful) of the song.

As their love grows Benjamin learns that Sreykeo is in dire need of money. He naively sent her money for her living (which her mother used it for gambling) and then after he got a job in Germany he return to Cambodia to fight for Sreykeo to have her medication.

What Benjamin did is amazing, not only that he fight for her life, he also have to experience the ups and downs of his relationship with Sreykeo. Will he find his true love in Sreykeo?

Without over the top melodrama and over melancholy song, I can get the chemistry between Benjamin and Sreykeo and how love can cross boundaries and difficulties. But I do mind on Benjamin being too naive, is there a person as naive as Benjamin in real life? I know this film is based on a real story but the director can at least add an edge on Benjamin's personality instead of making Benjamin a naive and a plain lovable person. By making Benjamin too naive the director fail to reach some emotional height necessary for this film. However in the light of that weakness, this film is not a disappointment but something nice to ponder and enjoy at the same time.

David Kross is pulling his best here, he can switch talking German and English in an instant without hesitation and Apinya looks charming talking broken English and a bit German.

HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS Part I

Directed by: David Yates

Most people review about the film; well I thought I shall review my journey to watch the film to begin with. It was a surreal journey as I sat on the bus going to the cinema and the bus driver is singing Bad Romance from Lady Gaga over and over again.

I have no idea what went through his mind as he torture the passengers with his very own special rendition. However that was a blast, since few days ago I hear another bus driver played Metallica on their radio.

I have no expectation on David Yates. Ever since he directed the fifth installment of the Harry Potter franchise I wish that the producer would take Darren Aronofsky or Lars von Trier as the director. His first Potter film, Order of the Pheonix is a decent installment and Half Blood Prince is a disappointment. So accompanied by that bus driver rendition of Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance I have no expectation from Yates.

This one is different, the last film from an almost 10 year old franchise. We saw Daniel, Rupert and Emma grow on the big screen and time goes by, we have to bid farewell to them. By that, Warner Bros will make sure we dig deep in our pocket to bid farewell since they decided to split the seventh installment in two movies released in six month period. They even consider of converting the film in 3 D to make it more profitable, lucky for us they cancel it at the 11th hour. Ever since Clash of the Titans converted into 3 D, slew of ‘fake’ 3 D have appeared and make the audience disappointed. I do hope Warner Bros learn from that experience.

As for me, I do read the books and watch the previous films but I am not a hard core fan who watches the movie twice and point out differences between books and film while frowning, I tend to just enjoy the ride.

This one is different, the wizards of Hogwarts is no longer inside Hogwarts. They have to be out there in the wild (including in a real London instead of in magical places) surviving the onslaught of Voldemort and his follower ever growing power and influence over the wizarding world and try to destroy the remaining horxruxes (If you don't know what it is, let's say they have to destroy Voldemort's external hardd disk so he cannot backup his data in the future in case the main hard drive and CPU got destroyed by Lady Gaga). By this, the trio of wizards are exposed to new condition and Yates has manage make it as efficient and as entertaining as possible.

In terms of special effect, visual representation and music score there is no complaining at all, it all helps the understanding and by splitting this film into two makes more space for better interpretation and visualization from the book. But in terms of acting there are no improvements from Daniel Radcliffe, he look as wooden as we last saw him on the sixth installment. Emma Watson done decent job but Rupert Grint shines throughout the film. It seems if he keeps doing that he might have a better acting career post Potter fame. Unlike the yawn-ish Half Blood Prince, Deathly Hallows show that Yates has matured in his third attempt in this franchise, the viewers even can understand what a Deathly Hallows is, accompanied by a very interesting animation. Even the lengthy duration itself is not a big deal, everything moves in a good pace.

What I find to be funny is how Dobby is more similar to Vladimir Putin (this one has been a joke in the internet) and how Voldemort is like George W. Bush in terms of visual. Although the story has no allegory on real world we live in, I do hope that Harry Potter is not Tony Blair.

If you are not a Potter fan and never read the book (or at least watch the fifth and sixth installment), you might have difficulties understanding the story and this one definitely not for kids since it has harrowing scenes and some blood.

As for where they split the story, they have done it perfectly by leave it hanging in the middle, making those muggles eagerly anticipate the coming second part thus bidding farewell to a franchise more successful than James Bond franchise. I do hope that the second part will not be a 'Bad Romance' for us all.

THE SOCIAL NETWORK

Directed by: David Fincher

Do you really need to have a legion of friends to create THE most popular social networking site?

According to this cautionary tale, you don't have to. For all we know, this film is a dramatization of the beginning of Facebook although the people and the law suit that happens is real. This is the anti-social tale of the genesis of social networking.

Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) basically just some nerdy who just got dumped by his girlfriend. Then a combination of anger, feeling rejected, alcohol, blogging and programming ability gave birth to a website comparing woman in Harvard in terms of hotness with farm animals.

The website's traffic increased exponentially in matter of hours and attract the attention of Winkelvoss brothers (both twins acted by Armie Hammer), who wanted Zuckerberg to help them creating some Harvard social networking site. Here, Zuckerberg see a winning move and move ahead by delaying meeting with Winkelvoss brothers and move on with Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield, our future Spider-Man) to create baby Facebook, Facemash and leave the Winkelvosses uninformed at all. By that he infuriated the rich twins and has to face reprisal.

Then comes Sean Parker (Justin Timberlake) the Rasputin who whispers ideas into Zuckerberg's mind and the rest is history, especially the breakup of his friendship with Eduardo and how Facebook become the most popular social networking site in the world worth of US$25 billion.

Framing the story in the legal lawsuit in flash-forward and flash-backward, Fincher manages to creep the audience by showing his version of Mark Zuckerberg; a cold, heartless, smart, calculating person who has zero interest in human relationship at all, he even doesn't care on parties and beautiful girls. He doesn't even care on money, it seems that his driving force is because he broke up with his girl friend. To that we have to thank Zuckerberg's ex girlfriend for 'motivating' the nerdy guy from Harvard to revolutionize our life.

This is a cynical and cruel film about how a venture into the making of a website based on friendship ended up destroying friendship of the maker itself.

Loaded with fast pacing dialogs that shoots like a bullet from a Rambo movie, if English is not your mother tongue, you need to concentrate more. Is this a masterpiece? I don't know, time will tell but this is a good film that lingers in my mind hours after I watch it.