THE KING'S SPEECH

Directed by: Tom Hooper

If you were a king and have to held a speech, having a stammer would be a real pain right? That particular King was King George VI, Albert Duke of York (Colin Firth). And if you have to speak for the British Empire to the whole world, to be able to speak eloquently is a must. Especially if speeches is the only way you can convey your messages to your people.

Actually Albert wasn't suppose to be a King at all had his older brother, David (Guy Pearce) who become King Edward VIII decided to marry a twice divorced widow from United states, Wallis Simpson.

In history people recognized this as Edward VIII abdication crisis. Apparently as a king you have limitations too, especially if you want to fall in love. So Edward VII decided to chose Miss Simpson (Eve Best) instead of the throne and gave it to his brother.

I wonder, what sort of social rule disallow a king to fall in love with a widow? I mean there is nothing wrong with that right? Well who am I to comment on British monarch anyway. Fate has chosen Albert to become a king and he has to live up to his fate.

So after trying for years without luck to cure his stammer, his wife Elizabeth (Helena Bonham Carter) ask the help of an Australian therapist, Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush), whose unorthodox methods are said to be successful.

Under Logue's guide, Albert began to show some improvement and they have become 'friends'. What amaze me is the acting quality of Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush is above amazing, they can portray their character convincingly and as a period piece it wasn't boring at all, in fact it was mesmerizing.

So 'clash' between two man of different social standing is something of a kind. Logue as a commoner must try so hard to position himself as a mentor to a king and the king must put himself in an inferior position, clinically to Logue.

British monarch has been a source of inspiration and this one gives us, common people, a peek into their privileged life. For those who thinks that the royals are just some lazy people they are surely mistaken, although born with a silver platter they also have to bear responsibility which is very difficult to handle. After all, they are human too.

If you happen to like Harry Potter movies, this film is a bit of 'reunion; George V played by Michael Gambon (Dumbledore), Elizabeth by Helena Bonham Carter (Belletrix Lestrange) and Churchill by Timothy Spall (Peter Pettigrew) have all appeared in Harry Potter movies.

Unlike that overrated Slumdog Millionaire which earn 8 Oscars, I think the 12 Oscar nomination for this film is well deserved since this one is surely will enrich your soul. This one is a strong contender this year, and deserved to be named Best Picture alongside The Social Network, Black Swan and 127 Hours

I don't know what will happen on Oscar night, but I do hope The King's Speech win big since they deserve it.

UNCLE BOONME WHO CAN RECALL HIS PAST LIVES

Directed by: Apichatpong Weerasethakul

Here's the deal, you really wanted to like this movie but you just can't. Even though it has won Golden Palm at last year's Cannes Film Festival and it could bring you some dim hope that this will be some spark of thought provoking piece from a new movie but after seeing this disjointed vignettes of nonsense and too simple magical realism you will come into one cruel conclusion, that the film with the real title; Lung Bunmi Raluek Chat is nothing more than just some pretentious pseudo intellectual trash trying so hard to be artsy. Some incoherent mess people will call as as art in order to make them look important and sophisticated in front of people they wanted to impress since they just follow what the critics said instead of having their own opinion.

I am not going to praise this film just because everybody else is praising it, in my opinion, this one is a boring film and fail to impress people and don't give me the bullshit that it is my mistake since I have some hope for this film because it has won main prize at Cannes since what would life be without hope. Besides it's not like I hope that this film will appear in 3-D.

Uncle Boonme is an absolute bore. Make no mistake I do like weird and surreal films, like Federico Fellini's 8 1/2 which in my opinion is superb, but this film about an uncle called Boonme (Thanapat Saisaymar) who can recall his past lives and has serious kidney problem, coupled with apparition of his long deceased wife and spirit of his long lost son in a form of a scary monkey with eyes glaring red in a dinner table.

The rest is an incoherent mess filled with a catfish having sex with a princess and some kid soldiers in pictures.

This film seem try so hard to grasp the metaphysical and dreamy substance with hints of Thailand's folklore but fails to impress common people like me. I don't know why the critics like it, I even think that this film doesn't deserve to win Golden Palm at all and be in the same league with Das Weisse Band or Un Prophete.

In one interview the director said that this film is a symbol for the death of cinema. Well he got it right there, more boring and pretentious movies like this will sure bring people to sleep at the cinema.

BAL

Directed by: Semih Kaplanoglu

What do you get if you put a movie camera in a forest and record things just as it is? Then just add no sound tracks at all? You get this film.

At first I thought this one could be another pretentious movie about life and stuff (I hate pretentious stuff) but after viewing this I really like it, especially the cinema verite approach and the minimum amount of dialogs and how the director let the visual speak for itself. It makes me wanted to listen to Kitaro or Enya and root for the main character, Yusuf.

The title itself means 'Honey' and tells a story about a boy, a very adorable one, Yusuf (Bora Altas) who lives with his father, Yakup (Erdal Besikcioglu) a honey farmer and his mother Zehra (Tülin Özen) in a remote village in Turkey.

The six year old is having difficulties in school, especially in reading. Having a very close relationship with his father, Yusuf tried so hard to please his father by winning a special badge for good merit from his school.

But things went hard for Yusuf, he still have difficulties reading in the class and in a quick way he became the outsider of his class.

The only thing he like is when he accompany his father into the woods, finding honey. But one thing changed Yusuf's life. His father didn't return from the two day trip. What is happening? Will Yusuf keep struggling with reading and waiting the return of his beloved father?

What amaze me is not only the simplicity and the beauty of the story but how Bora Atlas can act very naturally, for a boy his age. Not only that he is adorable, but he got talent.

I just learned that this Bal (Honey) is the third part of a trilogy of Yusuf, after Yumurta (Egg) and Süt (Milk). I am curious to see the previous two films and to explore Turkish cinema in general since I rarely watch Turkish movies.

127 HOURS

Directed by: Danny Boyle

Don't worry guys, this is not the duration of the film but the time Aaron Ralston (James Franco) trapped inside a boulder with his right hand also trapped by a falling huge stone.

Talking about scaring people doing adventure huh? However, with the Buried feeling induced in this film, Danny Boyle manages to inspire people. So we get to see Aaron got trapped, him trying to survive and saying nice things to himself to keep the spirits up.

Aaron also see hallucinations of his life, which is great since it is not in the Requiem for a Dream kind of visualization. What makes this film more interesting that it is from a true story and we all know how true story can really inspire people, just like Daniel Day Lewis inspiring us through There Will Be Blood. Don't argue to me about this one, Daniel Day Lewis's character in that bleak movie is very inspiring, just like Woody from that Toy Story thing.

After seeing this you will be left inspired and be thankful for what life has given you so far, something that is rare in movies nowadays.

So the whole film gravitate towards James Franco's performance and he didn't disappoint. I already like this guy from Spider-Man movies (Sam Raimi's version) and don't you even dare to berate Spider-Man movies, even that weird third installment because I really like Spider-Man a lot.

Look at this, a man trying to balance his superhero life with daily minutiae. that's like everyone of us right? Although most of us cannot swing from skyscrapers but the 'with great power comes great responsibility' shit is something of a kind. Which Kick-Ass answered; With no power comes no responsibility.

However James Franco didn't act as Peter Parker but his best buddy/nemesis and he didn't disappoint. He is the one that makes Spider-Man more interesting in terms of story development and I think in the future James Franco is heading Leonardo DiCaprio way, not Robert Pattinson's lane.

I know, perhaps you might wonder, why partial review of Spider-Man movies got inside this 127 Hours review. Because I can and I wanted it that way.

THE MAN FROM NOWHERE

Directed: Jeong-beom Lee


Won Bin? Yeah I know the guy, no I don't know him because he used to be my school friend I just know him by reputation. Besides I don't spend my youth in South Korea. However upon hearing that name I promptly think that this new film from Won Bin is a romance one. Well I was wrong, although I have no interest in watching South Korean romantic movies but when I learned that Won Bin is going to kick some ass, it wakes my curiosity. Especially since I learned that this film is the highest box office holder for 2010 in South Korea. There has to be something right?

So the South Korean movie prince is playing Tae-shik, a pawnshop guy with annoying hair cut (we have to see this annoying hair cut for 50% of the movie duration). He is so mysterious, we cannot even see his eyes since that annoying hair cover half of his face. However his loner attitude is something of a template, we know that this quiet guy will make some noise.

Tae-Shik only connection with life (if you define life is something full of other people) is a little girl, So-mi, who lives nearby. Her mother, Hyo-jeong is a prostitute who smuggles drugs from a drug trafficking organization and entrusts Tae-shik with the product, without letting him know.

Yes, something beyond Tae-Shik's control will take control of his life. The rest of the story is familiar, Tae-Shik turns out to have this martial art capability of dicing people in pieces, not literally and the whole movie is about Tae-Shik trying to protect that little girl from the bad guys by doing bad things. It turns out that Tae-Shik is not just a mere pawnshop guy, but some bad ass trying to lay low. Lesson learned; don't mess with a quiet guy, especially the one with weird hair cut.

Actually I was hoping for some mind fuck twist in the end, just like Oldboy, but the whole film is in a linear line and no twist will fuck your mind, literally or figuratively. Some twist is here and there but not obvious and I think a 15 year old with 3 seconds attention span can understand it.

However the film is not boring, it is even exciting to watch Won Bin kick ass and at certain point I am afraid that this film will go in the way of making Won Bin shirtless and went berserk, just like those B-movies. Well he did went shirtless for a few seconds which is a bit weird since I have no idea what was that for but the rest of the movie he keep his shirt on.

I also learned that this is Won Bin's first action film and I do hope that he will acted in this genre more, he got the talent as long as in the next movie he doesn't sport that annoying hair cut.

THE YEAR OF WATCHING DANGEROUSLY or HOW AN EPIPHANY BREAK MY DREAM IN 24 FRAMES PER SECOND

It started with Avatar, the so called ground breaking visual orgasm which re-defines 3-D in theatres then a slew of fake 3 D movies hit the screens, hoping to cash in from higher admission price.

Unfortunately, fake 3 D or a converted one is plain sucks in terms of visual and ripping of the cash of decent people who wanted nothing but some entertainment to endure their daily tension (Clash of the Titans, Alice in Wonderland, Gulliver's Travels, My Soul to Take, Nutcracker in 3D, Piranha 3-D, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and The Last Airbender).

Those studios just want to rip our pocket by releasing a converted movie. Sadly this trend will still follow in years to come, check The Green Hornet for instance. It wasn't even shot in 3-D but they marketed it with strong 3 D gimmick. Not to mention the second part of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

To make things clear, here are movies not in 3-D but converted into it which will be released in 2011; Captain America, Green Lantern, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, Priest, The Cabin in the Woods, The Green Hornet, The Smurfs and Thor.

Source: http://realorfake3d.com/

So don't say I haven't warned you.

Some have the decency to really shoot in 3 D like Step Up 3 D, Resident Evil: Afterlife and Saw 7 in 3 D, as for the latter I haven't seen it at all. It doesn't even show here.

I know, shooting in 3 D takes much effort and time but for the love of decency, stop converting those movies in 3 D and didn't tell us about it. All they need is to be honest in telling the audience that it was a converted one. Besides in the age of twitter and facebook, anyone can find the information whether the movie is in real or fake 3 D.

Lucky for me after hearing how viewers complained about the low quality of converted 3 D movies, I didn't even watch any of them at all in 3 D.

Now let's move on to other subject. As we all know, the title of this blog is movie addict 101. Well it doesn't live up to it's title since what sort of a movie addict who only write 30++ reviews in a year? For the love of blueberry juice, there are 52 weeks in a year, why only 30++? It is not even an addict at all, I suspect I am writing all these reviews while I am snoring on my desk and my fingers mysteriously just tap in into the keyboards.

Well, I am just plain busy, besides I used to have the policy of only reviewing new movies. I do watch movies but most of them are old ones and sometimes to find the right mood to review it is like to find an ice cream in a salad bar. Which is easy, just walk few meters, find the nearest supermarket and buy an ice cream. What is difficult is the motivation to buy the ice cream and whether you had the money to buy it at all.

However I do have some regrets. I wish I have reviewed Old Dogs. I don't care what the critics said about this one but heck, it was the funniest movie of 2010 and it makes me laugh so hard but how can a review filled only with 'Hahahahahahhahaha' for six paragraph? Although that would be a revolution in itself and it would save time.

I also wish I have reviewed Wall Street 2 and off course The Ghostwriter, I liked it very much but I am too busy to write it down. The Ghostwriter is actually one of my favorite in 2010.

Now I will try to review old movies I have seen for 2011, you know, to live up to the title of this blog, to give the word 'addict' it's true meaning; more reviews. Perhaps some Tarkovsky and Ozu to make it sound pretentious, self-centered and full of myself?

Actually, do people read my blog? How come after years of me blogging I rarely got any feedback at all? Do I have to put someone naked in my blog to attract comments? I am thinking to put a nude cat here, just in case. I think no one is reading my blog and I don't know why I am still writing. Heck, I just write. Just like those people who dance even if there is no one watching or like Lady Gaga who wears some clothes made of meat to get attention, wait the minute, she did get the attention.

To put cherry on top, here's my personal 2010 best movies, not in numerical order and I refuse to give star to my reviews since I want people to decide it by them self by reading it.

Sorry Old Dogs and Iron Man 2 doesn't make the cut. They are entertaining but forgetful.

So here's the list with the link into my own review on it. Talking about being a narcissist eh? No I haven't seen True Grit and The King's Speech although I had a hunch these movies are good too and can manage to be in my favorite 2010 movies. So feel free to click the link which will not lead you into some spam password stealing site with unblock-able pop ups about ceramics and botox, but my own review inside this blog.

The one with Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis doing something you wished for years to happen

The one with Ben Affleck robbing banks

The one where Ryan Reynolds got buried

The one where life is just a game

The one with the virginity on it

The one about that social networking site people use to stalk their exes

The one that blur the line between mocking and documenting

The one that you cannot dreamed of

The one which actually released in 2009 but I have seen it this year therefore I would like to make it qualified here. Why? Because I can.

The one with Toothless in it

That Hindi film that ran for three or four months here

The one that makes fun of this country

The one with Leonardo DiCaprio inside an asylum

Hey, don't you just go and write funny status on Facebook yet, check this one I dig from my own post in 2007! [There's nothing shameless than keep self-referencing my own blogs for shameless desire of promotion] It's about something relevant and the weird thing is, I even laugh at my own writing, talking about masturbation of the mind eh?

FOURTEEN RADICAL WAYS TO IMPROVE CINEMATIC VIEWING IN INDONESIA

BLACK SWAN

Directed by: Darren Aronofsky

I am not a big fan of ballet show. I don't even know what ballet is all about although I did enjoy some of the music. But I have seen some documentary showing how hard it is to train to become a ballerina. Being a ballet dancer, a good one, you must be exposed to hard training and the philosophy of pleasing others since you were young. I wonder whether it can also damage the soul, not only the physique. However I find ballet as a form of art under appreciated for it's rigorous training and preparation.

However what I like from this film is how Aronofsky manages to make ballet accessible to most viewers by tying it into his favorite theme, obsession. Aronofsky's movies are full of obsession. Pi is about a man's obsession on numbers, Requiem for a Dream is about obsession with drugs and happiness, The Fountain is about a husband's obsession with his wife and The Wrestler is about an aging wrestler obsessed to make his own last action.

Nina Sayers (Natalie Portman) is a dedicated ballerina. You can see how her mother is very protective and intrusive about Nina's career up to a level of horrific intrusion. The director Thomas Leroy (Vincent Cassel) makes a decision to put on a new rendition of the classic Swan Lake. With the leading ballerina, Beth (Winona Ryder in her short but stunning performance) forced into retirement, Nina is chosen to be the swan queen and ordered to embody black and white swan.

Nina take it too seriously, she danced tried to be so perfect. Meanwhile she face a competition from Lily (Mila Kunis), another ballerina and Thomas, although brilliant, seem to abuse his powers to Nina. Soon she began to question her sanity, what is real and not began to blur.

The rest is a horrific tale on obsession and what it cost to be perfect. You can see both sides of Nina, the innocent and sexually repressed little girl whose sole purpose of her life is to please her mother and in the end, turns into a 'black swan' who can dance as if she become, not only act it on the stage.

The last 30 minutes is a thrill that makes you remember why you like movies, it's the experience of watching fine acting from all of the castand directing that mimics life and takes your soul into a ride you never take before. It's not as mindfuck as Inception or as visually orgasmic as Avatar, but this one is an artgasm that cannot be translated into words. It's the feeling of content and catharsis upon viewing one of this year's great film.

Aronofsky has a talent and by this, I am waiting for his next movie. I hope Wolverine will be another The Dark Knight from Aronofsky.

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.