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.

EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP

A Banksy Film

Politically correct common sense dictate us that a documentary is a film about things that happened as it is. But as time goes by, so many documentary went into another category of documentary, like mockumentary (Borat or Modern Family TV series). This one venture perhaps into one of interesting sub-genre, prankcumentary. Documentary about pranks. What's the joke all about? Perhaps it is all about us.

Billed as a documentary about street artist it could be something pretensious, boring or both. But Banksy, whose name wasn't even credited in the credit title as director but in the beginning as 'A Banksy film' manages to pull out a what the fuck documentary that deconstruct the meaning of art and commercialization of art.

Banksy himself is a mysterious guy. He is a London graffiti artist known for his provocative and highly critical piece of art. Nobody knows his real name and face, perhaps only his agent and selected number of people.

But the focus of the film isn't Banksy but a guy named Thierry Guetta a Frenchman who lives in Los Angeles for years videotaping underground graffiti street artist. It all went well until he met the mysterious Banksy.

Banksy took him everywhere, even take him into his studio. I have to say Banksy's art is fascinating and thought provoking. At certain point the funny Thierry Guetta suddenly wants to become an artist himself. He re-mortgaged his house and open up a studio with so many people working to produce so many pieces of art and installation and plan to open a very big exhibition. He didn't actually work on his art, he has people to do it for him.

Now this is just plain insane. How could a guy with no reputation whatsoever in the art scene suddenly decided to become an artist producing paintings posters and installation?

And he got the money and means to make it! Can anybody be an artist and claim to be one? What is a valuable and high art product actually? How do you measure it? Was it by some endorsement from the art establishment or just generate some hype to make people believe that 'is' art? And what is art actually?

Not only that what Thierry 'produce' actually is just a ripoff or a re-interpretation of other famous art product (Campbell soup's spray? Are you kidding me?) that actually can be made with a advanced photoshop and Corel Draw skill. This pose a question between hype vs authenticity.

But people buy the hype, L.A. Weekly ran a special story about Thierry's exhibition and as the exhibition opened, people lined up to see it.

In the end, Thierry managed to pull a huge fortune out of it. This is insane, amazing and what the fuck at the same time.

The first half of the film deals with Thierry videotaping the street artist and try to make a film out of it, and the second part is about Banks taking over the job and make Thierry an object for his film.

Was it all true? Was Thierry actually a videotape loving guy with funny French accent who decided to become an artist in an instant? Or was Thierry actually an 'invention' of Banksy who wants to poke fun at all of us, including himself? Could it be that the real art installation/performance is Thierry himself, being a puppet of Banksy?

I have no idea. This is the documentary that blurs the line between a real documentary, an op-ed and a mockumentary. But as mind blowing as it is, this has to be the must watch documentary of the year.

The irony is if someone with enough credential and reliable in the society tells people that it is art then the masses will believe that is art although it is just a re-interpretation of another famous art piece or just something anyone can produce. In the end art is in the eye of the beholder.

INCEPTION

Directed by: Christopher Nolan
Run time: 148 min

What if you can enter someone's dream and steal something out of it? Well, there wasn't much to steal from my mind, but if you are some corporate hot shot, there are plenty of things to steal.

Think of this, before painting Nightwatch, Rembrandt must have imagined it in his mind right? What if you can steal that idea from people's mind, especially important people. Wouldn't that be a breakthrough?

Billing as the first existential heist movie, Christopher Nolan just saves Hollywood from remake and sequel summer redundancy. With layers of stories comparable to any layer cake, true movie fans will be satisfied with what Nolan has offered so far.

Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a man expertize in stealing secrets from people's dream, now he has to raise the bar by implanting an idea in someone's mind. Burdened by his own dark past, Dom Cobb assemble a team that will penetrate subconscious and finish his mission, while his past still haunt him.

It is not just a mere intellectual thrill ride, but it also involves some epic action scenes like snow chasing (I hope he will helm any James Bond movies in the future) and mind bending fighting in a rotating hotel corridor.

Unlike most movies, all the action and special effect helps the structure of the story. Most people will liken this to the Matrix given its similarities in combining science fiction with philosophical problems. But this one manage one step ahead by not overusing special effect and make Dom Cobb's future world seem close with our very own world. The acting is satisfying, Leonardo DiCaprio gives his best and Marion Cotillard steals some scenes.

If there’s one flaw some people might consider, it’s that Inception is more satisfying on an intellectual level than on an emotional one. But I don't mind that, since I am sick with movies which tries to provoke our emotion by cheap stuff like mellow songs and slow-motion scenes with mediocre story telling. Besides, this film doesn't need to strike people's emotion, it is all about the brain.

Under these layers of dreams Nolan put more subplot and detail that makes their character richer and has more depth. Inception is one of the best film in 2010 and will be talked about in years to come. It would be a crime if Inception didn't make it to be nominated at Academy Awards.

For those who dislike or having troubles following the complex structure of this film, there is one useful trick; concentrate.

The sweet irony is, without any technology that allows people to share their dreams, Nolan has managed to share his dream with us; with this film.

NO ONE KNOWS ABOUT PERSIAN CATS

Directed by: Bahman Ghobadi
Running time: 106 min

Welcome in Iran where secular music is slightly forbidden, especially if you want to make a concert. To the outer world Iran is the one we know from news, but do we know what is really going on in Iran? Through the lens of Bahman Ghobadi, we can have a peek on Iran (or Tehran's) daily life of struggle and hope.

My conclusion after watching this film is that the Iranian people is just like us; they have to struggle to make ends meet but with a slight twist; the youngsters need to do extra effort to get government permission for their creative work. In this case; music.

To people outside Iran, what the youngster do; establishing a music band with many genres like indie rock to jazz, is harmless. But the reality is, it is difficult for them to have government permission to held a concert.

Half documentary half fiction, the film follows two young aspiring musician (Ashkan and Negar) who tries to form a band. The pair befriends a big mouth man named Nader (Hamed Behdad) a music and American movie enthusiast. Nader helps them travel in clandestine around Tehran to meet other underground musicians possibly interested in forming a band and later (perhaps) try to leave the country to some other country (possibly England and they even hinted Iceland so they can meet Sigur Ros) where thay can free expressing their musical taste.

They also meet some guys who can falsify their passport and visa. You might wonder, they are not even political or planning to make any revolution. But it seems that it is very difficult for them to live in their own country and expressing their own hobby.

The film also highlights many of the legal and cultural challenges independent musicians and generally the Iranian youth have to face in Iran. You can't help to chuckle and being sad at the same time as you see Nader try to plea for his case in front of the police. His crime; having American movies in DVD and a bottle of alcoholic beverage.

In visiting those musicians viewers can get a taste on Iranian secular music, which is nice to hear. Who knows, it turns out to be indie rock music, jazz, death metal and rap can be so amazing in Farsi and so much different than all the trash we all hear in the radio.

Not only that, through the lyrics of the songs featured in this film, we can at least, know what these people are thinking or worrying of. In the end this film makes you wonder whether Coldplay will ever held their concert in Iran anytime soon.

KICK-ASS

Directed by: Matthew Vaughn
Run time: 117 min

I rarely read comics so whenever I try to review a comic based movie, I just review the movie itself. By that it means that I will not settle with anyone saying "Well that's what the comic is all about" since if the story suck, there could be a possibility that the comic is also suck. I don't care whether the movie is loyal to the book/comic or whatever it's original material is, I will just pay attention to the movie since I am not interested in comic books at all.

Watching Kick-Ass without reading the comic is something really fun if not borderline silly. The first half is a bit boring but the second part is exciting. Will Kick-Ass will be spoken in the same breath with Batman Begins and The Dark Knight? No it wont since although it is fun to watch this one is slightly better than Spider-man 3 because no matter how fun this movie is, it has no depth whatsoever, it is just some stylish movie accompanied with perfectly placed soundtrack from several movies that you already know.

Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson) is a generic version of Peter Parker, it is just no spider ever bite him and he is not alien thus he has no superpowers at all. He thinks that being a superhero doesn't need a bombshell catalyst.

Then he don a super-suit that he buy from the internet and roam the street as Kick-Ass, the only superhero without super powers or fancy gadget. Kick-Ass gain notoriety through You Tube as some bystander record his action in helping a guy from being beaten up.

It doesn't end there, Kick-Ass involved in a crime lord devious plans, where his path crossed with Hit Girl (Chloe Moretz) and her doting father (Nicolas Cage).

I think every decade, there always be a breakthrough in movie industry, like when Jodie Foster play a prostitute in Taxi Driver and this one, a 12 year old girl saying the 'c' word then slaughter grown up as easy as dicing onion.

Hit Girl, that potty mouth little girl, is the most annoying character I ever encounter in any movies. If the merit of good acting is being valued by how many shocking things you say on the screen I think Eric Cartman deserves an Oscar. Make no mistake Chloe Moretz acted just okay but to call Hit Girl as the most spectacular superhero(ine) is an insult to Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne/Batman. No superhero on the screen could deliver punch (pun intended) like Christian Bale or Toby Maguire in Spider-man 2, and they did it without saying the 'c' word.

I have no problem seeing Ewan McGregor diving the toilet in Trainspotting, or that kid in This is England spitting 'f' word but seeing a 12 year old girl have more strength than a dozen grown ups, is borderline silly.

There are more things that is just illogical like how come a tiny rocket pack could fly as high as 30 something story building? Would FBI at least investigate who Kick-Ass is? How come Kick Ass can learn how to use Gatling gun in just minutes and how come Kick Ass, after being severely beaten with batons that can make ordinary guy hospitalized, could regain consciousness and strength in just one night. Wasn't he just an ordinary guy just like us?

Don't mention the villain, they are nothing more than just cardboard characters and comical (once again, all pun are intended) I know, by this point you will say "Hey that's the way it is in the comic book" .But everybody knows I will not settle by that. Perhaps the comic try to emphasize on the over-the-top action and jokes, or try to invent something new and racy or a satire. But a satire of what? Of nothingness?

Those illogical stuff is the one that draws the line between this film and reality. It feels that this sort of story cannot exist in reality, which means Kick-Ass is an irony since it's theme is about superhero in real world without real powers. That is not the only irony since here, it is not Kick-Ass that become the superhero, but Hit Girl.

However by attempting to gloss this film with profanity and violence, the film has lose its depth and it feels like any generic superhero movie where the good and the bad is clearly divided and no moral ambiguities at all. It is a G Rated movie with R Rated delivery. Is it cool? Well I do not equate cool with style, I equate it with substance.

If you are looking for a good laugh, this one is for you but if you are looking for depth, realism and ambiguities, The Dark Knight and Watchmen is still available on DVD and Blu-Rays.