Thursday, July 10, 2008

Hancock



  • Directed by Peter Berg
  • Starring Will Smith, Charlize Theron, Jason Bateman
  • Despite great superstars Will Smith and Charlize Theron, this film is a failure due totally to its story.

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Wanted



  • Directed by Timbor Bekmambetov
  • Starring James McAvoy, Angelina Jolie, Morgan Freeman
  • A super hero movie for the adult crowd, with a taste for spectacular actions. It gets 5 stars in terms of over-the-top actions, and the rest of the film is also nothing to laugh at, either. Destined to be a cult classic. -Comment written by Dear

Saturday, June 14, 2008

The Incredible Hulk



  • Directed by Louis Leterrier
  • Starring Edward Norton, Liv Tyler, Tim Roth, William Hurt
  • The movie was alright, but the fact that of the entire movie, I was most excited by the fan-service cameo ending doesn't look well for the rest of the movie. -Comment written by Dear

Monday, June 09, 2008

Sex and the City: The Movie



  • Directed by Michael Patrick King
  • Starring Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Cynthia Nixon, Kristin Davis
  • Men may want to know why this HBO series was so famous among women that it is made a big screen movie. The 2-hour movie is full of fashions, brands, sex, and other materialistic values, all of which are nonsense and shameful. Well, that's why this movie is fun and entertaining. C' mon, it is just a movie. We know these things are crazy and unreal but please give us a break because we just want to enjoy watching the girl things once in a while.

Wednesday, June 04, 2008

Memory (Memory Rak Lorn)



  • Directed by Torpong Tankamhaeng
  • Starring Ananda Everingham, Mai Charoenpura
  • A Thai thriller story about a young psychiatrist who falls in love and lust with his child patient's mother. The movie is interesting and thrilling at first before turns complicated and unbelievable in the end. There are unnecessary scenes/plots which should be removed. It doesn't make sense how the doctor falls in love with the mother. Does it matter whether the child is a girl or a boy? Who is the father anyway? However, despite the screenplay, the film making is neat.

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of The Crystal Skull



  • Directed by Steven Spielberg
  • Starring Harrison Ford, Ray Winstone, Cate Blanchett, Karen Allen, Shia Labeouf
  • This film brought back memory of the old times, over 25 years ago, when we had so much fun watching Steven Spielberg's series of the Indiana Jones movies. Prior to seeing this film, I wondered whether Harrison Ford could be able to play the daring action hero Indiana Jones as he is now 64. It turns out that he is still good and fits for this role.

Sunday, May 04, 2008

Iron Man



  • Directed by Jon Favreau
  • Starring Robert Downey Junior, Jeff Bridges, Gwyneth Paltrow, Terrence Howard
  • Robert Downey Junior IS Iron Man. His unusual protagonist and charms help turn an already very competent superhero movie into a hugely entertaining one. I expect, no, I want more sequels of this. Good visual designs all around from the FX teams as well. - Comment written by Dear

Thursday, April 03, 2008

Vantage Point



  • Directed by Pete Travis
  • Starring Dennis Quaid, Matthew Fox, Forest Whitaker, Sigourney Weaver, William Hurt
  • Although the twists and turns are quite predictable, the switching of viewpoints never get old and each brings new interesting things to the viewer each time. The chase at the end is also remarkable, Jason Bourne mode. I expect more movies to use this storytelling style to greater effects in the future. -Comment written by Dear

Wednesday, March 05, 2008

Jumper


  • Directed by Doug Liman
  • Starring Hayden Christensen, Jamie Bell, Samuel L. Jackson, Diana Lane
  • A hugely disappointing movie. I did not expect much from the plot, and the movie certainly did not deliver on this front. However, the Jumper idea should have lend itself to a much more imaginative and wild action sequences, and its unforgivable that this movie could not even do this right. -Comment written by Dear

Wednesday, February 06, 2008

American Gangster


  • Directed by Ridley Scott
  • Starring Denzel Washington, Russell Crowe
  • The potentially colossal face-off between Washington and Crowe is burdened by the story's persistent in sticking to the truth. The movie is still entertaining enough, if not memorable. -Comment written by Dear

Friday, February 01, 2008

Enchanted


  • Directed by Kevin Lima
  • Starring Amy Adams, Patrick Demsey, James Marsden
  • Really enchanting and fun to watch for both adults and children.

Saturday, January 19, 2008

Cloverfield


  • Directed by Matt reeves
  • Starring Michael Stahl-David, Mike Vogel, Odette Yustman, Lizzy Caplan
  • A really exciting movie that cleverly places you right in the middle of all the actions. The point is never about explaining where the monster came from, but how a Godzilla class event might affect the average joes. I didn't get nauseous at all from the camera style, but your mileage may vary. Despite the home video look, I strongly recommend seeing this on the biggest screen available. -Comment written by Dear

Friday, January 11, 2008

Across The Universe


  • Directed by Julie Taymor
  • Starring Jim Sturgess, Evan Rachel Wood, Joe Anderson
  • I thought I would be able to sit back, relax and listen to the original Beatles' songs but I was wrong. The film was heavy and the songs were performed by the actors/actresses in the film. Although they were very good, I was kind of disappointed.

Monday, December 24, 2007

National Treasure: Book of Secrets



  • Directed by Jon Turteltaub
  • Starring Nicholas Cage, Diane Kruger, Jon Voight, Ed Harris, Harvey Kietel, Justin Bartha, Helen Mirren
  • As an Indiana Jones-like, I felt this movie delivers on its premise. The movie felt much more confident and at home when it's in the white house than when it's trekking through Indian Architectures. Ideally, most of the actions should have been set in well-known places, and not in made up underground dungeons, not that there are many in the USA. -Comment written by Dear

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Elizabeth: The Golden Age



  • Directed by Shekhar Kapur
  • Starring Cate Blanchett, Clive Owen, Geoffrey Rush
  • Cate Blanchett still gives a worthy performance even with a mediocre script, but no amount of wardrobes and English slurs can convince me that this Clive Owen belongs in Old England. At times, the movie feels like a Hallmark movie. You can see the actors trying to add more flavors and expand the movie beyond the misguided guide hand of the director, but as a whole, the movie disappoints. -Comment written by Dear

Sunday, December 16, 2007

I Am Legend



  • Directed Francis Lawrence
  • Starring Will Smith
  • While the design is impressive, ultimately the plot is a serious let-down. Legendary, this movie is not. -Comment written by Dear

Sunday, December 02, 2007

The Love Of Siam (Rak Hang Siam)


  • Directed by Chukiat Sakweerakul
  • Starring Sinjai Hongthai, Mario Maure, Witchwisit Hirunwongkul, Chermal Boonyasak, Songsit Rungnoppakunsri
  • This Thai movie tells a story about different kinds of love; love of parents for their children, love of friends, love between opposite sexes, and love between gays. The film is neatly made and all the actors, old and new, perform very well. The music is also beautiful. However, the film is too long. A lot of scenes can be eliminated or cut short without changing the theme. Why does a good film like this fail at the end? Anyway this is the best Thai film in 2007.

Sunday, November 25, 2007

Michael Clayton


  • Directed by Tony Gilroy
  • Starring George Clooney, Tom Wilkinson, Tilda Swinton, Sydney Pollack
  • A wonderfully complicated and mature tale of morality and corporate evil. Movie succeeds in being simple yet subtle in presenting its ideas, and do not have to use any action, sex or CG to charm the audience. However, back at home, I caught The Peacekeeper (another George Clooney movie) on the cable, and enjoyed it so much more than this movie. Does this say something about me, or does it say something about this movie? Hmm. - Comment written by Dear.

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Lions For Lambs


  • Directed by Robert Redford
  • Starring Robert Redford, Meryl Streep, Tom Cruise
  • All the actors perform admirably, particularly how Tom Cruise succeeds at making his charming face into a devious politician looking face. However, story is far too preachy and impersonal for us to take seriously at the convincing level. I want moving, convincing and personal arguments in movies, not a lecture. The messages are there, but they just don't get across. - Comment written by Dear.

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

The Kingdom


  • Directed by Peter Berg
  • Starring Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Garner, Chris Cooper
  • Entertaining enough, but at times the movie feels like an overblown TV episode of CSI, which to you, might be good or bad. For me, I'd rather watch a Jack Bauer movie. How would they name a 24 movie, 2? 3? 2 and a half? -Comment written by Dear.

Friday, October 05, 2007

Underdog



  • Directed by Frederik Du Chau
  • Starring Jim Belushi, Alex Neuberger, Jason Lee (Voice)
  • This movie about the superhero beagle is for children and people who love dogs. Do not expect to see the special effects or anything serious and do not compare with "Babe". Watch it just for fun and you will be entertained, at least by the laughter of the children who sit next to you.

Thursday, September 20, 2007

The Brave One


  • Directed by Neil Jordan
  • Starring Jodie Foster, Terrence Howard
  • Once again, Jodie Foster does not let her fans down. She delivers her best performances in this drama-turned action thriller movie. Although the plottings are unbelievable, this film is entertaining, especially in the real world where we desperately want this kind of dark hero.

Thursday, August 16, 2007

Little Children


  • Directed by Todd Field
  • Starring Kate Winslet, Patrick Wilson, Jennifer Connelly
  • The movie tells a story of three people, a disappointed housewife whose husband prefers sex phones to her, a househusband who has to rely on his wife's income, and a former policeman who keeps harassing a convicted sex offender, and the relationship between them. It's an honest film that tells the dark side of human behavior. Excellent scriptwriting and fantastic performance of Kate Winslet.

Tuesday, August 07, 2007

The Bourne Ultimatum



  • Directed by Paul Greengrass
  • Starring Matt Damon, Julia Stiles, Joan Allen, David Strathairn
  • Matt Damon is back as Jason Bourne. This time he hardly talks, eats, or sleeps and wastes no time with girls. It's a non-stop action movies and the most exciting for the trilogy. The most exciting part is when he fights with another assasin. So sad there is no more Jason Bourne.

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Harry Potter and the Order of The Phoenix



  • Directed by David Yates
  • Starring Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Ralph Fiennes, Gary Oldman, Alan Rickman
  • The comment of this movies is supposed to be written by Dear, because he is a big fan of the Harry Potter series. However, since he keeps postponing writing the comments, I think it is my responsibility to write some for the time being, although he may not agree. Well, it's more fun than the past four series because Harry is old enough to kiss a girl. How about that?
  • Comment from Dear: I don't consider myself BIG fans of the franchise. For fantasy, I'd recommend George R. R. Martin's 'A Song of Ice and Fire' series or Steven Erikson 'Malazan book of the Fallen' series. Harry Potter sure is fun as a blockbuster book, but is not something that sticks with you. I do think that this is one of the more entertaining movies in the Potter franchise, especially after the disappointing fourth movie. The film is smart in that when it chooses to cut something of the book from the film, they do it in entirety, not leaving plot lines that are undeveloped and premature. Fight at the end is also fun in a kung-fu kind of way.

Sunday, July 08, 2007

Die Hard 4.0 (Live Free Or Die Hard)


  • Directed by Len Wiseman
  • Starring Bruce Willis, Justin Long, Maggie Q
  • Before watching the movies, I had thought it would be boring, like the second and the third sequels. It turns out to be the best Die-Hard sequel, or at least as good as the first one. The story is action-packed, no time wasted for love or drama things. Bruce Willis is fantastic. It is so entertaining that I wish there would be Die-Hard Part 5,6,7,... with Bruce Willis as John McClane forever.
  • Dear's Comment: I wish that John McClane and Jack Bauer can team up and pretty much die hard for 24 hours.

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Transformers



  • Directed by Michael Bay
  • Starring Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox
  • Great special effects. Fun to watch.

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Fracture



  • Directed by Gregory Hoblit
  • Starring Anthony Hopkins, Ryan Gosling, David Strathairn
  • Anthony Hopkins's role as a successful engineer Ted Crawford is so familiar. It's like watching Dr. Hannibal Lecter playing games with the detective again. Despite solid performances of the casts, I think the twist at the end is not good enough. I had thought it would be more complicated. Had it be, it would be more fun.

Thursday, June 21, 2007

The Fantastic Four: Rise of The Silver Surfer


  • Directed by Tim Story
  • Starring Michael Chiklis, Jessica Alba, Ioan Gruffudd, Chris Evans
  • If you don't expect anything serious, this summer movie is fun to watch with great special effects.

Tuesday, June 05, 2007

Ocean's Thirteen



  • Directed by Steven Soderbergh
  • Starring George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Al Pacino, Ellen Barkin
  • The movie's only major flaw is that there are literally no real obstacles to Ocean's 13. We never get any doubt that the group wouldn't succeed. Apart from that, the talented cast supplies the movie with classy humor and charm. It would have been nice if it is more exciting, though. -Comment written by Dear.

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End


  • Directed by Gore Verbinski
  • Starring Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley, Geoffrey Rush, Bill Nighy, Chow Yun-Fat
  • Although the film spends too much time on too many irrelevant plot threads, the final act features some very exciting climatic action sequences. Combining that with terrific cinematography, great visual effects and imaginative costume designs make this trilogy ending a good summer epic movie. -Comment written by Dear.

Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Next




  • Directed by Lee Tamahori
  • Starring Nicholas Cage, Julianne Moore, Jessica Biel
  • Next will be one of the funniest movie of the year. I don't even need to look into the future to know that. Of course, everything about it is absurd. The plot is full of holes, over-acting splashed all over, and Cage sports the worst hair-do since Tom Hanks' in The Da Vinci Code. By the end, the absurdity of it all adds up to create a surreal blockbuster where the audience isn't sure what's happening, and not in a good way. Bizarrely, the last minute decision to add in action sequences into the film also brings about ninja-like cloning techniques and even some special effects that look like how The Matrix would be if they were made 20 years ago. This movie is a real mess, but hey, everybody in the theatre had a good time laughing at the film afterwards, so I'm going to have to recommend this. Next! - Comment written by Dear.

Tuesday, May 01, 2007

Spider-Man 3



  • Directed by Sam Raimi
  • Starring Tobey Maguire, Kristen Dunst, James Franco
  • Spider-Man 3 is a case where the sum of individual parts don't add up to a solid well-made film. Certain elements in the movie (Villain Sandman and a bizarre dance number) should have been cut or trimmed out entirely. In comparison, Spider-Man 2 as a whole is much better at weaving a coherent story. However, I like some of the parts in Spider-man 3 so much that I find myself preferring it over the first two films. James Franco's role as the second green goblin is brilliantly scripted and acted. The fight chloreography is also exceptionally done. On the whole, I prefer this movie over the first two. -Comment written by Dear.

Sunday, April 15, 2007

Pan's Labyrinth




  • Directed by Guillermo Del Toro
  • Starring Sergi Lopez, Ariadna Gil
  • A fantasy film done right. Never once does the special effects threathen to overstage the drama. The movie makes it clear from the beginning that you're supposed to take it very seriously. The plot is a depressing, harrowing one, but not overly so as to be excessive.
  • The thing with fantasy genres is that they left themselves for many types of intepretation. I always felt that the scholars usually overanalyzed these films, stretching themselves to find meanings in every irrelevant details. To me, however, this movie is probably one that should be analyzed, and will be rewarding to those who tries to.-Comment written by Dear.

Wednesday, April 04, 2007

Alone (FADD)


  • Directed by Banjong Pisanthanakun, Parkpoom Wongpoom
  • Starring Marsha Wattanapanich, Witaya Wasukraipaisan
  • This Thai movie tells a story of Siamese twins, one of which managed to survive after the surgery to separate them from each other. Marsha Wattanapanich makes a great comeback after staying out of the movies business for more than 10 years. She proves that her acting capability does not fall short of her charm. The overall production is also good although it should be a lot better should the story tell more of the twins' biological organs and their relationship.

Friday, March 23, 2007

The Good Shepherd



  • Directed by Robert De Niro
  • Starring Matt Damon, Angelina Joli, Alec Baldwin, Robert De Niro, William Hurt
  • This drama movie tells a serious political inside story of the CIA in their first years. Although the story is interesting and thrilling, the movie is too long. Matt Damon doesn't grow any older during 1939 and 1961, making me confused trying to figure out the timing of the scenes. He also looks much better when he is Jason Bourne in The Bourne Identity.

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Music & Lyrics


  • Directed by Marc Lawrence
  • Starring Hugh Grant, Drew Barrymore
  • This is an entertaining romantic comedy movie. Hugh Grant is charming, warm, and funny and he proves that he can sing very well. Drew Barrymore is also charming but there is not enough chemistry between the two. The best part is the closing credits which is very funny. Be sure you see it before leaving the theatre.

Monday, February 26, 2007

Volver



  • Directed by Pedro Almodovar
  • Starring Penelope Cruz, Carmen Maura
  • This Spanish film is a pleasure to watch. It tells a story about women -- mothers and daughters, families and friends. The film has everything -- comedy, drama, murder, and ghost! Penelope Cruz delivers the best performances she has done so far. The character is made for her -- charming, strong, energetic, funny and vulnerable woman. It's not a surprise that she has been nominated for the Best Leading Actress in the Academy Awards this year.

Saturday, February 17, 2007

Tamnan Somdej Phra Naresuan II: Prakaad Israparp (The Legend of King Naresuan II: Declaration of Independence)

  • Directed by MC Chatrichalerm Yukol
  • Starring Captain Wanchana Sawasdee, Nopachai Jayanama, Inthira Chaoroenpura, Napasorn Mitraim
  • This movie is much easier to watch and enjoy than its prequel, mainly because there's enough action and unintentional comedy to smooth the same flaws that plague the first movie. Since there are no more child actors around, the acting has also generally improved. What this movie really lacked though, is a capable villain. The villains here are all either totally incompetent and/or lack any screentime. So there are really no challenge to King Naresuan's battles. The "rifle scene", which should have been a classic, if done right, also fell way short of its potential.
  • Overall, this movie is your average war movie that is still too overlong for its own good. The only really unique thing this movie did was setting up a scenario where tribal VooDoo headhunters must fight with Mon Amazoness warriors.....in Thailand...with wire-fu actions even! Truly an international epic! -Comment written by Dear-

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Dreamgirls



  • Directed by Bill Condon
  • Starring Jamie Foxx, Beyonce Knowles, Eddie Murphy, Jennifer Hudson
  • Adapted from a real story of a popular musical group, "The Supremes", in the late Motown Era, this movie tells a story about three girlfriends from Chicago forming a singing trios under the management of a former car salesman. This movie is a great musical drama, entertaining and educational, with strong preformances of actors and actresses. Beyonce, despite her fine performances, is overshadowed by Jennifer Hudson, who plays a remarkable singer "Effie White" and is most likely to get The Oscar Award this year.

Saturday, January 20, 2007

Tamnan Somdej Phra Naresuan I: Ong Prakan Hongsa (The Legend Of King Naresuan I: Hostage of Hongsawadi)



  • Directed by MC Chatrichalerm Yukol
  • Starring Somphop Benjathikul, Sorapong Chatree, Chatchai Plengpanich
  • This first movie of the grand Naresuan trilogy came off as being more like a live action history book than a movie. That's not to say that the history book is boring. No, the story is told with enough production value likely to keep even 14-year old Thai boys interested for the whole duration of this very long movie. Before your imagination runs wild, this is still nothing in comparison to epic Hollywood movies in terms of production value. Return of the King has like 100 siege towers. The legend of Naresuan: Vol. 1 has 2. Since we're so used to the Hollywood mega war scenes, this difference shows up very clearly on screen. It gives the impression that we're seriously overreaching ourselves. Heck, if you don't have the money, why bother making half-assed war scenes? There's better areas to spend them on, like....the story. Ah, yes, the story.
  • To its credit, this movie is clearly superior, plot-wise, to its spiritual predecessor "The Legend of Suriyothai". The characters are more interesting and possess more depth. The star that holds everything together in this movie is Buyinnong, the Burma king who is at once both ruthless and benevolent. He proves to be quite an interesting character. The conflicted-king Thammaracha is also a multi-dimensional character, something not seen at all in Suriyothai. The problem though, is that this is still not nearly enough. A movie becomes extremely boring when your "hero" is a pampered 2-dimensional goody-two-shoes with the almighty power of plot devices. Similarly to Suriyothai, the filmmaker considers it taboo to add any kind of faults to Naresuan, making him all wise and kind, while making the potential villain Mangsamkiat the evil cousin archetype. This is not the model for a movie, but for a cheap soap opera. These two characters could have had some great conflicts that draw empathy to both sides, but no, the message we get is "Nareusuan: good; Mangsamkiat: spoiled brat". This could of course really be the case, but why doesn't the movie try to dig into why Mangsamkiat is a spoiled brat, and why does he hate Naresuan so much?
  • I guess the key-word here is "conviction". Naresuan and all the other "good Thai" characters in this movie say patriotic lines in like half the 3 hours screenplay. I can understand what they're saying, but I can't believe them. I don't see enough reason why these princes and princesses could think so much of freedom and such, when they've always enjoyed a luxurious life, especially Naresuan who is treated better than Buyinnong's own sons and heirs. I don't see how they could be so fixated on winning freedom for the Thai people. Of course, you can tell me, "It's because they are great and patriotic yada yada yada". Fine, I get what you're saying, but I can't believe in it because I can't relate to them at all. A character becomes believably patriotic when despite overwhelming desire not to be one, he/she still chooses to be one. There has to be a price for that decision. That is the condition where being patriotic actually means something besides being a load of impressive words.
  • Throughout the movie, Naresuan has shown no other desire but to return Thai to Thai people. His characters is a straight arrow all the way, always sure of his target. This might have made him a hero, or even a saint, but this doesn't make him "great". We can't relate to someone who's so sure of his goals and is without any flaws. Granted, King Naresuan may have been like that in real life, god bless him for that, but his kind of character makes for an enormously boring character. He doesn't possess any internal conflict. Screenwriting 101 teaches everybody this, you know. This is why Thammaracha and Buyinnong are such fascinating characters, and why the rest of them are more like characters taken out of a soap opera. I'm here to see a good movie, not a glorified history textbook. I don't care how you need to add your own things to history to make it interesting, as long as it becomes interesting. There's no merits in making a movie as historically accurate as possible when it turns out to be boring. None whatsoever. I wanted to like King Naresuan. I really do. I want to be proud of him like the movie obviously wanted me to do. But since I can't even relate to him as a human being, I could not bring myself to like him at all. Even Mangsamkiat draws more sympathy out of me than our main character.
  • This being the first part of trilogy, of course there's always room for improvement. Despite all that I've said, I'm really looking forward to the second part. I hope there's some huge improvement. If that's not to be, heck, I could always enjoy some more Tony Jaa-style action. -Comment written by Dear-

Sunday, January 14, 2007

Blood Diamond


  • Directed by Edward Zwick
  • Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Connelly, Djimon Hounsou
  • This action-packed drama film is thrilling, tragic, educational, and entertaining. Leonardo DiCarprio delivers stunning performances, both in action and drama scenes. He has proved himself to be a highly-capable actor and take away his picture as a young lover boy in "Titanic", "Romeo and Juliet", or "Catch Me If You Can".

Tuesday, January 09, 2007

The Black Dahlia



  • Directed by Brian De Palma
  • Starring Josh Harnett, Scarlett Johansson, Hilary Swank, Aaron Eckhart
  • The story is about two LAPD detectives assigned to go after the 1947 murder of a Hollywood actress. The director tries to put in so many subplots and characters that it feels like watching more than one movie--a cruel murder which is the theme of the movie, a love triangle, a police corruption, a story of an insane family, etc.

Tuesday, December 19, 2006

The Holiday



  • Directed by Nancy Meyers
  • Starring Camiron Diaz, Kate Winslet, Jude Law, Jack Black
  • This 2-hour romantic comedy is boring. It's like watching two movies, unrelated and unfunny. Too many characters and absolutely too long.

Monday, December 11, 2006

Deja Vu






  • Directed by Tony Scott
  • Starring Denzel Washington, Val Kilmer, Jim Caviezel
  • The premise of the story is class A sci-fi material. However, director Tony Scott dumbed down the complexity and depth of the plot in favor of more action sequences, all which felt tagged on to the movie. In the end, what would have become a great sci-fi movie could only be a mildy interesting (albeit confusing) movie. If the time travelling concept is stripped away, all that is left of this movie is a barely convincing and rather shallow cop story. Telling a story with style is great, but first you got to have the story first. This movie got it the other way around. -Comment written by Dear-

Thursday, December 07, 2006

The Possible (Kao Kao)

  • Directed by Wittaya Thong-Yooyong
  • Starring Apisit Opas-Eiamlikit (Joey Boy)
  • This film tries to bring back old memories of string combo music, Afro hairstyles, bellbottom pants, platform shoes, etc., which is rather successful. However, the scriptwriting is so weak that the nostalgia isn't there. Most of the times it looks like the film is made and the script is written at the same time, or perhaps with no script at all. Some scenes, roles, and characters were created, perhaps for the fun of the filmmakers, not the audiences. Joey Boy is good at singing and rapping, but not at acting.

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

Death Note 2: The Last Name




  • Directed by Shusuke Kaneko
  • Starring Tatsuya Fujiwara, Kenichi Matsuyama
  • Death Note 2 is a good continuation of the first movie. While the movie felt overlong and poorly-scripted at many points, there are still enough exciting cat-and-mouse games between Kira and L to keep the viewers interested throughout. Manga readers should note that the ending is different from the manga version, and that it is even arguably better. L fans can also look forward to an L spinoff movie scheduled for 2008. -Comment written by Dear-

Saturday, November 18, 2006

Casino Royale


  • Directed by Martin Campbell
  • Starring Daniel Craig, Eva Green, Mads Mikkelsen, Caterina Murino, Judi Dench, Jeffrey Wright
  • This new Bond isn't neccessarily superior to the previous films, but it is a new brand of Bond altogether. While the old Bonds are cool gentlemen, Craig's Bond is something more like a deadly assassin. He can also get hurt, both physically and emotionally, unlike the previous Bonds. So while the other Bond movies are like superhero movies, Casino Royale is more grounded in reality. This gives more weight to his mission and tribulations. This is the first Bond movie where I can sympathize with Bond, and as a result, I was able to take the movie much more seriously than other Bond movies. Some may argue against this new Bond vision, but I welcome the change. -Comment written by Dear-

Tuesday, November 07, 2006

The Unseeable (Pen Choo Kab Pee)



  • Directed by Wisit Satsanatieng
  • Starring Siriphan Watanajinda, Supornthip Chuangrangsri, Tasawan Seniwongse
  • This is a Thai-made movies about a pregnant country girl searching for her missing husband in Bangkok some 70 years ago. Everything was great at the beginning. You will feel like watching a classic horror film. However, there were soo many ghosts, shocks and twists at the end, that the feeling of horror disappeared. The story is quite familiar and you can guess the ending without any diificulty.

Saturday, November 04, 2006

The Prestige



  • Directed by Christopher Nolan
  • Starring Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale, Scarlett Johansson, Michael Caine
  • By focusing on character study, director Nolan made the many twists and surprises in this film to be not like mere movie tricks, but rather as something that is the natural consequence or the extension of the characters' actions. The audience are not only wowed by the surprises, but also stunned by the dramatic implication that those twists will have for the characters involved. Fitting for a movie about magicians, the twists define the characters. That is the real magic of this movie. Another great film from Christopher Nolan.-Comment written by Dear-