Edisonia.

A small project between three film lovers. The premise is simple, we pick a movie, watch it within the week and write up the review 7 days later, repeat the cycle and talk about the films. This is not a 'serious' movie review blog. We just want to share opinions and have fun! You can join us and submit your review. Edisonia Hall was a generic name for exhibition halls that displayed the various inventions of Thomas Alva Edison's company. These included the phonograph, the Vitascope, the Kinetoscope and other such devices.

[edisonia]

The Green Lantern - Rahman's Review

No. 

This movie was terrible. An insult to the comics, the characters and to cinema goers everywhere.

Steihl and Day have pointed out why this movie was bad, and I agree, so I can't just repeat what they said and bore you.

Avoid at all costs. 

[edisonia]

The Green Lantern - Day's Review

I first saw The Green Lantern at Japan Press Screening premier, i got invited by a friend. All through the film i agreed with cinephiles all around the world, it's bad, but the real grump comes from when i had to rewatch it this week for Edisonia Review. I suppose no one can doubt my dedication for this movie club now that i watched The Green Lantern twice for it.

The casting wasn't that bad (I've never read The Green Lantern comic so apology for my lack of knowledge to compare the casts with the characters). Ryan Reynolds seems to fit the role of Hal Jordan alright. Blake Lively as Carol seems okay as well. Tim Robbins and Peter Sarsgaard are good actors, i always think they are underrated (if they keep appearing in a film like this, they will stay that way). Martin Campbell to direct? Come on how bad can the film be.

Very bad is the answer. The screen writer and the editors tack-team in ruining the potentially okay superhero movie. Screenwriting, the comedy bits they tactically insert in scatteredly through the film aren't funny. The strong motivational concept of Will Beyond Fear was very weak written. Hal's fear was confusing. Was it fear of commitment, was it fear or losing the loved ones, was it fear of never going to fit his father's shoes? Why exactly is he irresponsible? And if he is irresponsible, then why all of sudden, he decides this is it, i'm gonna 'look for troubles' and save the world. I mean, yes, the film DOES insert the answers to those, but nothing was emphasized, nothing was clear. There are parts that have potential to be memorable scenes, but the script doesn't help as much as it should. No one understand Hal, no one love Hal, no one FEEL Hal. Instead of adding the not-funny funny bits, go as drama as you want. Superheroes lately are dramatic anyway right?

Also, you have actors like Tim Robbins and Peter Sarsgaard there. They can act, use them. I feel bad for both. I feel bad for Tim, because the role he's got can be just anyone, it doesn't have to be Tim Robbins. It doesn't require great acting there. I feel bad for Peter because his character could be written to have great depth. Not a problem child who one minute feel bad he's got the job other deserve more, then another become a cold-blooded monster on killing spree. (By the way, to me he looks like someone who bangs his forehead repeatedly then plunges his finger into electric socket than an alien mutated person)

Now to the editing, the magic of Hal Jordan to appear every where. One minute he's in a room, another in far, far outer space. One minute getting romantic with Carol in a bar, then another Carol asked the wrong question, Hal left IMMEDIATELY by walking out that door and fighting like a superhero just right there outside the bar. Audience can just forget Carol. It's like the editor wants audience to have great imagination of following the plots by themselves. Ok, here is the romantic time, get it? good, we move to fight scene now, get it? GOOD. No transition needed or anything.

There are a lot in the plot that doesn't make sense, most can be because i don't really know the comic (ie, if Hal can imagine ANYthing to fight Parallax, why not a huge kick-ass robot instead of a machine gun, etc.). My favourite part of the film was around the end when Hal single-handedly took care of Parallax. I mean, you see from many other scenes there are ZILLIONS of warriors in Lantern Corp., most i reckon are more experienced and such, some we saw got defeated before, but no one was there to fight with him, no. Just Hal. An inexperienced human warrior who has just realised a minute ago in his room the meaning of courage! And he won it! HALLELUJAH! And right when Hal already owned Parallax, guess what? Other warriors appeared! SO MUCH FOR UNITY, we come to help you when you're done!

Overall, The Green Lantern isn't much worse than average low-budget grade B action movies out there, but considering that it's far from low budget, it's totally disappointing. Not worth two hours of your time.

[edisonia]

The Green Lantern - Stefan’s Review

When watching the trailer I could already tell that this was not gonna be a classic or anything, but I did expect the movie to be entertaining to some degree. From the costumes, effect, story and dialogue it has b-movie written all over it. It's basically Shark Attack 3 with a higher budget(no offense to shark attack) . Now, it should be said that I'm far from an avid comic-book/superhero movie fan in general, so the critique may seem a little sharp, but bad movies are bad movies.. What amazed me the most were not the cheesy effects, the non-existing acting, the dull story or the ridiculous costumes..It was finding out who directed this mess, and it surprised me a lot. Martin Campbell(!), who made arguably two of the best Bond movies in the series(alright he did make some other questionable films before, but nothing as bad as this). How he managed to go from Casino Royale to directing this mess is more interesting than the plot in Green Lantern itself. For a comic book movie the very minimum I expect are some neat effects/ pretty cgi action, but in Green Lantern the action is almost absent. Instead we get long drawn-out flash backs and attempts at character building etc. which could have been successful... if only the plot/script and acting had been decent. Realistically, some great visuals and action scenes would probably be the only thing that could save this film somewhat. The effects however feels outdated by 2011 standards, like something you would expect to see in a an average sci-fi series or something. Not good. And the way Green Lantern jumps from earth to another planet and back again feels like sloppy editing. Meh So what could we possible learn from Green Lantern? I think the most valuable lesson here is that comic book movie + uninspired = trash 90% of the time. The frustrating part about it all is that Hollywood would probably rather make a sequel to this movie in a year or two instead of just ending it now and make something else. If you're a super fan of superhero movies you might be able to enjoy this movie somewhat, if not watch Shark Attack instead

[edisonia]

Batman Special - Stefan’s Review

Yes! Finally a batman special :D

Ever since the latest teaser trailer was released my anticipation for the next Batman project has skyrocketed, and what better way to look forward to the next chapter than to rewatch the previous two masterpieces. I often said this, and maintain that the Batman movies are some of, if not THE, best movies of the last decade. Starting with Begins, this has to be one of the best superhero origin movies I've ever seen. I remember first seeing the trailer for it and being a bit skeptical, for several reasons. I remember thinking the trailer was a bit boring, and feared the film would be a bit bland and uninspiring(something like The Punisher, 2004). It was not the kind of movie I expected (or wanted for that matter) Nolan to make after watching Memento, and when first seeing the shaky fighting sequences in the trailer I was skeptical if Nolan would be able to do action scenes well at all etc. Also at that time, the previous Batman films that had preceded it had not (imo) been of the greatest quality, in fact I always thought all of those films were too cheesy and irrelevant. Add to that all of the lackluster superhero movies that started spreading at the time(and most def still do today) and my expectations for it were naturally low. Actually I always prefered the animated series of the 90s as it felt way more gritty and with a different level of intensity, more like a real film. And that's very much the same feeling I thought Begins captured. I think what stood out most about Begins at the time was the impressing cast. Rarely can I remember such a good cast for a superhero movie, and it's certainly one of those things that lifts Nolan's Batman franchise way above most(all) comic-book films. The film itself of course also turned out to be amazing. Look past the costumes and some of the more superstitious things and it's the closest thing to a really good classic action/thriller you could get in this era, the type hollywood used to make more of before, just done in a more modern way - but pretty much excactly how it should be done! Bale as Bruce Wayne/Batman, Caine as Alfred, Freeman - Lucius Fox, Oldman - Gordon and Neeson as Ra's al Ghul is just perfect casting in my opinion. However one role that really impressed me, even with little amount of screentime was Murphy as Scarecrow. The inclusion of Scarecrow really gave the film an extra edge, and made it that much more memorable.

All the Scarecrow scenes really hit the mark and are some of my favs in the series, some of those scenes also hinted at how it would be if Nolan were to make a horror-ish film(which could be interesting in the future).  From start to end Begins really feels like the most solid so far in the series. When compared to it's successor I can see why some would argue that it's a little boring tho, since the tempo in Begins is slower among other things. For me, I've always liked Begins a little more than what the general Batman(Nolan's) fan might of, and hence I felt it would be a tough task for Nolan to top it.. Now, setting the bar really high I had very high hopes for the second one,The Dark Knight. The teaser trailer this time didn't disappoint, it actually felt like something even better was coming. And when the second official trailer launched it really felt like a classic in the making.. before actually watching it (Can't even remember another film that had that amount of pre- hype). Seeing the trailer numerous times before finally seeing the real deal, my mind had already made its assumption on where certain scenes were gonna be in the movie. Lets just say things didnt go "according to plan" :P  Watching it for the first time I was convinced the car chase / crash and Batman vs. Joker in the Gotham streets had to be at the end, as the final climax. It just had to be! Needless to say I was caught off-guard when this took place only about halfway through in the movie, and at first wasn't sure how to feel about it. Rachel dying, Joker escaping again and the film suddenly turning dark was surprising yet refreshing, and it left me wanting to see it again rather than conclude with anything. After first viewing my expectations were def met and it was without a doubt a superb film/great ride, but.. I didn't get that same feeling as with Begins, where it was really good as a whole. I felt like certain things were out of place or were disturbing the flow of the movie. Thus Ive seen it many times, and liking it just as much if not even more after each viewing. However, I still maintain that the Hong Kong/mission impossible scenario feels out of place and could easily be cut from when Batman, Harvey and Gordon are on the rooftop, to when Batman delivers Lau(the mafia accountant) to the Gotham police. The attack on the mayor felt a little rushed as well, and the climax left a little to be desired(even tho I can appreciate it a lot more now after repeated viewings). The Scarecrow scene with the Batman imitators didn't feel quite right either for some reason. Outside of that there's too many classic scenes to name in this movie, but I was always a superfan of when The Joker breaks into Harvey Dent's party at Bruce pentouse and the whole buildup around it. The intensity, and use of sounds/silence/music just works! Of course the midway climax car chase(when Harvey is being escorted across the city) has just classic action written all over it, and continue to be awesome on each watch!

Love this whole scene! the way it's filmed, everything I remember thinking Joker was gonna be the main villain of the film, or in other words the only villain. When rumor surfaced that Two-Face was actually in it, I was wondering how another big villain like that would fit in the movie. Even tho it was a pretty short role, it never felt forced or rushed(wouldn't mind Two-Face having a larger part in the movie either, too bad the movie already had a long runtime..would be awesome with one more hour ha). The whole interrogation scene + the Harvey/Rachel drama is probably my fav part of the movie. Basically what works best imo is mostly everything from the penthouse scene to the ending that ties everything brilliantly together. Don't often throw the word classic out there, but this one.. even after numerous viewings and some "flaws".. really feels like one!

Now, fast-forward to july 2012 - Will Bane break Batman's back? Will the movie be up to par with the others? The last few seconds of the teaser sure got me speculating, the epic choir sounds and spooky villain theme on top, with Batman backing off of Bane (in what looks like a cave. Batman's cave?) seems super awesome!

Bane!! Can't wait for it! only negative thing of course is that it will be last one in the series, aka the epic conclusion...

[edisonia]

Batman Special - Rahman's Reviews.

Ok, so we're a little late and lazy with reviews lately. We apologise!

This week was a Batman special; more specifically, Batman Begins and The Dark Knight.

Batman Begins (2005) / The Dark Knight (2008)

When it was announced that Christopher Nolan was directing a reboot of the Batman franchise, there were mixed views on whether or not he could deliver, considering he had never done a movie of this high calibre, especially with a franchise that is loved (well, not after Joel Schumacher put nips on Batman). But it was still a franchise with a long history; and considering this was an origin story with a director known for his slightly unorthodox story telling, it was a huge gamble for Nolan and Warner Bros. Especially since rumours had it that Nolan wanted to shoot Inception back in 2005, but WB told him to wait it out and do the Batman movies first; which allowed Nolan to work on the script more.

What's interesting is that Darren Aronofsky was attached before Nolan, and he had a script by Frank Miller based on the Batman: Year One graphic novel; that would have been pretty interesting to see.

What makes Nolan's Batman universe so different from all the others is that it's grounded so much on reality. The batsuit, cape and his tools are all based on actual military equipment, the villians use the means that can be actually used in the real to cause havok, and Wayne's training is also based on real martial arts training techniques. All of this comes together great as a whole. Adding to the realism; the Batmobile was an actual car! They built it from the ground up, being able to hit 60mp/h in 6 seconds and hitting a top speed of 106mp/h; which is what they did in the car chase around Chicago when filming; it was all real which makes the action scenes stand-out. However, because it was done all on camera (well, mostly), it gives way to some of that clunky-ness that could have been avoided with CGI; however, either way it's a double edged sword, but it worked out in the end.

Firstly, I want to get the negative out of the way. In my opinion, Nolan is the best director out there today, his movies have always delivered and he is always thinking outside of the box; thematically, practically and mentally. However, that being said, Begins is his weakest movie. Mainly due to studio intervention (understandable since it's a reboot of a big franchise that belongs to the studio, Warner Bros.) and also due to Goyer's script; the main problem is that compared to The Dark Knight they feel like two different universes, which I'll get into later. And also due to the fact that the action scenes are a little clunky; seeing as they are Nolan's first attempt at big action scenes.

The story for Begins is basically how Bruce Wayne, psychologically scarred by the murder of his parents, tries to overcome his anger, grief and fears. He creates the persona of the Batman to influence good throughout Gotham. As the story progresses, the cult that taught him what he knows; the League of Shadows comes to destroy Gotham and only Batman stands in their way. It's a simple story, with great set pieces, characters and an awesome performance by Bale as Bruce Wayne and as Batman. Michael Caine as Alfred is genius, Cillian Murphy plays the Scarecrow with perfection and Liam Neeson...is well, awesome as Ghul. Oh and Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox was perfect. The entire cast is basically perfection with the exception of Katie Holmes as Rachel Dawes. I never did like the actress or the character, but she is needed in the bigger picture of the narrative, especially in Knight. 

It's a great start to the Nolan universe and just a stepping stone to what would become a masterpiece in today's cinema; The Dark Knight

What Nolan started with Begins, he manages to take to a whole new level with The Dark Knight. As a director he manages to soar bringing together all the best elements of Begins, taking out the worst and just perfecting it all around.

The star of the show, hands down goes to Heath Ledger for his portrayal of the Joker bringing together part Malcolm McDowell, part Alex De Large and part Little Caesar; Ledger gives us one of the greatest on-screen performances of all time. I just loved what Ledger managed to with the character, erasing all memory of the piss poor attempt by Jack Nicholson in Burton's Batman. The character of the Joker was inspired by The Long Halloween, The Killing Joke and The Man Who Laughs that are great graphic novels, especially Killing Joke which is probably one of the best graphics novels ever.

The character of Rachel Dawes returns being played a droopy looking Maggie Gylennhal, again an actress playing a character I disliked; so I was glad when finally died- allowing Wayne as a character being pushed further down the psychological rabbit hole in his face-off against the Joker. Aaron Eckhart pulls off Harvey Dent/Two-Face brilliantly, mirroring Bale's Dark Knight. However, I do think Two-Face was very short lived in the movie, but it wasn't handled as bad as say, Venom, from Spider-Man 3. Nolan manages to juggle all the villains and characters in a great way that doesn't feel like there's too much being pushed at the audience on the screen.

The running time of 2 hours 30 mins doesn't manage to feel too long; and it never drags. The Heat inspired story (with many scenes mirroring that movie; especially the opening, and the interrogation scene). Also, as I stated earlier, in Knight, it feels like we're in a different city to Begins, mainly due to the fact that the first movie was very grounded on the fact that we're in Gotham, that the streets are filled with criminals, and there were a lot of scenes of the three islands as well as on the streets, especially in the narrows. In Knight, we're not given any of that, Nolan decides to concentrate more on the characters, rather than the city itself; only giving us a one-off shot of the Wayne Tower, now all decked in black; I think this is because Nolan wanted to seperate away from Begins, knowing what went wrong, and wanted to leave his own mark on the franchise, rather than have that comic book feeling that Goyer implemented in his script. Knight feels more like an epic heist movie, rather than just another comic book movie, which is why it works so damn well. I feel as if we're going to the same feeling with The Dark Knight Rises, but only time will tell.

What Nolan does with the Batman universe is an amazing feat in cinema, and only keeps us at the edges of our seats for The Dark Knight Rises. 

This has been a long essay on the two movies, I guess I can't really keep going on how much I love them, and express that love; my only real conclusion at the end of all this is: go and watch these if you haven't, if you have; watch them again and you'll find something new that you'll love about them. I guarantee it.

[edisonia]

Movie #13 for Sat 23 Jul Movie: Batman Special! Director: Christopher Nolan Country: USA

[edisonia]

Boys Don’t Cry - Stefan’s Review

This is a fun crime comedy film about gangsters and some teens who accidentally gets involved with them. At first glance it reminds me a little of films like In Bruges, Pulp Fiction, Kopps etc. This one put more emphasis on the humour perhaps. And even tho the plot summary and subject matter etc may suggest that it contains dark humour, it still keeps a very light tone(which I think works great in this case). What I liked the most about this movie was the characters. Especially the blond wanna-be-tough-guy and son of a mafia boss, Bolec. Something about his ignorance/stupidity made for good comedy, ha. The big guy(forgot the name) is also a fun character, I think mostly because of him being very monotonish all the time(and even worse after he gets a braindamage). Also loved the ongoing theme of Bolec not being able to kill the people he was suppose to eliminate due to a number of random reasons.

There's quite a few funny segments, but most involve some kind of absurd/complicated situation and would have to be seen. I recommend this movie if you're into the kind of movies mentioned earlier and want something amusing/fun to watch!

[edisonia]

Movie #12 for Sat 16 Jul 

Movie: Chlopaki nie placza / Boys Don't Cry Director: Olaf Lubaszenko Country: Poland Year: 2000

[edisonia]

Conan O'Brien Can't Stop - Rahman's Review

Conan O'Brien is a role model of mine. He's a hero and when I found out that a documentary was made about the aftermath of the Tonight Show debacle, I was immedietly interested.

For those who don't know, back in 2005, Jay Leno announced his retirement from The Tonight Show and had also announced his replacement, the then Late Night host Conan O'Brien. The Tonight Show was an institution that O'Brien had waited his entire career for; 16 years at the Late Night show after David Letterman left NBC (after Leno was announced as the host for the Tonight Show and not Letterman).

Now, once O'Brien started his show, Leno had nothing to do; most people would take the millions of dollars they've made and retire, but he wanted to keep going, and NBC wanted to keep him for the ratings. So they had the idea of giving Leno his own prime time show at 10pm, which is then followed by the news and then O'Brien's Tonight Show. This plan failed. Leno had shit ratings, and in turn, O'Brien's ratings weren't great. Therefore, NBC had another plan. Put Leno in at 11:35, and push O'Brien back to 12:05 - not wanting to get rid of Leno, for God know's what reason. O'Brien, not being want to be pushed around protested, saying he doesn't want to be first host to bring in the Tonight Show into tomorrow. So NBC decided to give O'Brien the boot and give Leno the Tonight Show back. All of this could have been avoided if Leno just stepped aside and let O'Brien do his thing. But no, he stayed in the lobby after his retirement as if to say "if you need me, I'll be here".

So O'Brien left with a sum of money, split between himself and his crew and humbly left, in the most classy way possible. He was prohibited from appearing on radio and television for 6 months as part of his agreement to leave NBC. This then spawned his nationwide tour.

This documentary is about the creative vision and planning that went into the show. It shows what Conan is really like behind the scenes, between the shows, with the audience, his fans, his co-workers. Sometimes it's the funniest thing you'll see, and other times it seems like O'Brien is the biggest douche on Earth. Especially during the scenes with Jack McBrayer when he comes to visit; O'Brien is known to mimic his country accent and mock him, but he does it so much you can see how pissed off McBrayer gets at O'Brien.

There's a moment at the end when O'Brien remarks "I don't know what this was", and no one really knows. What went from a small idea, to a sold out nation wide tour within 5 minutes thanks to just one Tweet, O'Brien manages to create something memorable and special, and this movie is a great way to enter his own psyche and see what's behind his laughter.

The relationships between O'Brien, his assitant, Andy Richter, the writers and producers all make you wish you were a part of his team. If you're a fan or not, this documentary will make you laugh, and if you wish you were a fan, this would be a great starting point for anyone to start seeing how much of a comical genius Conan O'Brien really is.

A great experience and an amazing documentary, check it out.

[edisonia]

Conan O'Brien Can't Stop - Stefan’s Review

Conan O'Brien Can't Stop is a fascinating and entertaining look at Conan's comedy concert tour, both on and offstage. There's never really any dull moment and the pace is pretty high from the start. Basically Conan and his team sends out a tweet announcing the tour, and the tickets are sold out in record time(much to their surprise) The only problem is that they don't have a show/plan yet!! What follows is especially interesting, seeing some of the creative process where they go from having just a small idea to a full show. If anything, I would love to see more of this process and how some of the ideas for the comedy-sketches etc came about(That's always fun to watch). 

We also get to see a lot of bits from the actual show, which is cool! However, imo the most interesting and fun moments actually took place behind the scenes. Seeing Conan's energy on stage is quite a contrast from when we see him backstage, but he still makes a lot of funny comments.. most of the time. If you don't like Conan in the first place, you probably won't like this documentary as it's all about Conan(I could see some saying it's TOO much Conan, because if you're not a fan he might come off annoying). If you're a fan or think he's a good comedian then you'll most likely find this documentary very entertaining and worth your time. If you're a creative person you would probably wish there was more of the process oriented stuff, but still like the parts that shows some of this. All in all I thought it was very entertaining!

[edisonia]

Movie #11 for Sat 2 Jul 

Movie: Conan O'Brien Can't Stop Director: Rodman Flender Country: USA Year: 2011

[edisonia]

I Saw The Devil - Stefan’s Review

I Saw The Devil is a shockingly brutal revenge flick, filled with blood and suspense. I was familiar with one of the director's earlier films, A Tale of Two Sisters , and it's safe to say (from what I remember) that the violent/gory trademark is still intact(expect it to be very graphic and disturbing). Basically a serial killer, Kyung-chul, kills the fiancée of a special agent, Kim Soo-hyeon , who then sets out for revenge.

The actors did a great job, and I found the two leads first encounter/fight-scene pretty epic. From there on tho it takes a left turn (given that it was still early in the movie it was kind of expected but..) where Kim Soo-hyeon hunts Kyung-chul with a GPS/mic but doesn't kill him when he have the chance. Instead he sets him free, only to hunt him down again and injure him some more. This hunting concept kind of gets repetitive after a while, since it's very clear what will happen next. It does however pick up steam again when the tables are turned yet again and Kyung-chul is taking control of the situation. The last 30 mins or so are pretty suspensful stuff. Real edge of your seat moments(love that!). However, given the genre and the high rating I might of expected something a little better overall. It just seemed to lack that little extra that would set it more apart, or be around the same level of thriller's like Se7en for instance. Could be tempting to relate this to the somewhat long runtime, but that was never even a concern as the movie flows along nicely and stays interesting. Hmm, a little too dark/cold blooded for my usual taste maybe, but it's a very solid film nonetheless.

[edisonia]

I Saw The Devil - Rahman's Review

I Saw The Devil, is in essence, a cat and mouse movie serial killer movie. It's about a killer who murders a daughter of a police detective very brutally, and her fiance who starts to look for him. 

What makes this movie standout is the fact that the narrative is quite different from the typical serial killer movies; it reminded me a lot of another Korean serial killer movie called Chaser, another movie you should definitely check out. What happens half way through the movie is that half way through the fiance finds the killer, and beats him constantly, before letting him back out into the world, only to catch him again, taunting him.

It's in the same style of other revenge movies such as the Vengeance trilogy, especially Sympathy for Lady Vengeance, and it's the main reason I love this movie. It's a little different, the shocking, disturbing, and manages to pull out all the punches. Jee-Woon Kim (who also directed a personal favourite of mine A Tale of Two Sisters) manages to create an atmosphere, though absurd at times...it's completely believable. And you watch this fiance go from this likeable, well mannered guy, to a crazy, revenge driven psycho. The pacing, at 2hrs 20mins(-ish), doesn't feel too long at all, it allows the film to develop nicely to a final act that is great, the characters you want dead, characters you want to root for, and characters you're not sure what they're doing.

The acting across the board is great, especially from Lee Byung-hun, who plays the fiance, Soo-hyun. He manages to portray his character in a way that makes you want him to win, but then question his ethics towards the end, especially the final scenes; before capturing the killer for the final time, leading towards his death. 

All in all, if you're into Korean cinema, serial killer movies and suspense. I highly recommend this movie. It's great, and if you have the stomach for some the scenes, you'll enjoy it, you honestly will. 

[edisonia]

Movie #10 for Sat 25 Jun

Movie: Akmareul boatda / I Saw the Devil Director: Jee-woon Kim Country: South Korea Year: 2010

[edisonia]

Nine Queens - Stefan’s Review

"Awesome!!" - my exact thoughts after(and while) watching Nine Queens. A film that's never even been on my radar, and it turned out to be one of my favorite movies that I've seen this year. Not bad! Right from the opening scene in Nine Queens I was immediately hooked. It all starts at a gas station where one con artist (Juan) tries pulling off a trick twice, but gets caught the second time. The other con artist, Marcos, helps him out of trouble by pretending to be a cop. From there on their partnership begins. The journey that followed did not disappoint, and I really enjoyed most of it (especially seeing all the con tricks and plot-turns). The term "nothing is what it seems" feels like one of the overall themes here - which to me is a good thing, always!

The only actor I was familiar with from before was Ricardo Darín, mainly for his part in "El secreto de sus ojos" and I thought he did a great job in this one along with the other main actor, Gastón Pauls aka Juan. Great chemistry, and the other actors were pretty solid too. Sometimes I had trouble catching bits of the dialogue though, because of how fast the subtitles changed :P When watching this film you really need to pay close attention or else you could easily fall out in parts(needing to rewind certain scenes, like myself).

If I were to nitpick I'm sure I would find some plotholes or that certain things were predictable etc. but the bottom line is, I enjoyed it for what it was. It was excactly what I hoped for and more. Recommended!

<Spoiler Alert> For me, I didn't really mind the twist at the end, but it may have seemed a little far fetched. Regardless the movie was great imo prior to the twist being revealed so it didn't have that much effect for me either way. </Spoiler Alert>

[edisonia]

Poster Thursday #2 - The Fountain

The Fountain - Dir. Darren Aronofsky 

Ok, so I was supposed to post this last week. But I didn't. My bad.

I wanted to talk about my love for this movie; and the poster campaign they used to promote the movie in different places.

The first poster is one that everyone can recognise, and it's a pretty powerful film with powerful imagery, and this poster pretty much captures the themes from the film:

It also had different variations with different fonts, but using the same image as seen here.

There was also a poster with literally nothing:

This one actually pretty interesting, but from a marketing standpoint it wouldn't have worked. But I love the fact that they printed this. It's obvious they wanted to get the sci-fi/metaphysical aspect of the film across. 

The image of the tree is important for the film here. It was used in a lot of the posters; the Christian imagery is literally just eyeing for your attention. Especially in the way the campaign manages to show the importance through Hugh Jackman; constantly looking up at it, or under its shadow. As shown here:

The posters also use the space element quite a lot, which I found interesting since when you watch the movie, space only places an importance in 1/3 of the film; as it's not entirely a sci-fi movie.

The Japanese posters are very interesting to me, since they play on the love aspect a lot more than the domestic pieces:

The inclusion of the space bubble and the stars; along with the 2 main characters taking up most of that space; it's a great poster, it plays with the colour (red/orange against the winter snow), and plays on the eternal love theme that is through and through the movie.

This poster is much more inline with the love aspect and is simple, but still effect. It's a little like a domestic poster for an epic love story, and reminds me of the recent Norwegian Wood poster, it's very similar.

The French pster is very...French. It's simple, and has the 3 main characters (yes, you heard me..3!), I didn't like this one too much. But, it's worth a look to see the difference how different regions get different posters.

What's interesting is the cover for the comic book. 

Here we have the main characters with the tree posing as a tattoo as they are floating in space. If you have seen the movie you'll know how great this cover really is. It's powerful, simple and striking at the same time.

And last one I wanted to show is a poster much like Aronofsky's Requiem for a Dream

Just the name, and it' works.

The Fountain is a great piece of work, and the posters even though more or less very similar, have great imagery and play on the movie very well.

I have one these posters on my wall as we speak:

This is probably mt favourite, as it tells the story in one image. And the tagline is just great. They really draw you in, and I'm saddened the movie didn't get as much attention as it should have. If you liked Black Swan, do watch this! It's probably my personal favourite by Aronofsky.

[edisonia]

Movie #9 for Sat 18 Jun 11.

Movie: Nine Queens (2000) Original Name: Nueve reinas Director: Fabián Bielinsky Country: Argentina