Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen (2009) movie review

 

Overall verdict: 5.5/10

A franchise starts its fall

The Good: big action, well acted characters, generally impressive special effects

The Bad: inconsistent CGI, uninteresting characters, flat jokes, shallow narrative, erratic camera work

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Where should I start?

Maybe i shall start on the plot which, although not a total mess, lacked whatever semblance of depth the first film had. Instead of building upon previously established plot threads, Transformers 2 decides to throw everything out and plonk in a whole new mess of plot threads. The whole backstory about thew "Primes" coming to earth eons ago seemed like it was just conveniently inserted into the plot as there was no mention of this particular story thread in the previous movie. The motivations for Megatron have also changed, from chasing the allspark to earth in order to seize its power in the first film to coming to earth to find his "Master" whom we are introduced to as "the fallen", an ancient decepticon that came to earth a long time ago. Already, inconsistencies with the first film and plot holes the size of Saturn's moons abound.

Next we have the characters. Instead of developing the already underdeveloped robot cast from the first movie, Hasbro decides to include even more robots. Some of them are not even named in the movie and just end up becoming cannon fodder at the end of the day. The already decently developed character of Bumblebee gets sidelined after a rather embarrassing bout of crying with the plot thread of Sam and Bumblebee's strained friendship left undeveloped. Optimus Prime himself takes a dive down from being a level headed and compassionate tactical commander to being an impulsive and brash bully with a bad attitude. 

He "talks down" to humans now instead of treating them as equals, he rushes headlong into a battle without as much as a tactical analysis and he needlessly puts his own team in danger more than once with his impulsiveness. The Fallen, the seemingly new and more menacing villain, comes across as having more bark and no bite; being able to "use the force" and throw things around with his mind or something but barely holding his own in actual hand to hand combat.

The humans don't fare any better either. Whatever witty humour there was in the first movie got replaced with terrible, and even offensive sexual jokes. Done in moderation, sexual jokes are fine. But Transformers 2 takes the innuendo to new heights of unnecessary offensiveness. I highlight "unnecessary" as many of the jokes could have been replaced with better ones or done away with no effect to the story. It is just so counter productive to have so many sexual jokes in a film made for all ages. It offends the kids and the parents. Heck even me as a teenager felt offended by those jokes. The acting takes a turn for the worse. At times it gets so over the top that the characters some across as caricatures of their former selves, especially John Turturro's character, Agent Simmons. On the other hand, the voice acting from the robot characters keeps more true to its cartoon roots than the first film with more time devoted to dialogue interplay between the autobots or decepticons.

The acting of the human characters is only thing that takes a turn for the worse. The CGI is highly inconsistent in this movie. You got great scenes, very nicely rendered and animated, mostly in the first half of the movie. But once the movie moves to Egypt and toward its climax, the level of detail and fluidity in the CGI robots starts to dip. Its lowest point is at the final battle between Prime and The Fallen which looks like an X-box game cutscene with lighting and texturing on the robots that look really out of place among the physical background.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is a wild, unrestrained misguided practice in EXCESS. Everything is just so overblown, from the action, to the acting, to the budget. Even the media coverage and publicity was overblown and it resulted in Transformers 2 NOT living up to the hype.

If anything, Transformers 2 feels like a extra long running toy commercial. All that matters is CGI graphics, action, explosions and new robots. Story, characters and what not apparently do not matter anymore. The sadder thing is that so many people LOVE this kind of shallow and excessive shows that it would just encourage movie producers to make more. This is an pretty but offensively silly excuse for a film; Big and brainless.

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Entertainment: B-

Story: C-

Acting: A

Characters: B-

Music: C-

Replay value: B-

"Brains": D-

Cinderella (2015) movie review

Overall verdict: 7/10

The Good: Magnificent Soundtrack by Patrick Doyle, spectacular production design,  well paced narrative, expands on the original's backstory, flawless acting, conveys themes of perseverance and forgiveness. 

The Bad: Retains juvenile simplicity of the original, one dimensional supporting characters, missed potential for more complex character and story development .

3D Readiness: Post filming 3D conversion.
IMax-ability: Fast paced shots of combat and intense action may not lend well to imax viewing

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The only way to describe Kenneth Brannagh’s CINDERELLA is “The disney fairy tale come to life”. I for one am thankful that it is no longer a surreal musical but a straight forward fantasy story. No talking mice in clothing and not too much singing for starters. Live action adaptations of such cartoons allow creators to take the tale in a more mature direction. To provide depth of character where they were once shallow “hero” or “villain” archetypes. To provide believable development in the characters’ journey and growth. To go beyond juvenile wish fulfilment. CINDERELLA does that to a certain extent but seems to hold back on fully exploring its potential. 

At first glance, CINDERELLA is beautiful. The movie I mean. It sounds wonderful too with an uplifting score composed by THOR’s Patrick Doyle. The production design and costumes are magnificent. Those along with the music effectively capture the royal glamour of fairy tale palaces, the down-to-earth simplicity of a idealistic medieval countryside and the warm feel of a simpler time. With a resume in movies on Shakespeare and Shakespearean in scope, director Brannagh brings his keen eye for visual detail and love for romanticised victorian age elements to this movie. Indeed, CINDERELLA hews close to its roots, adapting the disney classic into live action while expanding on elements that were never fleshed out before. 

One such element was Cinderella’s backstory. How does a simple unassuming good girl end up in the company of an evil stepmother and horrid step sisters? Where does she draw her inner strength from to carry on as no more of a household servant? This movie answers those questions. In making the transition from 2D animation to three dimensional live actors, the characters too gain some depth. Cinderella herself, played wonderfully by Lily James, is portrayed as a thoroughly human protagonist given inhumanly cruel treatment in an unfortunate world. She is an ideal, no doubt, of strength of character with a solid foundation of good values, never giving up even in the face of persecution. Still, we see her human side when she falters emotionally; her smile hiding a loneliness and inner sadness. A far cry from the pure and perfect damsel from the cartoon. Most intriguing is Cate Blanchett’s evil Stepmother character. You get a sense that she represents cruel reality. An idealist girl who was slowly turned by the unfortunate ways of the world; the money minded, dog-eat-dog world where only survival of the shrewdest matters. She is the perfect foil to Cinderella’s pure hearted personality and the perfect breeding ground for a complex conflict of character. 

Yet this movie hovers. That complexity never came. Instead when the story started to delve into the complex, it reined itself back into simplistic fairy tale goodness. This is where CINDERELLA suffered. Expanding just enough but never quite making its characters fully rounded. Take the relationship between Cinderella and the Prince for example. It still comes across as love at first sight with both parties enraptured in each other’s beauty. You get a hint that their romance went deeper than that but the movie never elaborates. You get a sense that there is more to the Prince than a pretty face, hinting at his insecurities over marriage, his inexperience in leadership, but the movie never elaborates. It is a missed opportunity that could have taken a story, reviled by many for its simplistic notions of love, into a modern fable with morals that children can learn from. 

It does maintain good moral fibre that perseverance and steadfast belief in one’s good values will eventually lead to good things and good people. An additional point for that. Where CINDERELLA loses points is in its unwillingness to explore deeper themes. It plays safe with the whole kid friendly fairy tale angle, keeping complex conflict to a minimum or at least to a simple black and white, good and evil. Our characters are more developed but maintain their “perfection”. Cinderella, having had near zero contact with men other than her late father, waltzes into a crowded ball seemingly with a surprising air of confidence. Would it have been too complex to show her insecurities or a little shyness? The prince had lied to her about being an apprentice. Would it have been too much trouble to show that him feeling bad and apologising rather than making up some smug excuse? Their humanity is hampered by wanting to keep it kid friendly and simple. Similarly, magnificent designs are sometimes hampered by disappointing CGI special effects.

The young and the young at heart would have no trouble following and loving this live action fairy tale. For those of us looking for a clever deconstruction or at least a more complex reconstruction of this classic, CINDERELLA is not that movie. 

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Entertainment: B+

Story: C-
Acting: A

Characters: C+

Music: A

Replay value: B+

"Brains": B-

G I Joe Retaliation (2013) movie review

Overall verdict: 6/10

The Good: Returns to the less juvenile comic book roots of  the G I Joe story, numerous fan references to past franchise, takes itself seriously as an action movie, great cast chemistry,

The Bad: hectic cuts, franticly unclear camerawork during fights, cliched premise, too convenient plot revelations, under developed political themes, has little connection to the previous film

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In the near future, a crack unit of anti-terrorism specialists are framed for a crime they did not commit. A few of them promptly escape from a devastating counterattack and flee back to Washington. Still wanted fugitives under the order of the President, the remaining G I Joes must uncover the truth and clear their name. Yes there are similarities to the premise of "The Losers" and "A-Team" but G I Joe Retaliation heaps in that familiar premise with a good dose of comic book action and blockbuster thrills. However, it's loyalty to the G I Joe comic books cannot make us overlook the convoluted narrative, bland characters and overall inappropriate directing style.

Following the events of the previous film "G I Joe: Rise of Cobra", The president of the united states has been replaced with an impostor working for the clandestine terror organisation "Cobra". Working from within the system, he frames the G I Joe unit, engineers the escape of Cobra's leader, Cobra Commander, and disarms the world thus leaving them powerless against Cobra.  The remnants of the devastated G I Joe unit, led by special agent Luke Hobbs.......I mean, "Roadblock" (who is hardly any different from other characters played by Dwayne 'the rock' Johnson) attempt to clear their names by pulling John Mclane out of retirement......I mean "General Joe Coulton" (the original G I Joe played by Bruce Willis) out of retirement. In the meantime, The black power ranger and yellow power ranger go seek out the White Ranger........I mean, the ninja Snake Eyes and his apprentice Jinx seek out Cobra operative Storm Shadow in order to learn Cobra's plans.

If G I Joe: Rise of Cobra captured the spirit of the cheesy 80s era Saturday morning cartoon, G I Joe Retaliation oozes with the feel of the grittier G I Joe comic books written by Larry Hama. The tone from the get go is one of desperation and tension. The stakes are high and there is little chance of the good guys winning, yet they will pull it off somehow. Sadly, that is not necessarily a good thing. Hama was enamoured with his ninja characters and it shows here in the movie. Cutting between the Joes trying to clear their name and the ninjas on their quest to the Himalayas is like cutting between 2 very different movies.

Only the most hardcore of G I Joe comic fans will "get it". The film is littered with references to the comics (such as the Blind Master of Arashikage Clan, the look of Cobra Commander, etc) that will be lost on normal audience. Furthermore, this movie feels less like a sequel and more like a reboot of the franchise. Other than the fact that the President is a Cobra impostor, almost nothing from the previous film is present in this sequel. The G. I Joe team is no longer the Global counter terrorism organisation with a vast underground base full of high tech gizmos. They are now a normal commando unit under America's jurisdiction using conventional weapons and tactics. All these inconsistencies raises baffling questions. How did Cobra turn into this vast underground terror organisation after it was obliterated in the first movie? Why does everyone acknowledge Cobra Commander as supreme leader when in the first movie he only declares himself as "Commander" to one person (who aside from a brief cameo, never has an active role in this movie).

While the story is a bit of a mess, the screenplay by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick (writers of Zombieland) is very well written, mixing the occasional humor with down to earth banter that fits each character's personality. Dwayne Johnson works best with their script as his character of Roadblock shares such a marvellous chemistry with Channing Tatum's Duke. Jonathan Pryce shines as well playing both the President and his imposter. Sadly, the rest of the cast do not seem as invested in the story as the main leads. The bad guys seem underwhelming, the new G I Joe members Flint and Lady Jaye are overshadowed by Dwayne Johnson's screen presence and Bruce Willis is barely there. His character could have been played by anyone and it would not have made a difference. All in all, it was a good script handled badly. The narrative suffers the same fate; it has some good underlying political themes about America's international presence, attitude toward foreign intervention and nuclear disarmament. Yet these are only touch and go, never elaborated on or even satired. A little more "brains" in this blockbuster could have scored it more points.
 
"Step Up" director Jon Chu seems out of his element directing a big action blockbuster. You got some cool visuals here, especially one particular stand out battle between Cobra H.I.S.S tanks and Roadblock driving a rocket loaded "Ripsaw" assault vehicle. Seriously, this is the battle you reenacted countless times with your toys. Jon Chu manages to sap all the thrill from the combat scenes with his camerawork. His scenes are too tight and his camerawork too frantic for any of the action to shine. At least Stephan Sommers had a good grasp on how to showcase big action scenes with a good mix of wide angles and long shots. Chu loses them in blurry close ups of shoulders, elbows, and everything BUT the full action. Could it be a case of a director who is out of his element? He takes the screenplay and gives it such lousy pacing laced with a good measure of exposition. The dialogue heavy scenes seem long and drawn out. Convenient plot twists abound and one particular character has a logic defying switch of allegiance.

Tone wise, the film can never seem to decide if it is going for a more realistic feel or comic book action. You have high flying stunts on a cliff side, bullet time shootouts, over the top villainous plots to blow up cities and rule the world, high octane vehicle combat, but at the same time you have scenes of characters just shooting at each other from cover like soldiers do in real life. The ninjas got this whole "realistic touch" thing the worst. After a spectacular deflect-the-shurikens-with-bullets scene, the ninjas Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow proceed to........wrestle each other. That's right, no kung fu, no high flying kicks or lightning fast fist cuffs.

 In the end, G I Joe Retaliation comes across as an overindulgent piece of fan fiction. The creative team seems more obsessed with sticking as close to the visuals of the comic books than to give a deep, character driven narrative. Whichever "genius" got a director best known for street dancing movies and that Justin Bieber biopic to come and direct a big budget action blockbuster ought to be fired. Fans will no doubt be willing to overlook all the flaws on the single notion that it adheres closely to the source material these fans have come to love.

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Go For it: if you want a G I Joe movie adaptation that is most faithful to the famous 1980s G I Joe comic book series written by Larry Hama. Or if you like military sci fi films in general. Oh, and ninjas.
Avoid it: if you like your big budget action showcased in a clear concise manner, your stories to have more substance beneath the narrative or your sequels to at least acknowledge continuity.

Entertainment: B
Story: B-
Acting: B-
Characters: B-
Music: C+
Replay value: B-
"Brains": C-

Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon (2011) review

Overall verdict: 6.5/10

The Good: Flawless special effects, intense action, witty comedy, lovable main character, numerous sci/fi fan references, clearer than usual shot angles (for a Michael Bay Film),

The Bad: contradicts backstory established in previous 2 Transformers films, numerous plot holes, unlikable female lead, superficial thrills, bloated story,

Current Availability Status: in theaters 1 July

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Long, loud and proud of that fact, Transformers 3: Dark of The Moon is the ultimate testament to everything good and bad about a Michael Bay film. Superficial thrills, cheap spills and wham bam action abound in the supposed final chapter in the Transformers film franchise. Forget the coherent story, thought provoking themes or even any hint of human drama. Also forget the previous two films since this one tries to pretend they do not exist.

It is never a good thing to alienate one's core audience of devoted fans by literally screwing with both the continuity and the characters, but now Bay alienates even the fans of previous Transformers movies. The concept of two warring races of intelligent machines is kept but much has changed. The all powerful "allspark", the artifact of contention among the Autobot and Decepticon factions, is never mentioned and the war is now fought over a miraculous invention and its inventor stowed aboard a lost starship "The Ark". 

Where the first movie established that knowledge of the Transformers came from discovering a frozen Megatron in the arctic, this movie claims that Transformers were discovered on the moon by the Apollo 11 lunar landing. It also contradicts the second movie by revealing the lost inventor to be a "Prime" when it was established that all Primes other than Optimus died to defeat the Fallen.

So continuity be damned as the story opens with human protagonist Sam Witcicky, now hooked up with his rich new blond girlfriend Carly. Despite being recognised as a nation hero, Sam is down on his luck, unemployed and missing his days with the Autobots. But conflict soon comes a-calling when the Autobots discover the aforementioned lost spacecraft and its cargo. Cue the needlessly complex yet convenient series of events that includes human-decepticon collaborators, hidden conspiracies, illogical allegiance switching and more. What are the chances that Sam gets a job at the one place where his colleague is a target of assassination by the decepticons because he worked on the moon mission that first discovered the ark? What are the chances that Sam's girlfriend works for a dude who is working for the decepticons? The entire progression of events is way too convenient.

Then the story makes another critical error by not just failing to address unanswered questions from the previous films, but making new questions to be answered. This might not have been so bad with well written characters, but the main leads are as shallow as ever. The only highlight is the witty banter and jokes courtesy of Shia Le Beouf. Shia's timely lines and comedic nature makes for a rather endearing character. Yes the entire movie is funny, you will laugh, but no it is not "well written" from a character development standpoint. Characters are one dimensional and either intentionally or unintentionally funny, from the token muscular black dudes to the sneering haughty decepticon collaborator to the comic relief parents. In true Michael Bay fashion, the new female lead is less of a character and more of a boob and butt display whose only role is stand there posing and looking pretty.

Speaking of camera, here is the one improvement this film has and that is "less erratic camera movements". There are many scenes of Michael Bay's trademark jitter-cam and weird shot angles but thanks to the bulky stereoscopic 3D cameras used, such instances are reduced greatly from previous Bay movies. Bot on bot action could never have been any clearer. The many slow motion scenes allow the intricately designed robots and top notch special effects, possibly the strongest selling point of this film, to shine.

Long time transformers fans might sit on the fence with this one. On one hand, the whole movie combines elements from fan favorite episodes of the classic cartoon series (Ultimate Doom and Megatron's Master Plan) as well as plot points from 2008's "All Hail Megatron" comic story. Numerous shout outs to the cartoons, the comics and other science fiction shows like Star Trek are more than enough for the geeks to go gaga over. 

On the other hand, Autobots and decepticons get their characterisations screwed over again. The scheming backstabber Starscream is reduced to a snivelling lackey, the powerful and logic driven strategist Shockwave is reduced to a mere miniboss and the typically benevolent and peace loving Optimus Prime now has no qualms about massacring bots en masse and carrying out public executions.

By now, Transformers 3 would not be changing any one's opinion of the film franchise. The stuff that people hate about it are taken to whole new levels but so is the stuff that people love about it. It is shallow but fun, superficial but entertaining; The only intellectual talking point of the film would be the implications of a big metal planet entering into earth's orbit. Physics says that such an occurrence is supposed to cause widespread disaster and wanton destruction. But who needs a metal planet when you have Michael Bay's Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon.

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Go For it: if cheap comedy, visceral thrills and loud action is enough to make your day

Avoid it: if you have any appreciation for elements of films that actually matter (like a good story, well developed characters etc)

Entertainment: B+

Story: C+

Acting: A-

Characters: B-

Music: B-

Replay value: B+

"Brains": D+

Blood The Last Vampire (2009) review

Overall verdict: 5.5/10

The Good: Very Faithful to the source material, intriguing sub-plots, well developed main character, strong first act.

The Bad: very low budget look, erratic fight choreography, truncated second act, bland side characters, weak dialogue

Current Availability Status: On DVD in any DVD store in Singapore

DVD features:

- behind the scenes "making of" featurette

- stunt coordination and combat training highlight reel.

DVD value for money grade: C

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Considering the state of live action movies based on anime, be it from Hollywood or otherwise, Blood: the Last Vampire might arguably be one of the better ones along side Speed Racer and DeathNote. It manages to stay true to the original source material in terms of characters, setting and tone but the overall experience is marred by seemingly low production values and lackluster execution.

This live action movie based on the 2000 anime movie of the same name by Production I.G opens with a creepy narrative about am ancient war with demons and a heroic demon hunter who lost his life in the process. Cut to an eerie Tokyo subway in 1970s japan where a tension fueled chase and bloody sword fight on a moving train introduces the main character of Saya. Through dialog and some flashbacks interspersed throughout the film, the viewer discovers that Saya is a four hundred year old vampire/human hybrid who hunts demons for a secretive organization known as "The Council". Her latest assignment is to infiltrate a school on the Yokota Airbase to seek out clues to the whereabouts of "Onigen", a powerful demon who murdered Saya's father, the legendary demon hunter.

The first act of the movie is essentially a retelling of the original complete with full recreations of key scenes, filmed faithfully shot for shot. Story wise, it is a step up from the bland forty minute anime movie that this film is based on. Unlike the original anime where the events on the airbase was "just another day on the job", Saya in this live action movie is given a more convincing motive for vengeance that drives her actions. A little subplot that deals with a schism within the ranks of "The Council" is very compelling, ultimately adding some much needed meat to the otherwise paper-thin plot from the original anime. Not all of the added elements might have worked as well as one would have hoped. The character of Alice is one such element. Perhaps the producers meant for her to be a sort of human emotional anchor to Saya's inhuman personality as a way to "soften the savage beast". It would have worked for Saya's character development but ended up feeling a bit redundant thanks to either Allison Miller's bland acting or a half baked script.

Halfway through the movie, and after an intense action sequence that is a very faithful recreation of the original anime's climatic conclusion, the movie veers off into its own territory. Once free from its anime roots, the story somewhat sinks and is unable to keep up the narrative level of the previous act. After the Council subplot is resolved, the entire movie becomes a series of convenient plot twists and action sequences that get Saya and Alice from the air-force base to a remote abandoned village and ultimately to Saya's final showdown with Onigen. One gets the impression that the second half of the movie was written solely to pad the time in-between the material from the anime and a rather cartoony final battle.

No doubt the main let-down of this movie is its "look". Where the original anime fell short in its story and characters, it featured some of the most beautiful animation and stylish action sequences of its time. This film attempts to recreate that anime style surrealism by using a sickly yellowish, almost sepia toned, lighting to accentuate the "1970s" setting of the story and relying a lot on CGI. The way the action scenes are shot might remind some of Zack Snyder's "300", complete with slow motion bloodletting and whiplash cuts in the fight scenes. But instead of enhancing the movie, the CGI and fight choreography is its stumbling block. Blood spurts are nothing more than badly rendered globules of blackish red and demons look no better than old "stop motion" puppets. Even their movements were as stiff as those puppets. The only arguably thrilling fight scene was not even involving Saya or against demons, but was a flashback of Saya's old master, Kato, taking on a ninja army in a forest. Thanks to the erratic camera-work coupled with an overuse of speeding up and slowing down the footage in post-production, the action might not be as enjoyable as it could have.

Though Blood the Last Vampire 2009 is a far cry from the astounding visuals of its 2000 original source material, it still manages to present a good enough story while remaining true to the tone and characters of the original. A bigger, Hollywood level budget and script writing along with a longer running time for more plot development would have solved many of the film's flaws. Its faithfulness to the original may satisfy the long time fans, but to the casual movie goer the low budget look and feel might be too off-putting.

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Go For it: if you want to see a adaptation movie from a japanese anime that is extremely faithful to the source while adding intriguing layers to the narrative, or if you just like the pretty star of the show.

Avoid it: if how a film looks is very important to your enjoyment or if you are a fan of traditional vampire action movies.

Entertainment: B-

Story: B+

Acting: C+

Characters: B

Music: B-

Replay value: B-

"Brains": C

Tau Man Ji D: Initial D (2005) review: A glorified Star vehicle with badly punctured tires

Overall verdict: 5/10

The Good: The chinese pop soundtrack, the professional acting by most of the cast, timeless underdog tale in new clothing.

The Bad: Lackluster racing scenes, "tacked on" romantic sub-plot, many changes from the original manga, low budget look.

Current Availability Status: on discount priced DVD in most retail stores.

Note: Also known as Initial D (eng) or Tou Wen Ji D (chi)

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With a cast of A list actors, a veteran director and the promise of a blockbuster hit that would satisfy all, Tau Man Ji D(initial D) was Hong Kong's first big foray into the dangerous world of live action movie adaptations based on japanese manga/anime. Alas, it only proved that even veteran Hong Kong directors cannot make a good anime adaptation. Fans were appalled by all the changes made to the personalities of many of the main characters. Changes like that are actually fine if they are executed with finesse, but in Tau Man Ji D's case, they did not. In the end, the only things in common with the original source material is the names of the characters and the concept of "drifting". Having alienated the long time fans, at least the production team would do well to deliver a solid movie experience that a casual movie goer can enjoy, right?

Tau Man Ji D focuses on the story of young Takumi(a supposedly japanese teenager played by the obviously Taiwanese Jay chou speaking Hong Kong Cantonese), a tofu delivery boy who honed his drifting skills delivering for his father in the Akina mountain roads. He drives the Toyota AE86 like a pro and soon attracts the attention of local street race gangs who come to challenge Takumi to races on the treacherous downhill roads. Along the way, he has to deal with his budding romance with his girlfriend Natsuki and take on the notorious "Emperor team". Aside from the aforementioned changes in the personalities of many characters, the premise is the same as the manga. However the whole setting is a very confused one. Though obviously set in japan, everyone speaks in fluent Cantonese. It would have been a lot more believable to either set the story in hong kong or at least dub over the actors with a Japanese voice track.

Even as a stand-alone story, barring any comparisons to the original manga and anime, Tau Man Ji D would still be a mediocre film. The main narrative is easy enough to follow but not exactly the most original of plots; typical underdog sports story with local boy going from zero to hero. Cue mandatory convenient romantic subplot, which sadly feels forced thanks to Jay Chou's flat-tire acting and a very cheesy script. There is fair share of comic relief moments but they come across as very awkward and horribly misplaced. Most of the other actors play their roles with utmost professionalism. Too bad The script itself has quite a bit of uncomfortable lines that read more like sentences in an essay than actual conversation dialog.

"D" in the film's title stands for "drift", a kind of extreme turn technique employed by race car drivers. Being part of title itself, one would expect the drift races to at least look good. The racing itself is fine and pretty well choreographed but the camera-work and editing is painful to watch. It lacks the kinetic sense of energy that made other racing films like Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift such a thrill. Most racing scenes in Tau Man Ji D involve documentary-style wide tracking shots of the cars zooming by or a static first person perspective shot that looks like it was sped up in post production to make the cars look like they are moving faster than they really are. Cheesy cartoony Freeze frames and choppily edited slow motion all give this film the look of a cheap B movie. They even tried to use CGI for one very obvious crash scene, but the crappy computer generated car looked very fake against the photo-realistic background.

Tau Man Ji D's possible success in Asia was probably due to the cast and Jay Chou rather than the actual narrative elements of the film itself. Banking on Chou's fame as a singer, this movie attracted not just the bulk of young Chinese music fans who were particularly enthusiastic to see their idol's big screen debut. A very clever though underhanded marketing strategy that indirectly relegates Tau Man Ji D to a status no better than a star vehicle for the Taiwanese pop idol. Well this star vehicle does not fire on all cylinders. It chugs its way from start to finish on flat tires, empty-tank scripting and greasy directing. Aside from Jay Chou fans, followers of the manga and lovers of good racing movies would do well to rev up their engines and leave Tau Man Ji D behind in the dust.

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Go For it: if you like handsome chinese actors, a simple story to pass the time or if you are already an avid fan of Hong Kong Cinema and directors Andrew Lau and Alan Mak
Avoid it: if you loved the characters from the manga, the adrenaline pumping races of the video games and the more natural character interplay of the anime.

Entertainment: C+
Story: B
Acting: B
Characters: C-
Replay value: C
"Brains": C-

Transformers (2007) review

Overall verdict: 7.5/10

The Good: heartwarming Spielberg moments, fun witty screenplay, awesome special effects, realistic portrayal of the general story, action packed from start to finish, fully fleshed out main characters, enough shout outs to the original material(eg: voice actors that reprise their roles) to keep fans happy

The Bad: lack of depth in side-characters, simplistic storyline, some plot holes(which were presumably explained by the tie-in comics and novels), tends to favor loud action over character development, too much creative detraction from the original cartoons while keeping many of the flaws of those said cartoons.

Current Availability Status: on discount DVDs and full priced Blu-ray discs at major singapore video stores.

DVD extras (on the 2 disc special edition):

Disc 1:

- film Commentary by Director Michael Bay

Disc 2:

- Our World (4 part featurette)

Part 1 "The Story Sparks" - Steven Spielberg discusses his love for the franchise and early concept art for the film. Explores how the writers adapted the cartoon into a live-action movie and why Michael Bay is the perfect director for the film.

Part 2 "Human Allies" - Actors selection and interviews with main cast

Part 3 "I Fight Giant Robots" - An exploration of the military training that Josh Duhamel and Tyrese Gibson underwent for their roles

Part 4 "Battleground" - a featurette involving the army advisors brought in to give the film's portrayal of the military the most realistic level of authenticity.

- Their War (4 part featurette)

1) Rise of the Robots - Explores the choices by Hasbro and Michael Bay that resulted in the design changes to the Robot characters.

2) AUTOBOTS Roll Out - Michael Bay discusses working with Chevy and its designers and the modifications that were made to the cars seen in the film.

3) DECEPTICONS Strike - The film's military advisors discuss the "toys" they allowed the production to borrow: F-22 Raptors, Ospreys and A-10 Warthogs.

4) Inside the AllSpark - ILM's digital artists discuss the challenges of bringing the TRANSFORMERS to life.

- More Than Meets The Eye (3 parter)

-- From Script to Sand: a indepth look at the making of a scene: The SKORPONOK Desert

-- Concepts art

-- Trailers

DVD value for money Grade: A

******************************Film Review************************

Since 1984, the Transformers franchise has been a much loved world wide phenomenon, spawning numerous toys, animated series and comics. After twenty three years, a live action movie based on this famous franchise premiered to a huge box office success but mixed opinions. Directed by action movie extraordinaire(and incapable of doing any other decent genre BUT action movies) Michael Bay, and produced by veteran film maker Steven Spielberg the live action Transformers movie immediately polarised film critics, casual movie viewers and long time fans alike.

First off, this movie seemed to be a total re-imaging of the Transformers tale; From a reboot of the transformers' origin to setting the main story in contemporary earth 2007. It has nothing to do with any of the previously established stories other than a couple of familiar character names. And even those familiar characters got a radical cosmetic and personality makeover much to the displeasure of the long time fans. Essentially Transformers 2007 is its own creature, keeping general elements of the original animated series while crafting its own identity by going for a gritty "real world"(or, as realistic as "giant transforming robots" can get) approach.

One such element that was kept was the straight forward simplicity of the story: For eons, two warring tribes of sentient machines who are able to alter their forms at will, The Autobots and The Decepticons have fought an endless war while searching the cosmos for a powerful artifact called "The Allspark". Their search brought them to the planet earth where agents from both tribes at first chose to mimic the forms of local earth vehicles and infiltrate the populace to carry one their search. But a surprise discovery of a young smart-mouthed student named Sam Witwicky (played by the immensely talented natural comedian Shia Labouf), who unknowingly possesses a vital clue to whereabouts of the coveted artifact forces both Autobots and Decepticons to break cover with devastatingly violent results. Now the interstellar war has come to earth with Sam Witwicky and all of humanity caught in the middle. It sounds a lot more complicated than it really is.

The primary difference between this rendition of "The Transformers" and previous incarnations is the focus on the human characters and not the robots themselves. Human characters like Sam Witwicky are the conduit through which the audience gets immersed into the events of the movie; we are seeing, feeling, hearing the transformers through his experiences. This style of moving the narrative forward may not be appreciated by many as it portrays the robots as fearsome, mysterious and out-of-this-world. Everything from their lines to their mannerisms help to emphasize their very "alien" nature instead of making them "human-like" in their characterization and easy to relate to. Even the camerawork tries to emphasize this.

By not giving a full, clear body shot of any of the robots, and by utilizing a lot of "from the ground, upwards" camera pans, it just adds to the sense of awe, grandeur and mystery surrounding those aliens and allows for a good build up in the plot where for the first time, we get to see the full ramifications of an alien robot war on earth.

Instead of a story where the good guy team stops the bad guy team(like in the classic cartoons), we get to see how humanity in general reacts to the sudden appearance of sentient machines wrecking havoc in a city. From the higher end authorities, to the military, down to the man on the street, all their reactions to a possible alien robot war are very realistically scripted from start to finish. Central to the movie is the coming of age tale of Sam Witwicky and his friendship with the Autobot, Bumblebee. What begins as a curious "guardian/target" relationship grows and culminates in courageous acts of self sacrifice for each other, like brothers in arms. This is reminiscent of some of the more heart warming Steven Spielberg films and one of the few emotional factors driving this movie.

Easily the most successful live action adaptation of an animated show to date, Transformers is not without a few kinks in the gears. Aside from Sam, Bumblebee and perhaps autobot leader Optimus Prime(voiced by Peter Cullen who reprises his role from the animated series), none of the other characters, human or robot, get any character development at all. It could be argued that this is just another element carried over from the simplistic animated series but it did not work in the movie's favor. Thankfully there is the extremely fun and witty screenplay by Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, complete with timely in-jokes, to distract one from the lack of character depth.

On a technical scale, ILM(Industrial Lights and Magic) should receive special commendation for their work on the fully CGI robotic characters. The level of detail is astounding right down to micro-gears whirring to move a single metallic limb. Frantic camera movements, whip pan cuts and tight closeups during action scenes add to the frenzied and raw feel of the battles and actually allows one to easily imagine being IN the movie and experiencing the all out action first hand.

Loud, intense, slightly shallow but thoroughly entertaining, Transformers 2007 could use some polish here and there as well as a deeper focus on its characters. It is sad when some of the comics and cartoons in the past managed to delve into more complex themes than a live action movie, but for a first attempt the results are satisfactory though no less polarizing.

*****************************Review End******************

Go For it: if you want to have a fun time seeing a more realistic portrayal of the Transformers in the form of one of the most action packed summer blockbusters ever created.

Avoid it: if you are not a Transformers fan to begin with or desire a live action movie that is a 100% adaptation of the original cartoon.

Entertainment: A

Story: B-

Acting: A

Characters: B-

Music: B+

Replay value: A-

"Brains": C+

Speed Racer (2008) Review: Fires on all Cylinders but may leave casual viewers in the dust

Overall verdict: 8.5/10

The Good: Childlike nostalgia, great fun, revolutionary visuals, heart warming character drama, deeper anti-corporate message, faithful to the original show that inspired the movie, great fun for the whole family.

The Bad: "Childlike"-ness may put off viewers expecting something more serious, simplistic story, flashbacks may distract viewers

Current Availability Status: On DVD in most stores at discount prices

DVD features:
- Spritle in the big leagues: child actor Paulie Litt gives a tour of the movie set
- Speed Racer Supercharged: featurette about he characters, cars and racetracks

DVD value for money grade: C

******************************Review********************
The original 1960s anime "Speed Racer" was never a big hit here in Singapore. Anyone with the faintest memory of that old series might remember the intriguing stories and intense high speed races. However they might not remember The crappy animation, the over the top acting, campy dialogue lines, and the one-dimensional portrayal of the characters. It was a kids' anime, aimed squarely at the same crowd that watches Fintstones or Jetsons. The Wachowski Brothers (same guys who created The Matrix) were very aware of the anime's juvenile tone and only tried to preserve it. However, thanks to a flawed marketing campaign, people expected another "Matrix" or "V for Vendetta", not a heart warming family centered underdog story that Speed Racer is.

The story is Pure nostalgia; simple enough to follow and aimed squarely at everyone's inner 12 year old. In a sci/fi alternate future, extreme formula 1 racing is all the rage and big multi national companies are hoping to profit from the popularity of the races through the famouse "World Racing League"(WRL). For years, Pops Racer has run his humble family owned car buisness with his wife and his sons, Rex and Speed. Young Speed practically hero worships his elder brother who has won much acclaim for the family name through winning races in his car, the Mach 5. But one day tragedy strikes and Rex perishes during a cross country rally due to suspected foul play. The family is shattered but they manage to pull through together as young Speed trains to become a driver just as good as his dear departed brother. Years later, Speed Racer's gift for racing has won the attention of the insidious "Royalton industries", a Corporate conglomorate interested only in profiting from racing. Though Speed politely refuses their offer to buy out the family buisness, Royalton lays down the ultimtum: either join us or be forever ruined. A clash of values and a startling revelation of a hidden race fixing conspiracy within the WRL sets the Racer family on another run in with tragedy. But this time help appears in the form of the mysterious Racer X who offers the family a chance to not only win back their reputation but to blow the WRL conspiracy wide open nad bring the coporate moguls behind the race fixing to justice.

The first thing anyone would notice about Speed Racer would be the adrenaline pumping races and astounding visuals. Everything is pure eye candy right out of a child's colorful imagination. Gravity defying stunts, rapid drift spins and car against car action set against the backdrop of a lively rainbow colored future world. The film definitely looks the part of a live action anime thanks to the Wachowski brothers' dynamic filming technique. Little anime-styled touches like freeze frames, slo-mo cuts to close ups and superimposing of talking heads into the action further emphasises the amount of respect the directors had for the source material.

That same respect translates into the story which never tries to be any more complicated than the saturday morning cartoon it is based on. But wait, dig deeper in between the lines and the you will see that the Wachowski's have added a hidden level of complexity to this film Not wanting to exclude the older crowd, the Wachowski brothers have blended in some thought provoking themes and heart warming drama into the narrative. Simple, everyday moral teachings like family togetherness, brotherly love and sticking by one's friends are interwoven with more complex allegories about corporate manipulation, finding one's calling and purpose.

Now if "The Matrix" catered to the mind, Speed Racer caters to the heart. Thanks to terrific acting, great casting, and excellent writing, the characters really shine with interactions and dialogue that make you forget that they are merely actors playing their roles. As the characters go through joy, sorrow, tragedy and victory, it is just so easy to relate to them like real people in a real family. Even the "villains" like Royalton and Togokahn have a believable motive for doing what they do. In no time, this movie will have you rooting for the underdog and cheering our young protagonist on as he guns the car around the track.

All in all, The team that brought us Matrix and V for Vendetta lives up to the hype once again. They deliver a faithful big screen adaptation of a classic anime that fires on all cylinders; containing a well balanced blend of seriousness and fun, of thought provoking issues and realistic performances. All the while, it retains the child-like nostalgia of innocent times long past. This movie is definitely for only the open minded viewers and the long time fans(and seeing as how Speed racer is a VERY old show, and haven't been updating with the times like Transformers or gundam, its fan base is dwindling). All else would get lost in the kaleidoscope of swirling colors and explosive races.


*****************************Review End******************

Go For it: if you want a fun little family story to remind you of a time when you were still a child and when the world was still full of wonder
Avoid it: if you are expecting a mind boggling philosophical epic or a political intrigue satire.

Entertainment: A
Story: B
Acting: A
Characters: A
Replay value: B
"Brains": B-

DeathNote (2006) review

Overall verdict: 5.5/10

The Good: genuinely suspenseful, contains many thought provoking social themes, fresh unique concept

The Bad: irregular pacing, inconsistent acting, unlikable characters, cheesy script

Current Availability Status: on DVD at discounted price at Poh Kim outlets

DVD features:

- Director's interview

- deleted scenes

- behind the scenes featurette

******************************Review********************

I have not read the original manga or watched the anime before viewing this movie, so i would not know how faithful it was was to the source material.

All things considered, DeathNote has its fair share of ups and downs. Based on the hit manga series "Deathnote", the story's premise sounds like a definite hooker. An intelligent but disillusioned university student, Light Yagami, one day finds "the Deathnote". Any person whose name is written inside the book would die. Along with his new pal, the "shinigami" known as Ryuk, Light uses the Deathnote to kill off suspected criminals one by one. The authorities are baffled by the strange deaths but nonetheless attempt to track down the mysterious killer whom they term "Kira"(I'm betting this is a mispronunciation of "Killer"). As the body count increases, the police enlists the help of a quirky young genius named "L", thus setting up a battle of wits between the two young men.

While the plot may have sounded good on paper, it does not seem to translate well to screen. Special complements must go to the director for managing to maintain a constant air of suspense throughout the entire movie and for trying to incorporate a number of interesting themes such as the social subjectivity of good and evil, the role of morality in justice, and the question of fate and determinism within the metaphor of a book that predicts one's actions leading to one's death. Sadly, those two great aspects of this film suffers from some very disappointing execution. Those underlying themes that were mentioned tend to "pop in" here and there in the form of dialog rather than actually being blended into the ongoing story; they feel rather detached from the narrative as if the writers reluctantly inserted those scenes of philosophical rhetoric as an afterthought.

Suspense is always a good thing to have, especially in the case of DeathNote. In the absence of said suspense, this movie would serve a purpose very similar to a bedtime lullaby. Many scenes are plain boring and the whole movie just drags its feet through its unnecessarily convoluted plot with only one single, and grudgingly played out, action sequence. A shorter running time plus a meatier script and plot would have aided this plodding production or perhaps if it was broadcast as a TV miniseries, since it already looks like one thanks to cheap production values.

DeathNote's irregular pace is NOT helped by some of the least likable main characters ever encountered in a movie. The main character of Light Yagami came across as very unnatural in both his mannerisms and his interactions with people. One moment he seems to be a normal fun loving university student and another moment he is a delusional despot with ambitions to be the "God of the New World". Unless he had split personality disorder, such a thing can only be boiled down to inconsistent characterization either on the part of the script or the actor . The rest of the cast is uninteresting at best, many being your usual Japanese cop drama stock characters. Only the character of L seemed to "stand out" but he does not come into play until halfway through this boring show. And when he does, we do not get much insight into his motivations or his character. He is just there to give Light Yagami a "rival" of sorts.

Despite its many flaws, DeathNote manages to captivate with its suspense and numerous clever twists. A huge pity since it means that after you have watched it once, this movie has practically ZERO replay value; you already know the plot twists, and that effectively negates any form of suspense to be had.

A real pity about the final product since Deathnote had so much potential to become an avant garde, thought provoking social commentary film which dives deep into philosophical issues that permeate today's crime stricken society. Instead it remains on the edge of the proverbial pool, never daring to dive into its deeper aspects, hence leaving this movie merely floating on the surface of mediocrity.

***************Review End**************

Go For it: if you are an avid fan of the manga or anime and would thrill to see your favorite characters in live action.

Avoid it: if you already know the story, if you intend to watch this more than once and if you prefer something with a little more action to accompany the conversations.

Entertainment: C

Story: B-

Acting:B

Characters: C

Replay value: D-

"Brains": A-

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009) review. It knows its from a cartoon, and knowing is half the battle.

Overall verdict: 6.5/10
The Good: excellent cast chemistry, straight forward and easy to follow narrative, witty humour, captures the spirit of saturday morning cartoons

The Bad: cheesy dialogue, special effects laden, deviates too much from the original source material

Current Availbility status in Singapore: DVDs on sale now in all major DVD shops.

DVD features:

Director's commentary

******************************Review********************
G I Joe: The Rise of Cobra is another one of those of big screen movie adaptations of Saturday morning cartoons, following the big but brainless Transformers movie sequel released in the same year.

Unlike Transformers, the producers and director of G I Joe know that it is, after all, a live adaptation of an 80s CARTOON. Instead of going for a real-world contemporary setting, they decided to push the storyline years into the future allowing the rather far fetched technology like Plasma weapons and nanobots to not seem so far fetched.

For better or for worse, this entire movie is a tribute to the classic action adventure Saturday morning cartoons that thrilled an entire generation of children. Director Stephan Sommers manages to balance great moments of "wow" with more subtle subdued scenes, then throw in the right amount of humor, an easy to follow story and very likable characters.

The story may come across as a little too straight forward at times and the characters, though very likable, are a rather one-dimensional......which is exactly like in the original cartoon. Good guys are good guys, bad guys are bad guys and every character is a living breathing personification of "stock stereotypes". What saved the characters from being dull was the excellent script, rather natural acting and chemistry that each character had with the others.

A romantic sub-plot was thrown in for good measure but don't expect anything too sappy. Again, the romance comes across as very typical of a Saturday morning cartoon. Nothing dirty, nothing lovey dovey, a little contrived at times but it really takes one back to more innocent times of old. Flashbacks are used frequently throughout the film for certain characters to establish their background and their motives but the placement of some of the flashbacks sort of "takes us away" from the build up of story.

Similar to his previous work in The Mummy and Van Helsing, Stephan Sommers' clear and easy to follow directing style brings out the best in the action. Chase scenes are thrilling, edge-of-your-seat rides, and slow-mo is used at all the right moments to accentuate the impact of the scene.

G I Joe: The rise of Cobra does a commendable effort at re-capturing the fun, though flawed, spirit of its original 1985 Saturday morning cartoon show and Depending on your own point of view, that can be a good thing or a bad thing. It is really up to personal preference. If you considered cartoons juvenile, their characters plain, the plots simple, the romance cheesy, then your opinions about the cartoons would be easily carried over to this movie.

People of all ages will enjoy this exciting thrill ride of a movie. Great cast( both in terms of chemistry and eye candy), awesome action(the underwater mini-subs battle was definitely something not often seen in movies) and great fun for the whole family.
*****************************Review End******************

Entertainment: A-
Story: C-
Acting: B-
Characters: A-
Replay value: B+
"Brains": D-

Go for it: if you love the feel of saturday morning cartoons and are in the mood for a straight up fun, action-packed thrill ride with eye candy to boot.

Avoid: if you prefer gritty and grim. Cheesiness of the movie may put off viewers.