This one reminds me a lot of Crank. It's loud, it's brainless and it's fun. Maybe if you can swallow the first two in a movie, then you stand the chance to be entertained as we get to the third attribute of the movie.
When I saw this I saw it back to back with Predators, Tomb Raider and Transformers, Revenge of the fallen. Talk about a whole lot of Loud Nothings! Almost had 30% of the neurons in the brain die off! This movie however is better in my books compared to the pretentious Predators and Transformers as it knew what it was and did not for one second take itself seriously.
Some notable parts include the scene where a 'smart' henchman comes into contact with our protagonist. The dialog is hilarious! It sagged and slowed down a bit in the middle as it lost focus a bit and this part dragged on for me. Until the end though it picked back up steam and raged on to a blast of a finish.
Another effort by one of my favorite directors Mr. Chan-Woon Park. This tale that starts out which seemingly going to be a male testosterone induced shoot out fair twists into a tale of friendship, honor and war. I was watching this expecting an action flick but I was not disappointed. I liked how this movie with it's Rashomon-esque story telling is able to bring us from scene to scene glued to the edge of our seat.
Probably the only thing that would stop me from giving this one it's usual gold star rating is the ending that seems to be a tad too convenient (no spoilers here just watch it) and the final act that devolves somewhat into over the top acting and melodrama. Minus a few points there, but then as that takes points off from this movie the talented Mr Kang-Ho Song who plays Sergeant Oh. It's a nuanced performance who can only be pulled off by a an actor in his league good stuff +1 point there. I just loved all his screen time (as with all his movies).
Some other colleagues of mine says that this movie is unfocused, unbelievable with a humanist message. Is it all of that ? Yes. Does it make it any less better for me ? No.
In summary I give this a 7.0/10.0. It's a good watch and would trump most of the usual hollywood bs coming out these days. A word of thanks to the Korean movie industry for keeping this reviewer interested in movies :).
This is a documentary about Evelyn Glennie a famous figure in the music industry in Britain. This is her story and it focuses around her relationship with movie. Evelyn has lived a life of music and is currently a percussionist. What is remarkable about Evelyn is the fact that she is almost 80% deaf. This movie is however not about Evelyn the remarkable deaf musician rather it focuses on Evelyn the artist and the musician.
I found the different types of instruments and the way the they are employed in this movie very interesting. Anything and everything from a roll of paper thrown through the air can be used as an instrument. Evelyn who narrates the documentary, says she likes to keep herself open to any sort of sound that comes to her and this is evident in the numerous 'jamming' session they have throughout the documentary. I like how this documentary is presented. They do not focus in her handicap and if not because of the fact that it's mentioned during the course of the documentary I would not even have guessed that Evelyn is special.
During her school days (around 8) Evelyn was told that she is going deaf and that a career in music was not in the cards for her. She said that is not something she could accept as 30 mins earlier she could play anything and now a new fate has just been dealt to her. Her fortitude of Evelyn and her family in dealing with this heart breaking news is amicable. I wished that I had the inner strength these people had as this was not even treated as an issue to them, infact all throughout, Evelyn actually just says that her way of inputting music is just different and she is in now way less of a musician. Based on the fact that she is recognized as one of the leaders in a field goes to show she speaks for a position of experience.
The music in this documentary is infectious and sparse as they were got my feet tapping a few times while watching this. The music is haunting, tapping, unique and good all wrapped in one. The narrative style in this documentary works and is both personal and introduces us to the world that Evelyn lives and thrives in everyday.
The director, Thomas Riedelsheimer also directed another documentary called 'Rivers and Tides'. Will check that out soon.
I had Hunger for a long time but just somehow did find the time or situation to watch it, which in retrospect I think is good because this is not an easy movie to watch. Mc Queen's debut effort that highlights situations surrounding the 1981 hunger strikes, offers or forces on us a stark and unflinching view. We are thrust into the slammer together with Fassbender's Bobby Sands which marks the start of his matryrical task that ends in his eventual death.
For a debut effort Mc Queen as a director shines here with some prophetic touches. An example of this is his understanding of how to elicit emotions with the most basic of scenes. A grimace, a frown even the movement of the iris is not wasted here. Mc Queen also understands very well when a visual might actually weaken the message that is trying to be put forth resulting in us never ever seeing Tatcher here but the strength of what she says in my opinion is so much the stronger because of that.
The scenes of the effects of the hunger strikes on the strikers is not for the faint of heart. If the boy scout of a weakened Gandhi at the height of his hunger strikes gets you bawling then you will be devastated here. The sites of scenes of bed sores, think bodies nearly sent the food in my tummy on it's anti-peristaltic journey! This is definitely not a talky movie and the dialog is as sparse as the sound track which I think is appropriate and stands to heighten the effect of creating that prison atmosphere. The only sounds that the audience will hear most of the time is the sound of scraping, clanging and the sounds of prison doors closing. This is a great choice by Mc Queen as I think those sounds are already enough to solidify the bleakness and the hopelessness of prisoners in the prison. A note about about sparse dialog, the movie culminates in a 20 minute (really!) unbroken take of the conversation of Sands and a priest. The patience and the restraint that Mc Queen and the writer Enda Walsh (Mc Queen co wrote) is testament to the a master's stroke in film making. The dialog also moves the plot forward and from it we gain insight into the background and the reasons of the whole act.
If this movie's goal is to create interest in this infamous time in our history, then it succeeds on all fronts for me. I was so interested at the end of this of what caused the hunger strike that I started to try and learn as much as I could about the reasons and the results of the strike. Right from the start the story telling is very effective in creating interest and hooking us right into the plot, from the the prison guard washing his bruised knuckle, our curiosity is piqued not only what is this guys story, we want to find out what are the situations that caused the bruises.
Find a quiet spot and get in the right frame of mind to watch this. It's only about 90 minutes but it is not easy to watch. Try to however and I guarantee you will walk away rewarded. 10/10.
I used to watch A-Team growing up and was a fan of the series then. I add the word then as it's strange, some movies that look so good then looks corny, worse unwatchable now. Did Liam's Hannibal was Quinton "Rampage" Jackson BA make this romp satisfying for a an ex 8 year old fan of The A-Team? Did he go Yayy! at the end when they finally play the A-Team theme song with the original intro to the show ? No, Yes, Yes and Yes.
This is a loud film with filmsy plot. As with all action movies based on 80 series, please leave do not attempt to watch this with your brain mounted and you will at least have a chance of enjoying this. I enjoyed it and was actually near to giving a shout out cheer right at the end. Most of the aspect of the show was captured in this 2010 remake. The loud, the zany and the crazy stunts. I especially like the aeroplane stunts in this one. Breath taking.
Acting on the whole was okay, the parts when this film did not work and I did not care so much for was the time it slowed down to a molasses place especially with the soul searching bit of BA trying to lead a life of peace! Leeson also looks out of place in this one. I guess he has played characters with a pained expression too long for me to accept him in a role like this. The Hannibal of old did not feel this way. Face, great! Murdock, spot on! BA during his !slow scenes great!
Oh ya, one stand out for me for this movie were the bad guys. They were actually quite efficient and capable! It's been quite a long time and a lot of action movies that I have seen that I thought the bad guy was cool. There were a few scenes featuring Pike which I found the baddie to be quite cool.
So give this one a whirl if you got an afternoon to kill like me during raya ... :)
5/10
I used to be the sort of the guy who did not enjoy watching foreign movies. Boy was I a sorry fool then and the more so after I the great Korean offerings that were available such as The Host, The Chaser and Oldboy. All good stuff! So does, latest offering "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly" elevates my love for Korean movies further or does will it bring it down a notch?
Well, I am happy to say it does not bring it down a notch. It does not really elevate it but I just love this movie. It's a rip roaring fun ride all the way! Much like a great rollercoaster ride also, the plot isn't much to write home to mom about, but then as I said, it's a rollercoaster ride. It's all about the ride! The action sequences, even for an action movie buff like me still manages to look fresh and bring me to the edge of my seat.
Actually this movie reminds me of those movie that Alam Tam and gang used to act with martial arts put in with just a simple plot to drive the action sequences along. I loved those movies growing up and this movie is reminiscent of that. The plot if you will is about the hunt of of a hidden treasure thanks to bungling thief played by Kang-ho Song, which is my favorite action from all of these Korean movies! I absolutely just love this guy when he is on screen. He can act comedy, tragedy and even the leading man when it comes to it. The whole movie almost revolves around his bungling character and he made me laugh every time he was on screen. Watch out for the end reveal of this character as he reveals a not so bungling side to his character. Totally believable too as he makes the switch.
Check this movie out if you haven't. If you are just tired of those plot plot plot movies and just want to cheer yourself up this is what you should go for! I give this good one a good solid 8.5/10.
Straight off I really liked this movie. A new director to me, Karen Moncrieff manages to take an otherwise run of the mill story line about a prostitute's death, and make it into something interesting and worth following. At the end of this I was invested in the life of this girl and it even got a bit (just a bit) dusty in my living room when I realize her eventual fate. The way this is told, it never bored me one minute which is quite a feat as I normally find this kind of depressing stories boring to the point of tears.
I guess you can say that Karen's writing with the directing and the editing manages to breath life and make us care for the rotting corpse the Toni Collette character stumbles upon at the beginning of this movie.
We are brought into the ride via the perspective of multiple characters akin to Pulp Fiction. I don't normally read into spiritual messages in movies, but I guess you could say that the God in this movie is a deistic one as the characters falter on their quests and the final scene of hope on the dead girl's face which you know will be cut short by her cruel death is just devastating. I love this way of story telling and I am giving this an 8 over 10.]
** Oh ya, the reason why I picked up this movie is because during one of the filmspotting interviews, Josh Brolin cited this movie as one of the ones he is proud of although it did wasn't like a huge blockbuster or a commercial monster. Thanks again Adam and Matty!
Normally I pretty much agree with and find the ratings in rottentomatoes believable. Normally the consensus of what is good and what is not is what I use to determine if I should spend my time watching that particular movie. That and a bit on the synopsis of the movie.
Ravenous is one happy exception. Why I decided to watch this one I don't really know. Maybe hot on the heels of Proposition I wanted to see something else that Guy Pearce was in or maybe it was the strange subject matter that attracted me to it. I enjoy watching Guy Pearce movies and he brings about a certain intensity to the characters that he plays that I really enjoy watching.
What did I think? I loved this movie and I feel that the ratings of 40% on RT is accurate at least for me. My first impression of this movie was the score. It's a really strange score and imposes itself on you with this psychedelic and at first it was really off putting but as the story rages along it sort of grew on me.
Captain John Boyd played by Guy Pearce is the war hero and is back handedly promoted to Fort Spencer. On his conscience the act of cowardice that actually got him there. I am a sucker for conflicted heroes and here Guy's inner conflict shines through and even as he finally succumbs to depths of depravity, the glimmer of hope in his eyes is totally believable. Back to the story, a scottish stranger, suffering from frostbite and mumbling incoherently called appears at the fort the fort one day. After resting they find that his name is Colquhoun and tells the story of his party leader Ives turning his fangs on his fellow travelers after their expedition goes south. An expedition is mounted to the cave where all of this purportedly happened to find survivors and this is where the story really heats up. You have no other recourse but to start pumping adrenaline watching the scene from the cave leading to hill slopes!
Colquhoun is played effectively, though sometimes a bit over the top b y Robert Carlyle. Good stuff. I liked him here as much as I liked him in 28 weeks later. For those with weak stomachs, not to worry so much this movie does not really plumbs into that level of gore. Here for me, I found a movie like OldBoy harder to swallow (pun intended), heck the cannibalism scenes is just a walk in the park compared to OldBoy! So, swap your carrots and fire up the teppanyaki grill for this great movie!
This year I have seen a lot of documentaries by Michael Moore documentaries? I think they better called Drama-mentaries and there in lie their fault making them less memorable. The fact that they are "manufactured" by Moore makes their message less powerful. Case in point see The Cove for a one sided view to an argument.
Which brings us to our movie in question The times of Harvey Milk about Harvey Milk's fight to the height of his career and to his eventual bloody down fall in the hands of Dan White. All the facts are laid out plainly for the viewer to see and conclusions are left to the viewer. I like this. The scene where the lady announces that Harvey and the mayor has been shot by White is haunting and sad without trying to be so. We are brought and transformed to the era like one of the people that there in hall listening to the announcement. I could feel the pain and the anguish of Harvey's supporters as well as the eventual one sided result of the trail.
First of the bat let me just say that thr(k)iller genre especially those featuring a somewhat supernatural killer is one of my favorites, so movies like Seven, Fallen and From Hell remains up there as my favorite movies of all time. I guess it then be an understatement to say that I was excited when I chanced upon "Horsemen" from the same director that brought us From Hell on hbo the other day! WooHooo! Finally! Haven't seen one of these in too long a time I thought exuberantly to myself, rubbing my hands together preparing to be shock-a-tained. Did it pay off ? Did the horsemen galloped my sense off into blissful excitement and bloody glee? No! No! and No!
This is definitely one movie that is out of date and out of it's time. Perhaps before the advent of movies like Seven or the multitude of incarnation of the CSI franchise, this may have had a chance of being seen as good or even watchable. Alas, this now seems like a rehash or a re-run of an episode of CSI.
Dennis Quaid plays an inspector or some pathologist specializing in teeth or something like on the trail of a killing that seems to be tied to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Sound good so far? So I thought at first, but all of these things have been done before as I said and better in movies like Seven so all I felt is been there and seen thta computer generated punctured lung!
Come on, the so-called main 'Baddie' or Horsemen as they call it can't even hold a candle and that being on the calmest of days against Spacey's John Doe. Sorry Mr. Jonas Åkerlund but this is all too much of a worn out and trodden path that you are trying to bring us on and I can't say much about the execution of the whole mess either.
At the end of it, I don't even know how I should feel. Should I feel for the plight of the Horsemen or be amazed at how Zhang ZiYi and Quaid is wasted in this turd of a movie! The writers of this movie also decided to save the worst for last. It hit a nadir for me during the 'the reveal' of the movie when the message of the movie is shoved down the audience throat with a huge cattle poke suffering the same problem as the movie "The book of Eli". Jonas, when you trust your audience a bit that they can work a bit like the detective in the movie uncovering the message your are trying to put across much like how the truth is finally revealed, the pay off is better and it's more memorable. As it is, I felt the final message that it tries to put across is peachy and pretentious. Thanks, but I am just going to watch a re-run of my copy of Seven now.
I caught most of the post apocalyptic movies this year including The Road and just today The Book of Eli starring Denzel Washington, Milla Kunis, Jennifer Beals and Gary Oldman. Since both movies are set in the same backdrop there is no avoiding comparisons being drawn between both the movies. Which one is better? Hands down The Road for me! That being said, The Book of Eli is a well made movie. Aside from the similar backdrop, there is very little similarity between the two movies.
On the landscape, I really like how the movie is shown. The deserted streets, the saturated colors, the deserted buildings is really well done and totally believable. The story is about Eli played by Denzel Washington on a quest to get the knowledge of the only copy of the bible left in the world to "The West" which is actually ironically the Alcrataz prison. The story has strong Christian undertones and like it's Chinese Odyssey counter part, the path to salvation is lined with perils and dangers most. Instead of ghouls and bull headed demons of it's chinese cousin, here the nemesis Gary Oldman which leads a gang of bikers which looks like extras from the Mad Max days which is maniacally looking for the copy of the Bible for the power he hopes to wield over people with it. Oldman, who looks like he is desperately in need of a bath (the lot of them looks like this except for Denzel who looks suspiciously clean) looks right at home playing "The Bad Dude" like he had done is so many movies. The only thing here is just that I wished that he was not so literal about his intention on getting his grimy paws on the Bible.
The action here is really good and a couple of sequences where the camera follows the path of a projectile it's being shot at while at the same time switching scenes between two warring sides lends a kinetic feel to the movie which I have not seen anywhere else save for those bullet scenes in chinese movies. That is really good. There is also a shootout scene to watch out for. Ok Corral! Boo Yah!
More on the acting ... Denzel is good in this movie, but I wouldn't say that this anything new here. He is playing well ... Denzel. The whole movie is mostly carried on the performances of Oldman and Denzel. Nothing much from the others like Kunis and gang stood out for me including a forgettable cameo by Malcolm McDowell at the last act of the movie. One complain I have about the final scenes is when Denzel does the Gandhi thing that seems so out of place in a movie like this. About the story too, this movie suffers a bit of the same thing as the 2009 Dennis Quaid clunker which is being too literal on the symbolism. Play it differently! I do not need the symbolism shoved down my throat, trust the intellect of your audience to find the message you are trying to put across and that a better movie it makes. Check out the final scene from the Horsemen where everything is explained to get what I mean.
Hughes brothers have done some good movies and this is no exception, just forgettable and I have seen better so 3 out of 5 for this one. Ask me in three times about this and I probably won't even be able to tell you about the plot of this movie.
While reading a review for one of John Woo's film, I chanced upon a director I have never seen before called Sam Peckinpah. According to the site, John Woo in his movie 'Better Tomorrow' pays homage to Sam Peckinpah's films and has been an inspiration to Woo. Woo's inspiration? This is something I have got to watch I thought. So ... enter Straw Dogs.
Dustin Hoffman plays a bumbling professor type husband with a repressed wife spending the weekend over in the country to get inspiration for his work. Sticking out like a sore thumb among the locals, the harrasment slowly gives way to all out violence.
Just when everything is going to hell in a handbasket, the last man you would expect to play the hero Hoffman toughens up and deliver's his own brand of pay back. Was it as good as Chow Yuen Fatt's slo' mo' action scenes in Woo's classics? Hell yes! Even better in some respects. I cheered out lout when Hoffman's character fought back and single handedly defended his whole family in the film's climax. Good stuff!
I credit the great editting work here, for without a two megaton bomb about to go off, helicopter exploding on top of a train or plane exploding in a tunnel, Straw Dogs managed to keep me at the edge of my seat. You action writers wannabes out there sit up and listen up! Take a lesson from Mr. Peckinpah. You don't need 7 digit budget or nuclear devices going off to make a decent or good action thriller. All you need is the basics. A decent story line with good editing and believable acting.
The acting in this movie is good too. Hoffman's protrayal of a bungling David Sumner turned hero when forced into a corner is believable and cheer worthy. Try not standing up and cheering for him at the end when he finally confronts the ruffians which has been torturing him throughout the whole film. The can of whoop ass built up from the beginning of the movie which he finally opens up on these thugs at the last 10 to 20 minutes of the movie is satisfying and exciting to behold!
Reading about what some people seem to think about this film, they say it's not as good as Peckinpah's other classic 'The Wild Bunch'. Waiting to check that one out. One more thing that I should mention here too is that the rape scene in this movie is well quite disturbing. Disturbing as in it borders on the fine line between just a rough session of sex or a straight rape. Just check out the mixed signals given my Mrs. Sumner during this scene. Definitely something that will stay with you. Reminisce of the emotional wrench that movies like the Chaser or Oldboy puts you through. It forces the viewer into an uncomfortable state. I love movies that forsake a comfortable tied up knot of a resolution in order to push the envelope of how far a scene can go. Very good!
A point too about the action sequences, here while it could have been shot straight like the scene where Hoffman is carrying two pots of boiling surprise for the interluders to his house, how it unfolds is not straight action. One would argue here whether Peckinpah is deliberately denying his audience the straight action scene they are expecting or is just bad in setting the scene up. Using the rest of the film as a yardstick of how good / bad Peckinpah is I would give him the benefit of the doubt here. Action in real life is most of the time messy and not as clear cut and as choreographed as a Jackie Chan flick. I think Peckinpah was aiming for that here.
Doing one of my favorite past times which is watching trailers and as far as trailers go, Big Bullet's trailer is pretty decent ... check it out ...
Big bullet stars Lau Ching Wan and has been hailed as a smart cop movie in Hong Kong. I can't tell you, coz honestly I have not seen this one yet. Looking around to get it.
Funny people is the latest offering from the Apatow team. This is actually my second viewing of this movie. Frankly I really did not like it the first time I saw it. "Funny people is not very funny" was my initial conclusion to Funny People. I really did not like Knocked Up (Unrated Widescreen Edition) as much as some other people I know. Just thought it wasn't that funny and a bit long winded. Judd Apatow must have run out juice finally I thought. So, I chucked the movie in favor of something else. That was until I heard the guys at Filmspotting.net doing their take on Funny People and viewing it from their perspective, I realized I was watching the movie from the wrong angle. I watched it expecting a simple slapstick comedy but this is not even just a comedy. It's really a comedy about comedy, about the inner workings of the comedy industry. First time around I thought that Adam Sandler in the role as George was a bit of an ass. No one really watches a movie expecting Sandler to be ass so it was understandable I got put off.
So did I like it the second time around? 100% yes! This is a great movie! I like it much more than Knocked Up and I have to say this is the most mature offering from team Apatow as well as from Sandler. He serves up a great role here as George Simmons and really puts up a convincing performance as George Simmons the mega comedy star. The aloofness and the misuse of stardom goes a lot into making this character come alive. I wonder if Sandler did much acting at all but here it's not in a bad way as his performance was just what this movie needed. It harkens a bit to the other movie Tropic Thunder's protagonist Tugg Speedman where both the movie is a movie about the movie industry, but there is where the resemblance ends as this movie is a much better movie in terms of a realistic look behind the comedy movie industry.
Roughly the plot is about George Simmons a jaded mega actor who just got diagnosed with a form leukemia. There is a great scene lauded by Adam and Matty from filmspotting of the scene where George is leaving the clinic after being told the news of his mortality. He is met with a bunch of reporters and even with news on his head he puts up a 'movie face' which mirrors real life exactly. A performer's life does not end after the director yells cut. Scenes like this lends this movie a realistic feel and lifts it above Apatow's other offering in my eyes.
Anyway, George then meets up with Ira Wright (Seth Rogan) and employs to write a few jokes for him, in which Ira ends up being much more of a Personal Assistant to George. George confronted with this new reality begins a journey of reexamining his life and trying to mend his fences with his fiance (very well acted by Leslie Mann). Halfway through he discovers that he might actually have a chance of beating his fate. Now the question here is would the lessons he learned still have the same meaning or would we witness a reversion to the old ass George we see at the beginning of the movie.
Do not watch this movie expecting a rehash of the character from "Water Boy" or the "Wedding Singer". This is a very sombre and aloof Adam Sandler. I like this. It shows a depth to Sandler's acting ability that is not usually there in his other archive of work, though one might argue how hard exactly it is to be yourself on camera ... In terms of direction, I wished that Apatow was tighter with his reigns as some scenes could have been shorter. The Eric Bana character I wonder was absolutely necessary and while it wasn't bad it remains the weaker side to the plot as well as the movie. In summary though, I like this movie a lot and now it has become the best Apatow movie I have watched now. I think I have seen nearly all of them, Knocked Up (Unrated Widescreen Edition),The 40-Year-Old Virgin (Unrated Widescreen Edition),Superbad (Unrated Widescreen Edition) and some other movies where he was involved in other roles such as Talladega Nights - The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (Unrated Full Screen Edition) and Forgetting Sarah Marshall [Blu-ray].
This one gets a 4.5 out of 5 for me and is a very very good movie. Watch out also for the multitude of cameos in the movie ... highly recommended!
Haven't written for quite some time, but after I saw this gem of a Korean movie, just felt so compelled to write so here I am. This is one good movie! Whether it's taken as a cop movie, a movie of redemption, a sarcastic look into the Korean police system, this movie excels in all departments! I was kept glued to my seat right from the beginning when one of Joong-Ho a cop turned pimp goes in search of the person he suspects of selling his girls. Check that out for the part of the protagonist. The movie brings you on the ride as Joong-Ho tracks down the killer and arrests him, but all is not over ...
With a lead role like that one could have easily gotten it wrong by either making the switch of caring pimp to hero either too easy making it unbelievable, but here I bought it totally. Given the background of of Joong-Ho and his relationship with his girls and the relationship he builds with with Mi-Jin's daughter his transition from bad-pimp cop to the only cop capable to bring down the killer is deliciously good. The normal dependable police department here is seen to spot a clown's mask and there is even a scene during interrogation of the main suspect one of the policeman is standing on top of a desk in his pagodas!
The pace here is tight and the pace frantic as Joong-Ho unrelentlessly finds his target battling his cops ex buddies getting to his man ... not giving anything away just to say the climax of the show might be too devastating for some (it nearly was for me) ... The final fight scene while nothing as fanciful as Jackie's romps is some one the most memorable one for me. I nearly wanted to jump out of my seat and help Joong-Ho deliver the killing blow! Trust me, no matter how hardened you are on the US action movies just watch this last fight scene and tell me you feel nothing. I went in to it that way and I found myself wanting to participate in the last fight! That is how good it is! Kudos to the powerful action sequences. For the squeamish among you, you might want to give those last few scenes a miss as it gets really painfully bloody to watch. Here the excitement is not so much watching the choreography rather these are real action sequences and something you would expect to happen in real situations.
Also, here I would like to add I really enjoyed how the direction of the movie seems to challenge the audience about the stereotypical ending and proceedings of events in the movie. Everything from events happening to even the main characters themselves. The killer once caught initially appears to be this mild mannered good looking young guy who wouldn't or couldn't even hurt a fly given the chance, and at a lot of points the audience is sort of left wondering if this could be the killer while the protagonist in this movie is a good hearted pimp. The message that heroes in this day and age are flawed individuals who chooses to do the right thing effectively sent here and never heavy handedly shoved down our throats instead the situations presented here forces the audience to re-evaluate the role of hero and villain. This 'encouragement' of the audience to think outside of normal stereotypes kept me constantly on the edge my seat and elevated the movie from a normal cop or cat and mouse movie.
Reminisce of oldboy the cinematography here is beautiful but has a certain bleakness to it which beautifully accentuates the main characters plight and fight. It's great. Checking on imdb, the director Hong-Jin Na has another show in pre-production called Yellow Sea. I will be eagerly waiting to check that out. The Chaser has made me a fan!
This for me is Robin William's comeback. He is funny here without trying to be funny which is the main point. It starts out with a look at Robin's dysfunctional relationship with his son. He is your typical loser late middle age dad trying to relate to his son which of course tries at every chance to resist or turn down his dad's attempt at being close.
All seems lost when an "accident" occurs in which Kyle (played by Daryl Sabara) which is this shallow teenager which is only interested in sex and getting laid dies. Lance (Robin Williams) is heart broken until an unlikely turn of events causes him to benefit from his son loosing his life. The not-so-hot father son relationship is examined here, Lance trying to decide whether it would be right to benefit from the perception his son's death. I will not reveal here what the turn of events are as I think it would be better for you to watch it yourself. Lance is less than conflicted here as the relationship with his son was not strong to start with and justifies to himself that his son's is better off dead.
To me Robin William's performance here is touching and low key, which is what I like about it. You don't sense his trying too hard and what comes through is truly one of his strongest performance till date. Alexie Gilmore, too as the unfaithful source of his attention turns in a passable performance but the thing that sealed this movie for me was Robin's performance. I heard that Robin took a 2 months hiatus after the movie August Rush, if that be the case welcome back Robin!
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as much as some other people I know. Just thought it wasn't that funny and a bit long winded. Judd Apatow must have run out juice finally I thought. So, I chucked the movie in favor of something else. That was until I heard the guys at 
,
and some other movies where he was involved in other roles such as 
and 
. 
