The Chaser (2008)

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!

Check out the trailer !



Easily ... 4.5 out of 5 stars!

World's Greatest dad (2009)

Trailer: World's Greatest Dad trailer

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!

rocknrolla (2008)

This one I truly enjoy! I have since watched this movie a couple of times and it really stands up to repeat watches. Like many of Guy's movies the gangsters theme is built around a story of recovering of a precious item (Snatch comes to mind?). I like the breezy story telling and the creative ways in which visuals are used to aid story telling. There are no spoilers as I really recommend those who like gangster comedies to catch this one.

Scenes to watch out for: The scene where Bob (Tom Hardy) finally confronts his best mate (Gerald Butler) about his sexuality. The setting of everyone supposedly being tough gangsta guys makes the eventual punch line ("I want you") hillarious! It was so good I almost fell off my chair! Good stuff!

I thought Tom Wikinson's character as the aging gangster had a few good lines and he carried his character well. Nice to see an actor of his caliber still in action ... Well enough of reading this review go and watch the movie already!!

A bit of preview ... check out the opening scene ....

Score: 8/10

UP

This year, forget about the highly anticipated Transformers 2, or the dissapointing GI Joe, which only saving grace is the chase in Paris, if you want to watch a movie which has a soul and heart and all the hilarity that one can get from a movie, then you MUST watch UP.

Pixar have proven time and time again that they are the best in the business of computer animation and dare I say movie making itself...(except maybe a little mishap which I am calling it "CARS")

It started off funnily with the shorts like in the normal tradition of Pixar called "Partly Cloudy" That already started the ball rolling to what's to come. That already has heart in it.

Then we moved on to the main story where we met the protagonist (Carl Frederickson) as a kid who meeting his soul mate, Ellie by chance and we see their life story unfold upon us as they dreamed to go on an adventure in South America. Although no words was utterred but the scenes in itself was moving, as Ellie moved on leaving old Carl behind.

The adventure begins when Old Carl took off with his house with thousands of balloons and with the reluctant boy scout Russell in tow. I won't go much into the story or else it would be spoiling readers enjoyment of their adventure in the wilderness.

All I can say that this is one adventure that is worth tagging along with and it's simply a deligthful movie that will appeal to everyone regardless of age.

9/10

Talentime

If there is one local movie you have to watch this year, please make it Talentime...(instead of the Over-rated Geng- I may add)
It's done in such a way that you didnt realise that you're watching a movie, but instead real life people going through their everyday's life.There are scenes you can cry to and scenes which you can laugh at too. Yasmin Ahmad has yet again created a winner here...
The songs used in this movie is also very catchy and you wouldnt mind listen to them again...
Talentime will restore your faith in our local movies. It's really that good.
8/10

Valkyrie

Went to see this one with the other half. First impressions after leaving the theater is .. everything is factually correct but Singer must have forgotten to imbue it with a heart. Everything seems correct ... well as accurate far as one can tell from it's wikipedia entry. However Singer in this outing has missed the most important ingredient of the movie for me. The heart. Devoid of emotions this was just like one of those stuffy afternoons I spent try to chow down historical facts from my Sejarah text book for future regurgitation. This movie strangely mirrors those days perfectly where after each session, I would feel fascinated with history as I wondered how the people involved felt.

This brings up the point to ponder. How far should a film maker go to give heart to cold historical facts? Some turkeys have surfaced in the past because they went over board with the emotions to the point of almost changing history. Pearl Harbour comes to mind. I am still harboring a plump and delicious little hatred for this turd of a movie that re-interpreted the American tragedy to be almost a victory for them! Valkyrie is on the other extreme of the scale and most of the time remains true to the facts. To this I would say history needs a person to interpreted the going ons to see it from the eyes of the protagonist to try and decipher how they must of felt, for if not it would just ultimately end up like how both of us felt at the end when the supposedly tear-jerker-cum-emotionally-driven-moment when Tommy bit the dust.. we were dried eyed and unmoved. That being said, I would like to give special mention to Bill Nighly who did a commendable job given the circumstances putting across the conflicted feelings of General Olbricht. Personally looking forward to his next outing.

My final conclusion ... thanks for the history lesson Bryan, just wished it was a tad more memorable ... 4/10

Trailer ...

Stuck on you 2003

Actually the only reason why I downloaded this movie is because I really enjoyed Greg's acting in Ghost Town opposite Ricky Gervais. I enjoyed his acting so much I had to find some other stuff the guy has been in! I searched around and saw this movie with him and Matt Damon in. Damon is not usually my pick for a night with a movie except for his tower of strength in the Bourne trilogy ... in which he doesn't do speak much ... Another comedy starring Damon? Do I really want to put myself up on that again? Well I am glad I did.

As I have told my friends many times before, Hollywood is able to make a movie of anything (some even turn out okay!). 2003's Stuck on You starring Matt Damon and Greg Kinnear as a pair of co-joined twins proves just that. Did the movie turn out okay? Well for me it did.

The two actors strength compliment each other well such an awkward and strange subject matter actually held me entertained for the better half of it. The script is breezy and light, never taking itself too seriously was just what a movie like this needs. Cher's role in this movie which is at places totally making fun of herself is also enjoyable to watch taken in small doses. Actually in some scenes she is actually quite merciless on her own life! Greg and Matt chemistry is crucial for this movie to pull through and they do it really well in this movie. This is no Oscar grabbing material but it probably just be great to chase those 45 mins blues away and that is sometimes better than Oscar material which ever way you look at it!

Have a look at the trailer below.



After watching the real thing, check the bloopers below for some laughs ...