Saturday, November 20, 2004

Quick reviews on the movies watched over the past two months:

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow was gorgeously retro. I'm sure you all know about how it was entirely shot against a blue screen and that the colour was washed out and then digitally filled in to give it that wonderously old classic feel, so I won't go on about that, other than to say, whoa - elegant! The acting was good, with all of the actors giving off that, yes, we do indeed know how absurd this film is, and therefore giving the lines the correct amount of cheesiness and sobriety in order to set the perfect tone for the movie. Jude Law, in particular, looked hotter than usual (which, until the movie, wasn't something I thought was possible). All in all, a fun sci-fi romantic flick.

Sepet, a Malaysian movie about a Chinese VCD seller who falls in love with a Malay girl, was sweet. I decided to watch it after reading the reviews in the paper about how it was brought back by popular demand after having been screened in a local cinema for a week as part of the Malaysian film festival. I haven't watched a local (or should I say regional?) movie before (no, not even the acclaimed Singapore films, I Not Stupid or Money No Enough) and was pleasantly surprised by the professional feel of the movie. In addition to being a love story, one which acknowledges their racial differences at the beginning and then proceeds to completely dismiss it (a nice touch, as that's how I feel about inter-racial relationships - there's really nothing much for you to be angsty over, at least not when you're young), Yasmin, the director, also shows us parts of Malaysian life, going from schools to coffeeshops to triads to married life (where the girl's parents are having fun in the living room just wearing their sarongs). I'll admit that I don't entirely get the ending and that did detract from my enjoyment somewhat, but still, for a local/regional film, it's quite nice.

Watching Bride & Prejudice, one could almost come to the conclusion that Indians must lead rather uncomplicated lives in that you know you've met the love of yourlife when everyone comes bursting out of their doors into the streets anddoing a spectacular song and dance. If that doesn't happen, then move on to the next one and quickly! The lead actor, Martin Henderson (Will Darcy), is rather hot. ;) I mean, seriously. He's like Olivier Martinez but way better looking. What is it with all these hot Darcys?

No comments: