Babel: If you want to be understood... Listen

An interesting movie where 4 stories are cleverly interweaved into one big movie. You will have to watch this movie to see how a rich troubled American couple who are having a holiday in Morocco can be linked to a shepherd and his 2 sons, and also connected to a Mexican lady who is working as a live-in maid in America for 16 years but had to attend her son's wedding in Mexico for just 1 day. And somehow these 2 persons' stories are linked all the way to Japan, to a troubled Japanese deaf-mute teenager who cannot cope with the lost of her mother and her adolescence problems.

The writer Guillermo Arriaga and director Alejandro González Iñárritu have cleverly included all the ingredients to make a great movie:

a) Famous actors: Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett

b) Location, location, location: There are people and stories from countries spanding across 4 continents, Asia, Africa, and North and South America

c) Storyline that deals with various world issues such as:

1. Terrorism (there's a scene I like where Brad Pitt gave money to a Moroccan for helping and the Moroccan refused. Brad Pitt was truly touched by this Moroccan stranger who helped him unconditionally while his American compatriates have left him and his wife to fend for themselves. In this terrorist and war-torn world which have inevitably changed our perception on strangers causing stereotyping and suspicion, this movie tends to help put things back to perspective.)


2. Family issues (Brad Pitt and wife were having a difficult time in their marriage after the death of their young child but things are put into perspective when the wife is facing a near death situation.)


3. Maid issues (Rich couples put their child care entirely into the hands of maids which can be dangerous sometimes irregardless of how much the maid loves the kids)


4. Guns (Nowadays, guns are easily available and thus, irresponsible or uneducated usage of these powerful weapons can lead to deadly consequences)


5. Single parent/Lost of parent problems (Single parents must try to listen to their children and vice versa as both are trying hard to cope with their individual problems)


6. Adolescence problems (this show highlights the many teenage problems such as drugs, alcohol, sex, rejection, generation gaps, self-consciousness etc).


7. Handicap (this movie touches on how a deaf-mute cope with everday life)

d) A naked japanese girl. (need I say more? haha)

Actually, I like these kind of movies which tend to create awareness on various issues in life. It gives us a different perspective on how connected we all are as we watch all these somewhat random people in the world but yet somehow all connected to each other.

I'd rate this movie an A-, given the good cinematography and the whole story telling and connection is so seamlessly done.

Picture Source: http://www.imdb.com

28 Weeks Later And Resident Evil 3: Extinction

Never had been a fan of zombie movies. (I think I mentioned that when I wrote about Resident Evil 2: The Apocalypse) . However, here are 2 zombie movies which I managed to sit through the entire show without cursing or falling asleep.

Resident Evil 3: Extinction

Well, this year there's just so many sequels to a sequel that you have to get used to it. I have to say that this episode (it has turned into a series I suppose...) is better than its predecessor. The fighting scenes are superbed and of course the body counts are aplenty and they didn't censor the dreadful bloody scenes in the theaters so please don't bring children.

The CGI used are really good to support the storyline which is adapted from a computer game (Capcom's Resident Evil). Basically, the story talks about a group of evil scientists and opportunist who tries to genetically alter the genes of a human being to create a superior species and eliminate the others weaker ones. Don't try to decipher deeply into the movie as the bottomline of any zombie movie is that this is a dog-eat-dog or human-eat-human world and we've gotta stay tough and kill the rest to survive.

Usually in zombie movies, we don't even want to talk about casting.... but this one has Milla Jovovich as Alice the main character. Also, this chapter offers a bonus: Ali Carter (of Heroes fame) as a strong supporting actress. After watching this show, you cant help but feel some "Girl Power".

Overall, I'd give this show a B, mostly for the body counts (and stunts) and good cinematography on the fighting scenes. Milla Jovovich is of course a plus point.

28 Weeks Later

Another Girl power movie whereby the lead is an actress, Catherine McCormack, and the child actress Amanda Walker, are very much the heroins of the movie.

Movie is about a virus epidemic which spread all over UK and caused everyone to turn into zombies.

As any zombie movie goes, it doesn't really make much sense but it makes good entertainment. Lots of body counts and gory, bloody scenes - just the kind of movie a zombie-movie lover would love to watch.

Would give it a C, as it's already a B movie to start with.

Note: Pictures Source: http://www.imdb.com

Death Proof

Finally watched Death Proof by Quentin Tarantino.

Quentin is definitely an extraordinary director/filmmaker. He can see things through his camera which is different from others and he tries to make us see those special angles which we seldom see on the big screen. As this is his tribute to the 70s B-grade Grindhouse movie, he started the show with lots of psychedelics and corresponding 70s large fonts and 70s “High Chaperal” type of music. I like those scratches that he made purposely to make it look like a film, or something you get to watch at a ‘Drive-In’ theater. I also like the way he shows us the vast difference if he showed us the film in black & white and then in color.

There are some “out of your imagination” action, so please ask your children to steer clear of this movie. You can be sure Quetins show has lots of blood and body count. Well, this one won’t fail you.

There are no real moral in this movie but the storyline is ok for a B grade movie. Kurt Russell definitely made this movie a little more interesting with his witty pick up lines…

Pity the version I watched doesn’t comes with Planet Terror, else I could kill 2 birds with 1 stone.

I would rate it B+ for overall content, directorship, castings etc……

Oh, and btw, the name of the show is such because the car driven by Kurt Russell (Stuntman Mike) is death proof... i.e. the car was used for stunts and thus is built to keep whoever in the car safe (from death).... And guess what, the car is a dear old Chevrolet.. :) a 1970 Chevy Nova... :) Chevrolets are featured in many movies lately, Transformers, Wild Hogs, and now Death Proof.. :)

Grindhouse 2007

Saw an interesting preview on Astro during the weekend... calledGrindhouse.

This movie is a 2 in 1,with 2 horror flicks; "Death Proof" which is written by Quentin Tarantino, and "Planet Terror",which is written byRobert Rodriguez, merged together cleverly with fake movie trailers.

Death Proof is about a psychopath/serial killer (Kurt Russell) who goes around stalking and killing beautiful women with his "death proof" car. On the other hand, Planet Terror is about a sheriff couple who has to deal with a zombie infested town.

Expect lots of saucy scenes and brutal attacks as this is Quentin's tribute to the 70s Grindhouse Cinemas aka B-Grade Movie Theaters aka Drive in theaters or Exploitation films as they call it in US.

Black Sheep - Violence of the Lambs

Now this is a bizarre comedy thriller that have washed up our shores from New Zealand. The casts are unknown to me, and even the director/writer Jonathan King doesnt seem familiar to me. Usually, I wont even go near such zombie-animal type of movies even with a 3 feet pole but since there's a demand for a review of this gory, stomach turning, B-grade movie, I relented and decided to give this movie a try.

Storyboarding is not bad, really. Storyboard is full and complete and tries to justify every scenes it projected.

The story is about 2 sheperd brothers, the Oldfields, who grew up in their father's New Zealand sheep farm. The older brother Angus, who has deep seeded insecurity due to his handicap, is the bully and killed younger brother Henry's pet sheep causing Henry to develop a phobia of sheeps.

15 years later, Angus, who stayed on to take over their father's farm offers USD2 Million to buy over Henry's share of the farm. Henry returned to the farm to accept the offer from Angus, who is now an established sheep farmer and researcher. As Henry was about to leave, 2 environmentalist, Grant and Experience, accidentally released a mutant sheep foetus while investigating Angus' genetic experiment on sheeps.

Weird experience with deadly meat-eating sheeps and face-to-face battles with violent man-killing sheeps follows. Get ready to be surprised by deadly Were-Sheeps transformation and gory "shot-guns-bursting-sheep-heads" scenes and expect lots of wild, murderous sheeps on a killing rampage.

I think you would like this one if you are a fan of those "zombie" movies or if you tend to "flock" to those "genetically modified mutants that goes on a killing frenzy" kind of movies. For me, I think there are better movies to watch than this "shear terror". BaaHahaha.

Preview : Shoot Em Up

Watched the preview on Astro Behind the scenes and thought it's worth mentioning and worth waiting for. What caught my eye was the abundance of action and gun shots and also the love story in the background.... kinda make it a movie for the boys (who goes for the action) and girls (love story maniacs, obviously) and family (baby and all)..... Also boasts some high class casts which the director and writer Michael Davis handpicked namely, Clive Owen (of Derailed, Pink Panther, Sin City and King Arthur fame), Paul Giamatti (2005 Oscar winner for best supporting actor in Cinderella Man) and Monica Bellucci (Oscar nominated for Matrix Reloaded, and The Passion Of the Christ) .

Will be waiting eagerly for its release in Malaysia... meanwhile, here's the plot sypnosis (source: imdb.com):

Mr. Smith (Clive Owen) is waiting for a bus when a pregnant woman runs by, chased by a group of thugs. Smith kills them and delivers the baby, but the mother is killed. Chased by the evil Mr. Hertz (Paul Giamatti) and an army of goons, Smith enlists DQ (Monica Bellucci), a lactating prostitute, to help him care for the baby.After a series of gun fights, Smith discovers the truth. A Democratic presidential candidate and supporter of draconian gun control measures is dying, but had several supporters impregnanted from his sperm so he could harvest the children. The women were killed by Mr. Hertz who was working for a wealthy firearms executive. However, Mr. Hertz and the Democratic politican cut a deal to work together. Smith kills every one of them personally, and in the end he reunites with DQ and the baby to start a new family.

Ratatouille - Rat-Ta-Too-Ee (Everyone can cook)

"In many ways, the work of a critic is easy. We risk very little yet enjoy a position over those who offer up their work and their selves to our judgment. We thrive on negative criticism, which is fun to write and to read. But the bitter truth we critics must face is that, in the grand scheme of things, the average piece of junk is more meaningful than our criticism designating it so. But there are times when a critic truly risks something, and that is in the discovery and defense of the new. Last night, I experienced something new, an extraordinary meal from a singularly unexpected source. To say that both the meal and its maker have challenged my preconceptions is a gross understatement. They have rocked me to my core. In the past, I have made no secret of my disdain for Chef Gusteau's famous motto: Anyone can cook. But I realize that only now do I truly understand what he meant. Not everyone can become a great artist, but a great artist can come from anywhere. It is difficult to imagine more humble origins than those of the genius now cooking at Gusteau's, who is, in this critic's opinion, nothing less than the finest chef in France. I will be returning to Gusteau's soon, hungry for more."

I was really moved by these words used by the food critic Anton Ego in the movie. And the geniuses at Pixar, in this critic's opinion, are nothing less than the finest animation producers in the world. I'd definitely be waiting for the DVD version of this movie, squeaking with excitment...

Storyboard (10 out of 10)
Very entertaining story which develops at the right pace to introduce each of the characters well. The rats, albeit lovable, are still protrayed as pesky rodents and even though ended up being one man's best friend, was not acceptable by humans at large. So it's highly educational and highly entertaining. However, I would think the subliminal moral of the story, i.e. "live your dreams", and "everyone can do anything if they set their mind to it", can only be grasped by older kids. Younger kids should be able to grasp the simple yet often reiterated message which is, "Don't STEAL!"

And I think the director and writer, Brad Bird, have done a good job in introducing France, the French and of course the art of fine French cuisine. Adults, like me, stand to be "inspired" to cook even though I have not cooked a proper meal in my life.

Overall, it's an extremely exciting and fun-filled movie and I hardly felt the 110 minutes of the movie. And very good for educating/inspiring children/chefs wannabes. Can't say the same for Bryan (5 years old) though. He was quite afraid of all the violent attempts at killing the lovable rat.

Special effects/Graphics/Cinematography (9 out of 10)
Pixar never fails to impress me with their near-to-reality animation but yet preserving the "cartoonish" elements in their characters. A extremely creative production, which introduces to us a different perspective to this world;a mouse-eye-view so to squeak, err.. speak.

Lessons/Issues (9 out of 10)

1) Dont steal, no matter what, not even if you are hungry. Even if you are hungry or there'll be devastating consequences i.e. losing your job and losing the trust of others.

2) You can be whoever you aspire to be, despite your size or your origin or what everyone else is doing or says you should be doing..... Follow your dreams and you are what your heart and soul wants you to be.

3) Change is nature. You can change the future or how things are working naturally now, if you set your heart and soul to it. If you believe you can do it, you can. (In conjunction with hte upcoming Independence or Merdeka Day, Malaysia Boleh!)

4) There are certain forces of nature which are difficult to change, i.e. relationships between human and rats. As such, in order to implement the change, a forceful massive implementation, which disregard the forces of nature, often does not work (as seen in the closure of Gusteau Restaurant after rats infestation). A more subtle change tactic; a slow introduction and convincing the right people (the critic perhaps), should be employed.

5) Rat killing can be quite brutal, and humans are quite capable of such brutality. However, not all humans subject to such brutality and we can even try to trust our worse enemies and perhaps strike a harmonius and fruitful joint venture, by tapping on each other's strength.

6) Everyone can cook. (But that doesn't mean, everyone should).

7) It's difficult for women to earn a place in the "real" kitchen due to sex discrimination, and we should respect the women chefs.

8) Do not be a villian and try to cheat others. Villians never wins. Heroes and hard work prevails.

9) You can never stay on top for very long by taking other's credit. Sooner or later, people will find out and you'd be happier if you come clean and tell the truth. (Courage shown by Linguini in owning up that it was the Rat who possess the cooking talent and not him.)

Casting (NA)
Understandably, it's a cartoon and I can't rate the casts based on their animated representatives. So this category is not applicable this time. But I must say, the voices brings a lot of live to the ever lovable characters. Very good soundtrack too. I just love French songs, they sound very romantic.

Overall grading = B+ (28 out of 40)
A very fun and entertaining movie for all ages. Catch it on the big screen to enjoy the rich colour, sights and sounds. Be inspired by all the fine foods and art of fine culinary... Excuse me now, I am popping over to my French friend's house to satisfy my hunger for some Ratatouille...

Scoring Guide:
31-40 A
21-30 B
11-20 C
1-10 D

Note: all pictures are sourced from http://www.imdb.com