G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra

This toy-based origins flick carries on in the vein of another Hasbro money-spinner, Transformers. Unfortunately, G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra may just make your brain quit your skull in disgust at another unbelievable combination of wooden acting, cheesy one-liners, and an eyebrow-raising plot line.

G.I. Joe’s traditional “Real American Hero” image has been watered-down in light of the generally unfavourable attitude towards Americans and their military. It's now a multinational branch of NATO, and the name itself is now an acronym for Global Integrated Joint Operating Entity. GIJOE are fighting against Cobra, an evil organisation headed by a Scottish arms dealer, and it’s a battle for these powerful self-replicating warheads called nano-bots.

We're not gonna lie, you don't watch this kind of film for the mind-blowing plot or Oscar-winning acting. This is a typical shoot-'em-up action flick. Just sit back and be inundated by explosion after ear-splitting explosion as badass advanced military weapons dispatch of the bad guys in sweet CG fashion and chicks in latex suits remind you why you parted with your RM11 in the first place.

It’s too bad that director Stephen Sommers (behind snore fests like B-grade horror film Deep Rising, Van Helsing and all The Mummy movies) had his hands on this project. However, if you’re on the verge of peeing your pants at the thought of awesome explosions and serious manliness, G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra isn’t a total loss, nor is it going to have you walking out of the theatre satisfied.

Cast Channing Tatum, Dennis Quaid, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marlon Wayans, Rachel Nichols, Sienna Miller Director Stephen Sommers Runtime 107 mins

Text Maybritt Rasmussen

This review can also be found over here on KLue's website.

Article taken from KLue Magazine Aug 2009, Issue 130

Up

It’s still rated G, but Up is Pixar’s most mature movie to date. Dealing with topics like death, aging, and shattered dreams, this is a perfectly-crafted animated film that doesn’t patronise kids and will keep adults entertained, the storyline is just that engaging.

Up starts with a quick flashback of 78-year-old balloon salesman Carl Fredricksen’s life, from an adventurous kid to marrying the love of his life, Ellie. We’re not spoiling anything here, but Carl eventually has to deal with his wife’s death and that’s when Up really blasts off into great storytelling.

Ed Asner injects a realistically heart-wrenching sense of unfulfilled desperation into Carl. Embarking on a last-ditch effort to make good on his wife’s lifelong dream of travelling to South America to build a home, Carl straps a bunch of balloons to his house and sets off on the adventure of his life. Meeting a host of hilarious and endearing characters along the way, from an optimistic 8-year-old wilderness explorer named Russell (Jordan Nagai) to a gormless talking dog called Dug (Bob Peterson), Up is a non-stop hoot.

With the combined creative forces of Academy Award-nominated director Pete Docter (Monsters, Inc.), Academy Award-nominated animator, screenwriter, director and voice actor Bob Peterson (Finding Nemo) and multiple award-winning Pixar Animation Studios, there’s a reason why Up was the first animated film to have ever opened the Cannes Film Festival. If you don’t catch this stunning film on the big screen, we guarantee you’ll be kicking yourselves later!

Cast Christopher Plummer, Edward Asner, Jordan Nagai, Bob Peterson Director Bob Peterson, Pete Docter Runtime 96 mins

This review can also be found over here on KLue's website.

Article taken from KLue Magazine Aug 2009, Issue 130

Text Maybritt Rasmussen

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

We’ve been shivering in anticipation for this one, the sixth and penultimate adaptation. Before we get ahead of ourselves, we’re just gonna lay it out for you right now: this movie kicks all the previous Potter flicks in the keister.

As Harry Potter and gang mature, it’s only natural that the material deepens and gets a little racier (we like!). We’re glad that Director David Yates didn’t tone down the wand-brandishing violence just for the whelps in the audience. The film's atmosphere is darker and more ominous as Lord Voldemort’s back-story is revealed.

You almost feel sorry for old Voldemort. He just can’t catch a break. As the troubled young Tom Marvolo Riddle, he's suffered the-makings-of-serial-killer childhood, he’s a Muggle (non-magical human), half-blood (something that the Nazi-esque Dark Lord clearly despises about himself) and he’s, well, practically noseless. It also doesn’t help that he was conceived under the effects of a love potion (which is supposedly what makes him unable to understand love).

This isn’t a problem for Harry Potter however, who’s fallen for his best friend’s little sister, Ginny Weasley. As school-related drama grows, so does Lord Voldemort’s power and Potter teams up with Professor Dumbledore to uncover the mysteries of Voldemort’s disturbing past in the hopes of discovering the evil wizard’s Achilles’ heel.

Fans of the Harry Potter books and films won’t need any convincing, but Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is arguably the best in the film series to date and deserves a big-screen audience.

Cast Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Tom Felton Director David Yates Runtime 153 mins

Text Maybritt Rasmussen

This review can also be found over here on KLue's website.

Article taken from KLue Magazine July 2009, Issue 129

Duplicity

Clive Owen, aka The Stuff of Fantasies, is back with regular on-screen companions Julia Roberts and Paul Giamatti. This is Roberts’ first leading role since 2004’s Closer with Owen.

Owen and Roberts are lovers in this quick-witted comedy that’s cleverly disguised as an espionage thriller. MI6’s Ray Koval (Owen) and the CIA’s Claire Stenwick (Roberts) meet, click, and promptly tumble into bed after an American Embassy to-do in Dubai. After Koval wakes up he realises his feisty lover has made off with secret codes he was supposed to deliver—whoops! Years later the pair cross paths again in a war between two rival pharmaceutical corporations over a revolutionary secret product.

Julia Roberts has undoubtedly lost some of her lustre after a string of one-note flicks, but her age is a moot point in Duplicity and this role could spell a comeback, depending on who you ask (those below 18 need not apply). Robert’s sexy, seasoned flair and repartee is more than a match for cool and collected Clive Owen in this romantic spy film. We won’t say anymore because the less you know the better. Guiltlessly hand over that RM11. The ticket price is worth the plot twist alone — promise!

Cast Carrie Preston, Clive Owen, Julia Roberts, Paul Giamatti Director Tony Gilroy Runtime 125 mins

Text Maybritt Rasmussen

This review can also be found over here on KLue's website.

Article taken from KLue Magazine July 2009, Issue 129

Ice Age 3

The irresistible computer-animated menagerie of Manny, Sid, Diego, Ellie and Scrat are back for the third installment of the Ice Age series. Produced by Blue Sky Studios, the same animation studio behind the previous Ice Age films as well as Robots (2005) and Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who! (2008), Ice Age 3 doesn’t miss a beat.

After the events of Ice Age: The Meltdown, the relationships between the unlikely friends change. Diego the sabre-toothed tiger (Denis Leary) is fed up with being treated like a “house cat.” Scrat, the bumbling sabre-toothed squirrel, finally shows interest in something other than his acorn when the foxy Scratte steals his attention away. Manny, voiced by comedian Ray Romano, and his outspoken girlfriend Ellie (Queen Latifah) await the birth of their first mini-mammoth.

The typically neurotic Manny gets even more wired as his nesting instinct go into overdrive. Ever-lisping Sid the ground sloth (John Leguizamo) also hopes to settle down and start a family of his own and he pilfers a clutch of eggs from an pristine tropical paradise to do so. Soon, Sid is the “mama” of an adorable brood of T-Rexes. It gets worse for Sid when his reptilian babies start chowing down on some hapless mammals. This awesome prehistoric romp gets two opposable thumbs up!

Cast Denis Leary, John Leguizamo, Queen Latifah, Ray Romano Director Carlos Saldanha

Text Maybritt Rasmussen

This review can also be found over here on KLue's website.

Article taken from KLue Magazine July 2009, Issue 129

Blood: The Last Vampire

Finally, a sword-wielding vampire halfling that’s not part of the flogged-to-death Blade universe. Welsey Snipes is going to be pissed because the fresh-faced Korean starlet Gianna Jun, AKA Jeon Ji-hyun of My Sassy Girl fame, kicks Blade to the curb with her foe-whacking samurai skills. As a grumpy vampire hunter, Saya’s also hotter and she doesn’t resort to shooting up drugs to quell her bloodlust.

Born to a human father and a vampire mother, Saya looks like a pretty normal 17-year-old girl but she’s a self-hating 400-year old loner hell-bent on ridding the world of pesky vampires! An American military base in post-WWII Tokyo is plagued by an infestation of vampires and Saya is sent by the mysterious organisation Red Shield to exterminate the blood-sucking vermin.

Between slaughtering the undead inhabitants of the base in a series of elaborate showdowns, Saya begins her path to humanity when she form her first human friendship in centuries with the daughter of the military base’s general. When her superhuman powers had seemed her only means to defeat Onigen, the evil matriarch of all vampires, Saya learns that her newfound ability for human connection may be her greatest power.

Based on the popular Production I.G anime film from 2000 of the same name, Blood: The Last Vampire is produced by Academy-Award nominee Bill Kong (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Hero, House of Flying Daggers, Curse of the Golden Flower) and directed by noted French commercial and music video director Chris Nahon (Kiss of the Dragon, Empire of Wolves). This anime-inspired flick is entirely in English so you won’t have to squint quizzically at lost-in-translation subtitles and miss all the gory on-screen carnage! Blood: The Last Vampire gets our fang-gnashing approval for its R-rated “strong, bloody stylised violence.”

Cast Allison Miller, Gianna Jun, JJ Field, Koyuki, Liam Cunningham, Masiela Lusha, Yasuaki Kurata Director Chris Nahon Runtime 89 mins

Text Maybritt Rasmussen

This review can also be found over here on KLue's website.

Article taken from KLue Magazine June 2009, Issue 128

The Ghosts of Girlfriends Past

Matthew McConaughey is back with his speciality: romantic comedy. McConaughey plays Connor Mead, a successful photographer and womaniser who’s crummy at love and totally unable to commit to a serious relationship. He’s been enjoying a good womanising run for years but things are about to change (duh).

Connor’s redemption comes in the form of adorably dimpled Jennifer Garner, who plays wholesome Jenny Perotti, Connor’s old flame. In the vein of Charles Dickens' classic A Christmas Carol, Connor is visited by the The Ghosts of Girlfriends Past, (Emma Stone), Present (Noureen DeWulf) and Future (Amanda Walsh) at a momentous event — the wedding of his younger brother, played by Breckin Meyer.

At this turning point, the three ghosts take the womaniser on a requisite journey through his abysmal romantic history to awaken his moral sensitivity. About time, too. Feminists may cringe at this piece of celluloid fluff, but at least Connor morphs into a sensitive, commitment-hungry butterfly in the end, right?

From the director of such lighthearted romps as Freaky Friday and Mean Girls, the script for The Ghosts of Girlfriends Past fell into the right hands. Waters knows exactly who the audience is for his latest flick — women. Girlfriends are going to be heading to cinemas in droves for The Ghosts of Girlfriends Past and hapless boyfriends are certain to be dragged along whether they like it or not. This romantic comedy is unavoidable so submit to the inevitable and set aside that RM11.

Cast Breckin Meyer, Emma Stone, Jennifer Garner, Lacey Chabert, Matthew McConaughey, Michael Douglas Director Mark Waters Runtime 100 mins

Text Maybritt Rasmussen

This review is also found here on KLue's website.

Article taken from KLue Magazine May 2009, Issue 127

Monsters vs. Aliens

Confession: sometimes I didn't even watch the movie I "reviewed" because it's all in the press release. You simply have to rewrite it to suit your publication's tone and audience. You may not know this, but often the movie isn't yet available to watch when you're writing to meet a tight print deadline. You just have to work with what's available, unfortunately. I think the healthy pirated DVD industry in Malaysia has a lot to do with the limited advanced press screenings for films over here.

Since the inception of digitally animated films, animation giants Pixar and DreamWorks have made clean sweeps at the box office time and again without a single glitch (almost). DreamWorks Animation’s latest 3-D animated romp, Monsters vs. Aliens, has already proven successful with the biggest opening weekend for a film this year. This probably comes with a sigh of relief from DreamWorks execs after box office A-bombs Bee Movie and Flushed Away delivered mega-doses of consecutive failure.

On her wedding day, Susan Murphy (Reese Witherspoon) is hit by a meteorite infused with Quantonium, a powerful element that causes her to grow into a 50-storey-tall giantess. The government captures and imprisons Susan at a top-secret facility where other monsters (inspired by classic 1950s monster movies) are held. Hugh Laurie lends his smug British accent to Dr. Cockroach Ph.D, a mad scientist who accidentally transforms himself into a human-roach hybrid. B.O.B., a brainless, indestructible gelatinous mass is voiced by laid-back comedian Seth Rogan. The Missing Link (Will Arnett) is a Creature-from-the-Black-Lagoon-like humanoid amphibious fish, and the adorable, towering mutant larvae, Insectosaurus completes the team. When egomaniacal alien despot Gallaxhar (Rainn Wilson) lands on Earth to extract the rare Quantonium and conquer the world, the monsters are released to vanquish the evil overlord.

The all-star voice cast to Monster vs. Aliens is a selling point, but in total it only manages to check the “mildly entertaining” box. While it will appeal to kids and die-hard animated movie fans, for the rest of us, this flick is only worth watching for the visuals.

Cast Reese Witherspoon, Seth Rogen, Hugh Laurie, Will Arnett, Rainn Wilson, Kiefer Sutherland, Stephen Colbert, Paul Rudd Director Conrad Vernon, Rob Letterman Runtime 95 mins

Text Maybritt Rasmussen

This review can also be found on the KLue website here.

Article taken from KLue Magazine June 2009, Issue 128

Terminator Salvation

Just have to put this out there; Anton Yelchin is adorable! If he'd put on his Rrah-shun accent in this movie like in Star Trek, just... adorable times 75340856349 plus one kitten!

The film's Italian title is L'Inizio della fine or The Beginning of the End. What? Why? That sounds like it could be the title of a million other movies.

Anyway, on to the review!

Terminator Salvation shows humanity subjected to hardship and oppression by the artificial intelligence system, Skynet, due to its own unbridled ambitions. Both sequel and prequel to the previous three Terminator films, Terminator Salvation is set in post-apocalyptic Los Angeles.

The year is 2018, and John Connor, played by Christian Bale, is on his way to fulfilling his destiny to lead the human resistance against Skynet and its army of robot Terminators. The film also centers on a teenaged Kyle Reese, played by Anton Yelchin, and how he came to be who he was in the first Terminator film when he was sent back in time and (unknowingly) fathered John Connor. The film is set before Connor and his team of resistance soldiers managed to penetrate Skynet’s defense grid in 2029, instigating the sentient system to send the first Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger) back in time to 1984 to exterminate John’s mother before he can be born.

The latest addition to the Terminator universe is the character Marcus Wright, a resistance soldier whose last known memory is of being on death row. It is later discovered that he is a decommissioned Terminator and Connor must decide whether Marcus is a destroyer from the future or a saviour from the past. Bale was director McG’s first choice to play John Connor, calling him “the most credible action star in the world right now.” Though Bale originally declined, the actor agreed after director McG refined the script with Jonathan Nolan (who collaborated on the screenplays for The Prestige and The Dark Knight with his brother, the director Christopher Nolan) to the point where Terminator Salvation could be compelling without special effects.

But with a host of new robots to torment humanity like towering harvesters that grab and collect people, to waterborne hydrobots and airborne aerostats, Terminator Salvation has some fearsome CGI essentials. Forget the painfully transparent perversion that was Terminator 3, the fourth installment is a redeeming must-see.

Cast Anton Yelchin, Bryce Dallas Howard, Christian Bale, Sam Worthington Director McG Runtime 130 mins

Text Maybritt Rasmussen

This review is also over here on KLue's website.

Article taken from KLue Magazine May 2009, Issue 127

Angels & Demons

Although the bestselling novel by Dan Brown, Angels & Demons is the prequel to The Da Vinci Code, director Ron Howard chose to film it as a sequel to the 2006 Hollywood blockbuster. Tom Hanks reprises his role as Harvard professor of “symbology,” Robert Langdon. The brooding professor flies to Italy to unlock the secret of 400-year-old symbols that mark the Vatican’s only hope for survival from the threat of a secret brotherhood known as the Illuminati.

Like The Da Vinci Code, the Vatican may call for a boycott of Angels & Demons due to perceived anti-Catholic sentiment in the film. Controversy may help the film’s popularity. The storyline of the sequel corresponds to that of The Da Vinci Code and employs similar themes, often to the point of monotony. Once again, Langdon is hot on the murder trail of a comely co-star’s relative who has ties to a dangerous underground organisation. Parellelling the first film, with Audrey Tatou as the female lead, the second film has Italian physicist Vittoria Vetra, played by Israeli actress, Ayelet Zurer, working with Langdon after her physicist father is murdered.

Together they discover a plot to murder four cardinals. Even worse, a nuclear device is hidden in St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican City and Langdon and Vetra embark on an action-packed race against time, through all manner of deadly situations, to stop it from going off. Angel & Demons is more fast-paced than its predecessor, which you may appreciate if you found The Da Vinci Code long-winded. Fans of the first film and of Dan Brown’s entertaining novels should catch this film. For the rest of us, Angels & Demons is nothing to write home about.

Cast Ayelet Zurer, Ewan McGregor, Stellan Skarsgård, Tom Hanks Director Ron Howard Runtime 140 mins

Text Maybritt Rasmussen

This review can also be found on the KLue website over here.

Article taken from KLue Magazine May 2009, Issue 127

Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire

Naturally, Oprah was jumping all over this story, given her taste for moving dramas about African-Americans, in her excitement to put her "executive producer" stamp on this project. Based on a novel called Push by Sapphire, the film adaptation, Precious, makes the tragedies of a vulnerable 16-year-old girl accessible. It shows in detail the effects of a life of abuse on a human psyche. Push was written in Ebonics from the protagonist, Claireece "Precious" Jones', point of view and is rife with spelling and grammatical errors. It's sometimes so incredibly difficult to decipher, that the heavy use of Ebonics took away from the plot. Fortunately, the film version is more conscious of the problems with the novel's baffling vernacular style and, as a result, a powerful story soars effortlessly out of the cesspit of Precious' pitiful life.

In fact, Precious, played by newcomer, Gabourey “Gabby” Sidibe, says relatively little in her faltering voice throughout the film, but when she does, her thoughts and emotions come pouring out, eager to escape the gloomy Harlem tenement where she lives with her heartless mother, played by Mo'Nique. On the margins and underloved, every imaginable hardship is thrown her way, even in the literal sense when Precious’ mother hurls a glass and a TV at her. Precious plods slowly through the film; seemingly going through the motions of life before her final push for change when she takes her two children and heads for a better life.

Sapphire clearly wasn’t happy with just a few measly dramatic situations. It's as though she chucked everything she could think of into the mix for good measure (just in case you weren't shocked enough). Precious is black, pregant, insecure, obese, illiterate and living on welfare in Harlem. At home, she is abused by her embittered mother and repeatedly raped by her father. Sexually abused by him from a young age, she has two of his children, one of which has Down’s syndrome. If all that weren’t enough, Precious contracts HIV from her father, who dies not long after her second child is born. Despite all her suffering, Precious emerges with a mature, respectful consideration for life born from the love she has for her two children, the support of caring individuals and her undying dreams.

Though Precious sometimes seems to be over-wrought with intense drama just to be controversial and gripping, if this film doesn’t win several Oscars there might be something wrong with the system. Gabourey and Mo’nique particularly deserve some serious accolades for their craft.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

Wolverine’s a man’s man and the ladies love him for it. Lifted from the action-packed pages of Marvel Comics, the superhero was brought to the big screen in 2000 with the Hollywood blockbuster X-Men.

After his introduction to comic fans in 1974, the troubled mutant has always been a popular comic book character. Wolverine’s got his demons much like DC Comics' Batman. Unlike the Caped Crusader, however, with his butler and dough-assisted crime fighting toys, Wolverine’s abilities are all his own, save for the adamantium bonded to his skeleton. Wolverine’s mutant abilities include heightened senses, enhanced physical capabilities, retracting bone claws and accelerated healing, which would probably make good old Bruce Wayne jealous.

It was widely thought that the first X-Men film may be too “Wolverine-centered,” so it was about time that this feral hunk got some quality screen time to flex his claws. Wolverine was born as James Howlett but is commonly known as Logan. Played by Hugh Jackman in the X-Men film trilogy, Jackman reprises the role in this prequel. Fans will be glad to know that Logan’s backstory is revealed, from his dysfunctional childhood to his time in as a soldier in 'Nam. The film introduces Logan’s half-brother and fellow soldier, Victor Creed, who will later become Sabretooth through the same Weapon X program Logan undergoes.

Logan rejects the violent life of a special ops soldier and retires to the Canadian wilderness with his girlfriend for a quiet life as a lumberjack. As expected, this doesn’t last long. Sabretooth kills Logan’s girlfriend and the perpetually pissed off Wolverine we know from the sequels is born. Directed by the Academy Award-winning director of Tsotsi, this film is worth the RM11 ticket. If not for Wolverine’s fascinating tale, then for the dynamic Wolverine-versus-Sabretooth fight scenes.

Cast Dominic Monaghan, Hugh Jackman, Liev Schreiber, Ryan Reynolds Director Gavin Hood Runtime 120 mins

Text Maybritt Rasmussen

You can also find this review here.

Article taken from KLue Magazine May 2009, Issue 127

He's Just Not That Into You

The relationship advice book penned by Greg Behrendt and Liz Tuccillo He’s Just Not That Into You has spawned a legion of avid followers. If you count Oprah Winfrey as one of your readers and if, like Behrendt, you’ve appeared on her talk show, you know you’ve made it into the big leagues.

Behrendt got the idea for his book as a writer for HBO’s runaway hit, Sex and the City. From a TV series that empowered women to a book that urges women to see the light in dead-end relationships, it was only a matter of time before this piece of chick-flick fodder hit the big screen. Urging women to nip toxic relationships in the bud, the on-screen version of the book is accurate.

The headings of the book pop up on black-and-white title cards throughout the film—“he’s not calling you,” “he’s sleeping with someone else,“ “he’s not marrying you.” It sure is one way to get someone’s attention. However, rather than appearing trite and pedantic, the title cards segue nicely to short interviews with “real” people on the aforementioned topic before the cut into the next scene.

Gigi, played by Ginnifer Goodwin, assumes the central role, aided by Alex, played by Justin Long, her self-appointed relationship guru. Gigi is unlucky in love and she drifts from one lousy date to the next, with Alex giving her advice from the sidelines. Beth and Neil (Aniston and Affleck) are the couple with a great relationship, but no ring because Neil doesn't believe in marriage. Beth is left wondering whether she should just high-tail it out of there and quick. After all, as Behrendt said on Oprah, “You can dig them. But if you're not spending time with them all the time—they're not into you.”

As usual, Aniston and Affleck act woodenly; lucky for them it works with their characters. Together with the rest of the star-studded cast, just about every bad relationship is explored. You should catch this fresh romantic comedy if only to see the talented Jennifer Connelly try her hand at comedy. He’s Just Not That Into You gets our thumbs-up!

Cast Ben Affleck, Jennifer Aniston, Drew Barrymore, Jennifer Connelly, Kevin Connolly, Bradley Cooper, Ginnifer Goodwin, Scarlett Johansson, Justin Long Director Ken Kwapis Runtime 129 mins

Text Maybritt Rasmussen

You can also find this review on the KLue website over here.

Article taken from KLue Magazine April 2009, Issue 126

Julie & Julia

This is my first non-KLue film review.

I immediately had high expectations for Julie & Julia when I first heard about it. After seeing snippets of it on E! as well as the actors' interviews, I was sold. A bit too easily perhaps but come on! Meryl Streep's starring in it so no other explanations are necessary. This woman attracts killer scripts like bugs to a massive, ponging Rafflesia flower (it smells like decomposing flesh so, sorry for that gross metaphor, Meryl Streep). Anyway, she didn't let me down with this film. Amy Adams, who plays Julie Powell, was also surprisingly good as the lovably frazzled and neurotic blogger, Julie Powells.

I've seen Adams in 2007's Enchanted and 2008's Doubt but I hardly recognised her in Julie & Julia. While she was charmingly fresh in both those films, she really comes into her own as Julie. I wrote her off in Enchanted because her dainty princess character is exaggerratedly frou-frou and naive, and I felt she was doomed to be typecasted in this kind of role forever. Actually, she still is - as the perpetually cute and innocent ingenue.

Then I saw Doubt, for which she was a best Supporting Actress Oscar nominee (work it!). While her role as Sister James is a major step up from ditsy Giselle in Enchanted, she kind of fades into the background as Meryl Streep's character, Sister Aloysius, jostles assertively into the foreground of your conciousness. You simply can't run, or hide, from this stern super-nun. Meek Sister James just gets lost, so you forget about Amy Adams.

Not so in Julie & Julia. I was just rooting for Adams the whole time. Every sympathetic nod and gentle smile of hers just sucked me in until I felt genuine compassion for this approachable little woman, Julie Powell, and her monumental task: to take on Julia Child's formidable cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, of 524 French recipes within one just year and blog about her journey.

The story cuts between Julia's enviable life in '50s Paris, learning to cook at the famed Le Cordon Bleu, and Julie's disillusioned life in the Noughties, living above a noisy pizzeria in Brooklyn, working a thankless cubical job while all her successful friends breeze past her. Julie's ambition to become a published writer changes her life when she takes the plunge and starts her blog, throwing her voice that she wants so badly to be heard out into cyberspace in the hopes that someone will care. And, of course, they do.

One scene which I think encompasses the generally optimistic tone of the film best is when Julie prepares a dinner of poached eggs for her husband and friend Sarah, then tries an "egg" egg for the first time in her life and loves it, to her surprise. Her wide-eyed gratitude to her hero, Julia Child, for opening up a new world of experiences to her is so sincere, and the wonderful thing about Adams is that she never overacts.

"Do you think Julia knows about you?", Sarah asks expectantly.

"I wish. I have this fantasy that she comes for dinner and I show her my new lemon zester," Julie says. "We become very close," she adds with a tiny conspiratorial smile, playfully wiggling in her seat, relishing the thought, before forking another mouthful of poached egg into her mouth, chewing thoughtfully as her smile falls away.

"The truth is, no one knows about me. I feel like I'm just sending things out into this giant void."

You see Julie, insecure and reliant, hoping that her ambitious culinary mission will give her what she's looking for - a deeper sense of accomplishment and self-worth. So, she doesn't give up.

All the images of deliciously rich French food, themes of hope and perserverence as well as the inspiring human relationships between Julie, Julia, and their supportive husbands, makes Julie & Julia DVD a perfect Christmas stocking stuffer. I don't think I could recommend anything more.

Christmas is in 13 days, then it's 2010! The older I get the faster time seems to go by. How disconcerting, *checks fearfully for wrinkles and crepiness*

I hope there's a movie solely about Julia Child's life in the near future. I'd also love to own a first edition copy of her autobiography, My Life in France. It was published posthumously in 2006.

Ooh, there's one at AbeBooks for USD$95, not including shipping. An early Christmas present to myself, perhaps?

Confessions of a Shopaholic

I'm happy to say that this isn't one of my shittier film reviews. Maybe because I actually watched this one -_- However, the problem is that IT'S FULL OF SPOILERS and it's too farking LAWWWWNG! I'm not entirely embarrassed by it, but what was I thinking?

Okay, okay, not much.

Confessions of a Shopaholic would make Warren Buffet, and the rest of those feeling the recession burn, groan in anguish. Rebecca Bloomwood, played by Isla Fisher, personifies what got America (and the rest of us by proxy) into the current mess in the first place—greed. She’s just lost her job and she’s over $16,000 in debt, but rather than curb her exorbitant spending she just cannot resist buying a silly green scarf. The CGI mannequin lures her into parting with non-existent dough with flattering words, but being a so-called shopaholic is no excuse for Rebecca’s irresponsible behaviour! She should have taken a good look at herself and cut up all her credit cards on the spot but, of course, then there wouldn’t be a story. She unwisely attempts to use her multiple credit cards at the cashier, but when one is declined and she can’t quite pay for the scarf, she runs to a hot dog stall and cuts the line, all to exchange a cheque for cash. This is when the plot starts to get eye-rollingly predictable.

A handsome guy in the line gives her the $20 she needs, so he can get service. Obviously, this isn’t the only reason as he clearly appreciates Rebecca’s good looks. What’s irritating about the gesture, is that it stereotypes women as damsels in distress and men as their economic saviors, which is highlighted again later. She desperately wants a job as a writer at Vogue-esque fashion magazine Alette, but she loses out to the long-legged beauty Alicia Billington, played by Leslie Bibb. The secretary feels sorry for Rebecca and tells her about a job opening at another magazine, Successful Saving. Less glamorous though it is, Rebecca needs the money and she goes for the interview.

The editor turns out to be the same guy she met at the hotdog stand, Luke Brandon, played by Hugh Dancy. Despite the in-your-face irony, she gets the job due to a mix up and she starts a popular financial advice column called "The Girl in the Green Scarf." She begins to live a lie so she can fit in, going so far as to call the insistent debt collector Derek Smeath a stalking ex-boyfriend. Even though he’s just doing his job, he’s painted as the bad guy while Rebecca gets off lightly when Smeath outs her on television. As expected, all is forgiven. The film should have been titled Confessions of a Selfish, Impulsive Woman Who Doesn’t Deserve That Get Out of Jail Free Card.

What kind of message does this send out? Not a good one. The ending was even changed to throw in some semblance of social consciousness during this economic downturn, but nothing makes up for Isla’s unconvincing acting and the bothersome story line. Even Patricia Field (stylist for Sex and the City and The Devil Wears Prada) often misses the mark with clothes like Rebecca’s hideous diarrhea-coloured teddy bear fur bolero. If anything, this movie urges you to think twice before spending RM11 on a movie ticket in the future.

Cast Isla Fisher, Hugh Dancy, Joan Cusack, John Goodman, John Lithgow, Kristin Scott Thomas, Leslie Bibb Director P. J. Hogan Runtime 104 mins

Text Maybritt Rasmussen

This review can also be found here.

Article taken from KLue Magazine April 2009, Issue 126

The Beginning

I'm so excited to have started this blog! After my abortive attempt at writing a blog about my life entirely in Italian, (for practice, lah) my new direction is rather narrow: films. I'll probably still end up rambling verbosely all over the place. In the process I hope I don't sound like a self-obsessed asshole. Anyway, I think it'll be fun to write about movies because I have so many that I can say I've enjoyed (as well as detested so much I couldn't go on) but only have a cloudy memory of.

Thankfully I'm not hazarding into unfamiliar territory. Until the end of August this year I was working as an editorial assistant at Freeform Sdn. Bhd., a mid-sized media company in Kuala Lumpur, for a local lifestyle magazine called KLue (don't you love the sharp title?!). It's a perfect place to work. No lie. For my first real working experience I couldn't have asked for a better one. My colleagues, boss and editor were easy to get along with. I think it's also partly due to the attitudes of Malaysians in general. They are laid-back and a fair bit more friendly than Singaporeans.

What I hear most often from Malaysians is that Singaporeans are stuck up (please check out this blog post on the subject by a German, self-confessed "Asianophile"). While I usually put on a look of mock indignation at this view of Singaporeans, in a way, it's true. I think money and the differing obsessions with it is what changes Singaporean and Malaysian dispositions, even though we're only separated by the piddly Johor Strait. When I move back to Singapore on January 25 I hope I'll feel as comfortable working there as I have in KL.

I guess Singaporeans typically don't follow Suze Orman's moral mantra, "People first, then money, then things."

Suze's show on CNBC is electrifying to me. The way she gets serious, her animated hand gestures, her voice, her mania for people's FICO scores... she is the hottest lesbian financial guru ever!

Moving on, I'll post one old film review a day from the ones I've written for KLue until those are exhausted. For better or worse, no more self-censoring or necessary word counts in my new reviews!