Aladdin

Aladdin was entertaining and yet, inoffensively bland. There was nothing shining, shimmering splendid about the film except, surprisingly, for Will Smith's Genie, and Alan Menken's timeless score/music. Smith - as terrifying as it was to see him all in blue - both honoured Robin William's indomitable Genie and absolutely made it his own. He was a constant highlight.

Sadly, the rest of the film failed to deliver a fantastic point of view or showed us a a dazzling place that we never knew. The overall production value looked cheap, with CGI and production designs that would not looked out of place on network TV (too much budget spent on Smith's Genie?). Seriously, at times, it felt like I was watching a slightly glossier version of the late (and under-appreciated) Galavant.

Actually Galavant might actually have been more fun in total.

Guy Ritchie was an odd choice to direct this live-action musical. He excelled in the action sequences but failed to effectively capture the dramatic and emotional beats. The first act was a slow drag of exposition and it did not help that Ritchie's two leads, Mena Massoud and Naomi Scott, had barely any chemistry together which just made that first half-hour or so very tedious.

Massoud was bland and lacked the charisma and wide-eyed charm which was so abundant in the animated Aladdin. The Aladdin here just did not feel like he deserves to get the girl.

Scott fared better with a meatier role now updated for the millennium and was also blessed with the better voice. However, her new solo felt shoehorned in as a blatant attempt to be relevant. Although, that being said, this film still grossly failed the Bechdel Test.

The film picked up considerably when Genie appeared. Phew! Smith was brilliant, and this was perhaps his best role in years! He did the impossible with his iteration of Genie: the spectre of Robin Williams was not to be seen; Williams influence his undeniable but Smith's Genie was all his own.

It was great to see a Disney and Hollywood film with a representative cast where the only white dude was Billy Magnussen (who seems to be the go-to actor when casting for a handsome white himbo). However, the diversity ended right there. It would have been more appropriate to have a non-white director at the helm (and co-writing in this case) especially if there were going to be even more cultural misappropriation with the Bollywood-esque sequences and overall aesthetics.

Imagine what this film would have looked like if Gurinder Chadha (of Bend It Like Beckham and the upcoming Blinded by the Light) or Mira Nair (Monsoon Wedding and Queen of Katwe) were directing it instead of Ritchie.

Nonetheless, Menken's music was superb. The timeless tunes with Tim Rice and Howard Ashman remained timeless, although Massoud's vocals did his tunes no justice (and honestly neither did Zayn Malik and Zhavia Ward's over-wrought version of A Whole New World over the end-credits). And the new tunes, written with Pasek & Paul (of La La Land fame) fitted well into the musical framework.

In the end, Aladdin never really transported you to Agrabah. It was a 128-minutes entertainment that just makes you feel a bit nervous about Lion King and even more terrified for The Little Mermaid.

Godzilla: King of the Monsters [IMAX/3D]

This film was the definition of bad writing, illogical plotting, over-acting - on top of bad acting! - and  terrible directing, but if you go in expecting all that, accept it and then embrace it, the monsters will make it worth it. The kaiju fights were spectacular, loud, exciting, dynamic - if only a touch messy (which could also have been aggravated by the 3D-induced dimming) - and actually satisfying. Take away the distracting humans and their nonsensical, boring storyline, cut the running time by 20% and it might actually give Pacific Rim: Uprising (not the original!) a run for its money.

Michael Dougherty directed and co-wrote Godzilla: KOTM and maybe they should have let Gareth Edwards, who directed the 2014 Godzilla, continued on the franchise. Dougherty, and his cinematographer Lawrence Sher, had some great shots, especially when they go wide, but otherwise, his penchant for extreme close-ups were bordering on comical and ridiculous. He ain't no Barry Jenkins.

And as the director/writer, there should absolutely be no excuse for the total disregard for logic and sensibility on translation from script to screen. Furthermore, it was inexcusable to execute, and edit a film, to the point where the suspense of belief becomes so stark that it takes the audience out of the experience.

There really was no reason why we should be interrupted from a massively entertaining kaiju fight to indulge in some hollow, over-wrought, predictable, badly written and over-acted excuse for human drama.

Which then brings us to the actors.

Kyle Chandler is a treasure, but it seems that his talent may be more suited to the small screen than the big. This was possibly one of his worse acting showcase ever. He deserves a Razzie for this. Absolutely over-acting in every scene and moment, with nary an ounce of believable emotion. Come on, this is the guy that gave us Coach Taylor! He deserves way better than this.

Then we have Vera Farmiga. She got lost after Up in the Air, was briefly shining again in Bates Motel, but after that series ended, she seemed to have gotten lost and misplaced again. What a waste of another talent here. Although Farmiga did not overact, and did her best with the material, her character was too thinly written for her to really sink her teeth into.

Lastly, of the main cast, was Millie Bobby "Eleven" Brown who simply reprised aspects of her Stranger Things character. Also, her character just make narrative - rather than logical - choices. Why?!

Asian superstars Ken Watanabe and Zhang Ziyi were relegated to supporting roles that served purely as expository vehicles. But the former at least had a more defined purpose, whereas poor Zhang was relegated to the now-ubiquitous, token China actor. Worse still, a scene with her and Chandler at the end of the third act was so painfully misogynistic that it actually felt rude - bordering on vulgar - and should put Dougherty on every feminist's blacklist.

And, are we seeing a trend here about the female characters in this film? Female actors take note.

Oh, and Sally Hawkins too (not going to say much here...cos spoilers). Just because Aisha Hinds is a colonel and leading the military charge does not make everything else right.

Bradley Whitford and Thomas Middleditch brought the laughs - more like sniggers - and Charles Dance brought some English villainous flare. The pay checks definitely helped.

But the stars of the film were really Godzilla and King Ghidorah. Godzilla definitely had more screen time here than in Edwards' original, and ironically that film's problem was it spending too much time with the humans. And King Ghidorah truly did look and feel scary.

The CGI effects were great and made it worth watching on the big screen. If it was filmed for IMAX it would have been even more spectacular. Coupled with Bear McCreary's propulsive score, the fight sequences really stood out. They were exciting and involved. But then, once we cut to the human drama sides, the large difference in film quality was even more painfully obvious. We really did not care for the humans.

So, in short, this film was not really worth the IMAX or 3D extra, but if you are looking for something silly and brainless but loud and entertaining, Godzilla: KOTM will be worth a watch. Do stay till the end for a post-credits scene!

Long Shot

Long Shot was a light, frothy and entertaining rom-com, but they sure do not make rom-coms like they use do. It knows it is a rom-com but had a fear of committing totally to the genre. The film was littered with rom-com tropes but always toed the line of either going all meta and genre-parodying or breaking new ground and going against the expected. 

Charlize Theron and Seth Rogen have great comedic chemistry, although their romantic chemistry was somewhat lacking. There were some really good laugh out loud moments, but they were more because of great, unexpected physical comedy by Rogen rather than smart, funny writing. The screenplay was the film's weakest link.. It was a bit too long, too uneven, too ambitious and unnecessarily political. If I wanted to watch a Trump-skewering political comedy/satire, I would watch re-runs of The Good Fight  or Veep.

Rogen is a good actor, but his character felt stereotypical and repetitive. He was a walking trope but he lacked the affable, self-deprecating charisma of Hugh Grant or  Tom Hanks. 

Theron is gorgeous and she has good comedic timing, but her plot line is so cliched and expected that after a while it felt less exciting. Go watch Billions instead if you want something similar but smarter.

The supporting cast was great but it was such a shame that June Diane Raphael and Lisa Kudrow were so under-utilised. And why in the world did they piled on such bad makeup on JDR? Worried that she will upstaged Theron? As for the guysm Ravi Patel, Bob Odenkirk, Andy Serkis and Alexander Skarsgard were also equally funny and they were fine in their limited role; no one really stole the show from our two leads.

Long Shot was a watchable film. I doubt it will be a part of the pantheon of memorable Hollywood rom-coms, but it was a good bit of distraction and counter-programming for -Avengers: Endgame.

Burning 버닝

Lee Chang-dong successfully and faithfully translated Haruki Murakami’s beautiful, poetic prose to the screen. 

A slow-burn psychological thriller / character study that weaved an ambiguous narrative with haunting imageries. There are cats, jazz, running and even a sprinkle of magical realism, but all yet grounded in Lee’s reality of KPop, societal isolation, the desolation of youth and the dichotomy of classes. 

Three actors held “Burning” together, and although Steve Yeun and Jeon Jong-seo were great in their role, especially the latter who had a haunting yet magnetic presence, it really was Yoo Ah-in’s story that Lee was telling and Yoo was exceptional. He was emotive without being exaggerating, and sincere without being superficial. And through the film, we do end up caring about him and for him.

Burning was possibly one of the best Murakami’s adaptation and rewarding for both fans of Murakami and cinephiles.

Avengers: Endgame

One word: Epic. Two words: Fan Service. 

Nonetheless, kudos to the Russo brothers and Kevin Feige for crafting a fitting finale that never felt at all like it was 3-hours long. An unabashed fan service final film that daftly balanced character work, action/CGI extravaganza, emotional drama and physical comedy. However, as epic as Endgame was, it was surprisingly a tighter ensemble drama than Infinity War. There were emotional payoffs that felt earned, although ultimately the story - and the storytellers - lacked the bravery to have more consequential narrative beats.

The film was neatly divided into three acts and each act could easily have been a movie unto itself. This was good in terms of structure and storytelling. It was clear, objective and succinct, but then it also resulted in briefer and narrower character arcs that did not allow non-major characters to be anything more than narrative devices or plot contrivances. And it was this that made the film felt fan service-y. But, this film/franchise was for the fans...we cannot deny that or complain about it.

Narratively, there were a couple moments that zigged when you'd expect it to zag, and that was surprising and rather well done. Initially, the story never actually went where you'd expect it to go (especially, if like me, you had been absolutely spoiler-free). However, by the end of the first act, things got more predictable - still fun, but predictable. And that predictability stayed till the end which dulled some of the more emotional beats. As aforesaid, nothing truly consequential or unexpected happened in the end.

There were lots of hero moments, and my fellow theatre-goers were great sports! Lots of whoops, claps, and ooooohs. But the best kick-ass moment happened at the final climatic scene. Woo hoo!

And as for the final battle, it was well-directed, and every hero got a chance to shine but...back to the beginning...fun, epic, predictable and inconsequential.

The three leads were ostensibly Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans and Chris Hemsworth and this film was essentially culmination of their respective films and the end of their story for this Phase of the MCU (or as Marvel calls it, the Infinity Saga). They get the most screen time and the most significant character developments, and it really did pay off for the fans. Especially for Iron Man and Thor, the Russo brothers honoured their history whilst forging a suitable ending to their arcs.

The second tier actors would be Mark Ruffalo, Paul Rudd, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner and surprisingly Karen Gillan. Johansson, Renner and to a lesser extent Gillan carried the heavier emotional weight of the film, whereas Ruffalo and Rudd (and Bradley Cooper's Rocket) were more comic relief. And that was a great balance.

Speaking of comedy, Hemsworth’s and Tessa Thompson’s comedic talent should really make the new Men in Black worth a watch!

These last two Avenger films were clearly different from the first two Joss Whedon entries. They got larger in scale and more epic, but smaller in character moments. And although Endgame tried to address it, eventually it still became a big comic book-wide, universe-wide, battle against the bad guy. The first Avengers film was more about a group of heroes learning to work together to defeat an intergalactic threat; this last film was about a group of heroes already working together to defeat an intergalactic villain. That slight difference altered the tone and dynamics of the films. 

In all, the Infinity Saga was an exciting experience with a satisfying conclusion. It will be exciting to see how the MCU continues on after this. Who will be anchoring the next Saga?

PS: There are no mid- or post-credits scenes...at last!

A Private War

This was the film and character that Rosamund Pike deserved to get nominated for an Oscar for. She should have been there along side Olivia Colman, Yerlitza Arpacio and Glenn Close (the other two - not naming names - not so much). 

A strong, ferocious portrayal of the equally strong and courageous Marie Colvin, Pike was magnetic. It was a vanity-free performance that was layered and nuanced and convincing. 

The biggest drawback however, was that director Matthew Heineman and writer Arash Amel chose to focus primarily on Colvin’s career and less on who she was and why she was how she was. Luckily, Pike managed to elucidate some of that of mystery through her interpretation and her performance, and we do get some sort of idea of the kind of person Colvin might have been in private. 

Jamie Dornan, Tom Hollander and Stanley Tucci rounded out the main men supporting Pike, and they all sparred with Pike to give her the moments to shine. 

Heineman’s film was tight, brisk and taut and Colvin’s story was told with little over the top dramatics or saccharine manipulations. But, nonetheless, the message of the film was clear. Thank you to all the journalists that do what they do. 

Thank you.

Vox Lux

An uneven film that was unsure of its purpose, does it want to be a satire about pop and celebrity culture or a family drama of two sisters or a social commentary about America and/or modern society? 

Director and co-writer Brady Corbet seemed to want to be experimental but the final product just ended up being unfocused. And was the Wilem Dafoe narration really necessary? Show, not tell...

However, Natalie Portman was magnificent! This was her film. 

Portman appeared in like a tornado in the second half and absolutely Black Swan-ed her way from start to end. With her, the film finally gained some momentum and even Corbet’s unnecessary and indulgent long takes were improved by having Portman owning the screen. 

Raffey Cassidy - as the young Portman and then her daughter - held her own in the first half, but she lacked the screen charisma of Portman. 

Jennifer Ehle, Jude Law and Stacey Martin rounded out the main cast. They supported Cassidy and the film in the beginning but were there really in service of the Cassidy’s character; with Portman, they raised their game and became proper characters and individuals. 

This was Portman’s film and truly one of her best performances. That finale, again unnecessary long by Corbet, was so brilliantly owned by Portman! She utterly deserved to have had some recognition for this phenomenal, alternative “A Star is Born” performance. If Lady Gaga could get Oscar noms, Portman and songwriter Sia were definitely snubbed. Unsurprising though, as this was a much harder film to sell and like.