Jurassic World [IMAX/3D]

This movie is a conundrum. A fairly entertaining film that was poorly written, directed, acted and, sadly, scored. And yet, it will surely draw in the crowd. Mad Max: Fury Road is still the reigning champion of this Summer.

Even for someone like me who had never watched a single piece of trailer, teaser or seen a still from the film, there was nothing throughout its 124 minutes running time that shocked me, awed me or left me impressed. The best moment was when John William's iconic Jurassic Park score played in the beginning, and even there it was more nostalgia than anything else.

And therein laid the problem. Nostalgia.

Director Colin Trevorrow and cinematographer John Schwartzman tried, but nothing on screen captured the magic, wonder, fear, trepidation, surprise, triumph and awe of Spielberg's original.

The shallow script by Trevorrow et al certainly added nothing to the mix. The plot and contrivances were acceptable - ludicrous but acceptable - but the characters were all so poorly written and the dialogue were even worse: clunky and cheap. They really were mining for the lowest common humour.

Furthermore, they committed the biggest sin in movie making: show not tell, and to make it worse, they not only told, they rambled. Gosh, their target audience must be really dumb.

Trevorrow went too big. One of the key things that made Jurassic Park so successful were that we cared for the characters - yes, even the annoying girl. But here, the focus were not on the humans but clearly on the spectacle of the dinosaurs.

It actually bordered on being smartly meta - but I doubt they actually wanted that.

Oh, and way too much blatant and in-your-face product placements. It bordered on obscene.

But having well written characters was one thing, getting the actors to be the characters were another. Laura Dern and Sam Neil and Jeff Goldblum effectively became household names after Jurassic Park. We cared that they survive. We related to them.

Trevorrow did not coax such performances from his cast.

When Star Lord met The Kingpin, you wished something will just eat them up to end the moment.

Chris Pratt became a star after Guardians of the Galaxy, but this film is not doing him another favour. He should be glad that he signed a multi-film contract with Marvel. He excels in comedy, and comedy-action, but definitely not when otherwise. And obviously the director and writers did not know how to capitalise on his strength. Poor guy was really just strutting and putting on macho poses and giving his hero-stare.

Bryce Dallas Howard was no better. Joss Whedon was right. This movie is sexist. Howard had no real purpose other than to be the romantic interest of Pratt.

Ever since Daredevil, I look at Vincent D'Onofrio differently, but here he is such a cartoon villain. One dimensional, exposition-spouting villain.

The two children, Ty Simpkins and Nick Robinson, had a bond that should have been explored more. They offered a few of the better moments, but they were short and fleeting. And neither were really engaged with the audience.

As aforementioned, the stars here are the dinosaurs and not the characters. However, like the mantra of the film's theme park itself, it seemed that bigger = better. Not really.

It is sad when even the climatic big battle at the end did not engage the adrenals as much as it could.

And even sadder was that this was possibly one of Michael Giacchino's poorest score. It was distracting more often than not, and even his end credits suite paled in comparison to what he did for Cloverfield.

Having said all that, this movie should be watched on a big screen and in 3D. IMAX would be even better. But the extra cost will be harder to justify. Children would definitely love it.

They are so obviously planning for a sequel. Please make it better.

I am going to go listen to John William's score now.

The Whispers

Pilot: ABC's new Spielberg TV production has promise, and definitely more potential than his last few ventures. Remember The River? But yet, they all clearly carry some of his trademarks: moderate-to-large sized cast with child actors and involving the supernatural/alien/paranormal. The adults led by a convincing Lily Rabe (wasted on AHS after her star-making turn on AHS:Asylum), with the Barry Sloane who seemed like the straight man here, I am an actor not just a pretty face Milo Ventimiglia whose character is the most intriguing, and Joss Whedon alum Kristen Connolly who I hope is not just here to repeat her horror-Virgin role. The children seemed passable with Harper the creepiest and Henry the cutest (do you think Henry's and Connolly's red hair are linked?). The show is sufficiently creepy but could definitely be more stylish and not as brightly lit to really bring out the effect (that scene where they encountered the strange structure was a good example). But, like Wayward Pines, it is the mystery - who/what is Drill and what does he/she/it want? - that hooked us in and here's hoping it can sustained it through the summer season.

Episode 2, "Hide & Seek": The always doubting partner needs to go. He's more annoying than useful. Drill is still mysterious but they need to give us a bit more breadcrumbs with regards to its origin. Same for Ventimiglia's backstory. Rabe is watchable but the rest of the cast not so much. The domestic problems of Wes and Kristen Connoll's character is annoying. At least we got a Ventimiglia shower scene, but he needs a haircut. 

Mad Max: Fury Road

Update (9 July 2015): Caught it again on IMAX 3D, and - boy! - it was worth it! IMAX was spectacular and the 3D really added to the depth of the cinematography. The action scenes were still just as exhilarating!

A bit late to the show, but this was a great film, even if measured beyond a Summer blockbuster yardstick! This film was exhilarating, exciting and gorgeously stylish throughout its whole 120 minutes which was barely felt.

George Miller has a very interesting eye for the visuals and action choreography. He and cinematographer John Seale created many gorgeously sumptuous images with both wide-angled and close-ups. The intense action scenes barely let up from start to end, and it is to Miller's credit that none of the sequences were messy. And this was also despite the tonally similar palette.

Kudos also to Junkie XL for the music. The drums and bass really enhanced the adrenaline pumping thrills from the screen.

The story - also by Miller - was deceptively simple and yet believable. The narrative punctuates the action in this instance and not the other way around, and when it slows down, it was never boring or tedious. Miller made full use of each downtime to forward the story/characters - even the kooky love-story.

But all that would be for naught if Miller did not have an excellent cast to start with, and one requirement the main cast seemed to have was that their eyes must be expressive. There was minimal dialogue in this films - not much time for talking amidst all the action.

Tom Hardy brood his way throughout and though with minimal lines, we are actually able to empathise with him.

This movie was really more about Charlize Theron's story. It is like a Mad Max vignette where our titular hero stumbled into another protagonist's life. Theron was pretty and tough and ably held her own.

Nicholas Hoult has one of the bluest eyes in the industry, and those definitely held him to stand out. Even Rosie Huntington-Whitely had her best role in this movie.

But definite standout was Hugh Keays-Byrne as the antagonist. He and his crazy-eyes!

This would have been excellent on an IMAX screen and 3D may or may not add value.

Best overall movie of the summer! Yes, I think it was better than Avengers: Age of Ultron.

Tomorrowland

Tomorrowland may be one of the biggest disappointments of Summer 2015. A visually stunning movie by Brad Bird who clearly had big visions for the story that he wants to tell, but unfortunately, Damon Lindelof (and Jeff Jansen) came along and Prometheus-ed it to where Lost now lays and wither.

The good thing about this movie is the potential that it had from the moment it starts. A great opener and a brilliant choice by Bird to start the movie with a double prologue. The black box mystery was established early - the concept itself interesting though not highly original - and the audience’s imagination was tickled.  

Bird’s directing, Michael Giachhino’s score and Claudio Miranda’s cinematography really brought Tomorrowland to life, and there were a few set pieces that were truly impressive. Britt Robertson is the modern Disney heroine – more in the vein of Katniss Everdeen – and an excellent protagonist for us to root for. It was established early that she was special and we were aching to know why as we follow her on this journey.

But as the movie progressed, the laziness of the storytelling pervaded into everything and the movie looked lethargic. It all went downhill when George Clooney was formally introduced. 

Okie, maybe about 10 minutes after he was formally introduced.

From then onwards, the narrative became a mess. Nothing gets explained. 

It was as if the First Act was a completely different movie from the Second and Third. Think of it as World War Z in reverse, except that there is no Drew Goddard here to save the plot.

It did not help that when the action slowed down, the dialogue was clunky and expository-heavy with Lindelof and Bird trying to be quippy, but they are not Joss Whedon.

Clooney has always been a one-dimensional actor and cannot really act beyond roles that are not quintessentially him. All he did here was to shout his line, and perhaps if he shouted them loud enough we may be convinced of the feasibility of Lindelof’s house of cards.

We should have had a buddy sci-fi movie with more Raffey Cassidy’s Athena and Robertson’s
Casey solving the mystery.

Like Prometheus this was a stylish movie with a director that clearly had a vision and the chops but betrayed by a bad script (just so happened that it is again by Lindelof).

Poltergeist

A scare-less horror movie that paled in comparison to the original.

This was a remake that basically just updated the story to the 21^st century: with Apple products, flat screen TVs and drones. However, it lacked the creepy atmospheric feeling of the 1982 original and the few scares that it had was due to jump cuts and the always effective clown-dolls.

The trailer of Insidious III that played before the movie had more scares than this movie itself.

The clown-poster above is also scarier than anything in the movie, which is kind of sad considering that it's about poltergeist and not scary-possessed clowns.

The original movie itself was scary because of the build-up to the capture of the youngest girl, but in this update, there were barely any hauntings in the beginning, and we were told the background to the house almost straight-up.

Poor Sam Rockwell seemed almost as exasperated as us in dealing with the whole situation; Rosemarie DeWitt too.

There were many made-for-3D shots but I do not think even those moments would have added to the appeal of the movie.  

Ex Machina

An original sci-fi movie not in its concept but in its smart narrative and storytelling, and bolstered by great acting from its three principle casts: Domhnall Gleeson, Alicia Vikander and Oscar Isaac.

Alex Garland’s script was interesting and fascinating and leads us to question certain aspects of ourselves, our roles in society now and in the future, and the role of technology in our life. It is not a new concept but the storytelling behind Ex Machina was intriguing.

As a director, Garland has a very stylish aesthetics but the narrative could have been tighter with more focus placed on the “inventor” or the “sessions”. Although kudos for the design and filming of Ava without looking overly CGI.

The title of the movie itself is also a glib choice, playing both to the literal meaning as well as to the missing component of the more common phrase: deus ex machine. And in this case, even the missing God is a double-edged sword.

Gleeson is really going places and once Stars Wars VII hit the screen, his star may just get brighter besides all these indie flicks like Frank and Anna Kerenina, although he seemed to be getting typecast for the moment.

Which is the opposite for Isaac with his very different roles in the critical darlings InsideLlewyn Davis and A Most Violent Year. However, like Gleeson, Isaac has Stars Wars VII and X-Men: Apocalypse on the horizon, and I hope he will still keep doing these smaller, indie films. His maniacal portrayal here was instantly mysterious and creepy but never really evil.

Vikander is another rising star and a co-star of Glesson in Anna Kerenina. Her portrayal of Ava was surprisingly tender and believable, even all the way to the end, she leaves us with the question: Is she an AI?

With these three thespians having had acted opposite each other before, the chemistry was clearly evident and really an inspired casting choice.

Kingsman: The Secret Service [SQ Inflight Entertainment]

This was a fun and entertaining romp as long as Colin Firth was on screen, with great action choreography and snappy British quips.

It started off mildly campy but always had its British tongue firmly in cheek, even Samuel L Jackson was besides his usual bad-ass self and brought his game along for the ride. Jack Davenport had a small but highly entertaining role, and Mark Strong remained grossly undervalued.

The action sequences by Matthew Vaughn was very well directed especially Firth’s big show down at the end of the Second Act. Someone needs to make Firth the next Bond when Daniel Craig steps down.

Firth has the best suits in the house. Double-breasted suits are going to make a comeback. But, anyways, Firth has the amazing ability to be funny and yet keep that serious British façade going. This kind of suave, Bond-ish roles, with a side of humour and wry, is made for him – more so than the serious, Oscar-baiting roles which he too tackles with aplomb.

Taron Egerton played the young recruit and although he was interesting enough, not enough time was spent to develop his character to make him a strong character to anchor the Third Act, nor make his final show down climatic enough

A fun ride that would have been worth it to watch on a big screen.