REVIEW : Everest (2015)

There are many ways to die, and climbing up the highest mountain on earth is one way of upping those odds. You can't help but wonder: why would anyone want to resort themselves to those odds, why would anyone want to place themselves in a position where they'll be risking an awful death? As our main character says early in the film, "Human beings simply aren't built to function at the cruising altitude of a 747. Our bodies will be literally dying."

Well if you're going into Everest hoping to get an answer to the "why do people do it" question, you're not going to get it. If anything, Everest is just going to solidify that thought of never wanting to go near that mountain ever in your lifetime.

At one point though, journalist Jon Krakauer does ask that question. After the joking reply of the age-old answer of "because it's there", a few others do try and answer that question. And try is the word here. None of the replies feel satisfactory. And that's kindda what Everest is in a nutshell. The film doesn't quite hit the spot, it doesn't feel satisfying.

Everest recounts the tragedy that struck the mountain back in May 1996, a blizzard that eventually lead to the demise of eight lives, both guides and clients alike. Rob Hall (Jason Clarke) runs New Zealand-based Adventure Consultants that provides his clients with guided expeditions up Mt. Everest. On his team are Beck Weathers (Josh Brolin), a cocky Texan; Yasuko Namba (Naoko Mori), a tiny little Japanese woman who's on her way to conquer the last of the Seven Summits; Doug Hansen (John Hawkes), a quiet postman who has you constantly worried if he's ever going to make it; and of course, as mentioned before, John Krakauer (Michael Kelly) who was poached from Hall's business rival, Mountain Madness, that's lead by the laid-back, hippie-looking Scott Fischer (Jake Gyllenhaal).

The first half of the movie goes by fairly quickly, establishing relationships and rushing through acclimitisation and the climb up the mountain. But getting up is only half the story, getting down is the other much more deadly and challenging half. That's where all the stakes are tension are.

Meet Josh Brolin. He was a jackass in Sicario, he's a bit of a jackass here too.

If you're wondering where do Keira Knightley and Robin Wright fit into the picture, they play the wives of Rob Hall and Beck Weathers respectively. It's basically big names wasted on very little screen-time. And that's my biggest gripe with Everest, it's just a struggle to juggle all these big names and characters in two hours. It felt to me like even Jake Gyllenhaal was sidelined with a rather insignificant role. Don't even get me started on the wives Ultimately, this leads to the audience not being able to connect with any of the characters on an emotional level. At some point, you just left sitting there watching characters move on screen without having much of a movie experience where you feel for the characters, Which is sad because Everest was based on real events with actual people. When you take the emotional factor out of it, it's not that great.

Would have worked perfectly fine if anyone else was cast for this role.

Everest is based on a true story, and in real life, happy endings aren't always possible. People die, and people did die in the actual event in 1996, and people do die in this film. What I do think is beautiful in this film, in a rather morbid sort of way, is how they don't really dwell on any character's death. There isn't a grandiose, cheesy farewell scene at a character's death. Death just happens. And unless you've already read up on the incident, it's really unexpected on who dies. People you expect to survive, don't; people you expect to die, don't either. Kindda like what happens in Game of Thrones, but more muted, less drama.

The film feels very much like any other disaster/survival films out there in the market. It has the same build up, it has it's fair share of inspirational motivation speeches, and there are scenes that are absolutely nail-biting to sit through. Story-wise, Everest doesn't really feel like it's bringing anything new to the table. Most of the time you're left thinking, been there, done that. But it is beautiful, with it's shots of Nepal the Italian Alps that doubles as the actual mountain. Many times I found myself wondering if they actually did go to the top of Mt. Everest to film this movie. So while Everest lacks in its story-line, it makes up with its scenes of the mountain. So they've got that going for them at the very least.

Other trivial musings : I do wonder how they avoided reflections of the crew and cameras whenever I see a pair of reflective goggles on screen.

I don't know about you, but I do think that going up a mountain that greatly increases your chances of dying is a very questionable decision. Even more so when your wife is pregnant.

TL;DR : Your average disaster film that makes you go 'been there, done that', but with an overly large cast. Not bad, but not mind-blowing either. At least it's cinematography is stunning.


I rate it : 6.5/10 stars

Should you watch it? If you're ever thinking of going up Mt. Everest, watch this for a cautionary tale on why you should reconsider your decisions. Don't watch it if you're going in just for Jake Gyllenhaal or Keira Knightley, you'll be sorely disappointed

EVEREST (2015)

Genre : Adventure Disaster Drama

Runtime : 121 minutes

Director : Baltasar Kormakur

Cast : Jason Clarke, Josh Brolin, Jake Gyllenhaal, Michael Kelly, Keira Knightley

---

✌ Like TWC's Facebook and follow my Twitter to keep up with updates. 

REVIEW : The Visit (2015)

 

Directed by M. Night Shyamalan, The Visit is essentially a "documentary" filmed by Becca (Olivia DeJonge) and Tyler (Ed Oxenbould) Jamison on their week-long visit to their grandparents' farmhouse. Their mother (Kathryn Hahn) ran away from home with her English teacher back when she was young, and she hasn't seen her parents in 15 years, neither has her own children.

While the siblings are enthusiastic at first, Becca's excitement is practically overflowing as she connects with objects around the house with her mother's own childhood, they soon begin to realise that something's very, very wrong with their grandparents. Pop pop (Peter McRobbie) making mysterious trips to the shed, shotgun barrel to the back of his throat; Nana (Deanna Dunagan) doing very strange things in the dark, and insisting that Becca cleans the oven and going all the way inside while she does so. Things grow more and more eerie as the days pass.

There is a bit of Red Riding Hood and Hansel & Gretel feel to The Visit

Many dub The Visit as a found-footage film, and if you're to pigeonhole it into a category, that may be it. But both Shyamalan and producer Jason Blum have said that The Visit is closer to a documentary, since it was Becca's original intention to film a documentary on their visit to their grandparents. It's a ping-pong match, switching back and forth between both Becca and Tyler's camera. The Visit lacks the intentional haphazardness of most found footage films, sometimes it's stunningly beautiful, with shots of Pennsylvanian sunsets and snowy landscapes.

No cell signal, but Skyping is perfectly fine. Sure.

This might be spoiler-ey, depending on how you want to look at it, but there is a twist near the end. It's almost as good as the one in The Sixth Sense, but less mindblowing. Still, it holds it's own candle and I dare say that it is mighty brilliant in a way such that at it's reveal, you're feel like you're kindda half-expecting it, but you'll still hear screams and gasps in the hall. Nobody expects a Shyamalan twist.

(But maybe by telling you this, you'll be expecting it. Oh well.)

Perhaps The Visit is to horror films as Kingsman is to spy movies: films that accentuate all the tropes and cliches while making tiny changes to them, that the movie appears as a refreshing addition to the genre. A dash of comedy doesn't hurt either.

Other trivial musings : It's easy to be annoyed by the two kids: Becca with her pretentiousness and Tyler with his cringe-worthy rapping and street cred. But in heartfelt scenes and moments when they deliver, both Olivia DeJonge and Ed Oxenbould shine.

It's PG13 after all, how scary can it be, right?

TL;DR : A nice balance between horror and comedy. Seems like not taking itself too seriously is the new way for movies to go.

I rate it : 6/10 stars

Should you watch it? Go for it. It won't make you lose sleep, and it's definitely one of Shyamalan's better works. 

The Visit (2015)

Genre : Horror Comedy

Runtime : 94 mins

Director : M. Night Shyamalan

Cast : Olivia DeJonge, Ed Oxenbould, Peter McRobbie, Deanna Dunagan, Kathryn Hahn

---

✌ Like TWC's Facebook and follow my Twitter to keep up with updates.

REVIEW : Sicario (2015)

Sicario hits you from the get-go: fast-paced, tensed and thrilling. It's one of those films where you're constantly made to think that the stakes are unbelievably high, and that every life, good or bad, has value and means something. You'd find yourself flinching at every death on screen.

The female lead in this film, FBI agent Kate Macer (Emily Blunt) serves as the audience's substitute as we mostly see the world in her point of view. After a raid, she is recruited into a team that's aimed to bring the man behind the chaos to justice. Or at least, whatever justice is in that grey area.

Both the audience and Kate are never quite in the know of what's happening, everything's very much hush-hush. Joining her are Matt Graver (Josh Brolin), who claims he is part of the DoD but Kate suspects otherwise, and there's Alejandro (Benicio del Toro), who is even more mysterious and enigmatic.

Later, as Kate will soon discover, basically everything for her will be going to shit.

Kate : Really doesn't know what she's signing up for.

Directed by Denis Villeneuve who is known for his dark films such as Polytechinue and Prisoners, Sicario is a no-frills film that almost plays out like a quasi-documentary. It exposes the horrors in the American War on Drugs, and the not-quite legal measures in covert operations that are taken to win this war. The script, written by newcomer Taylor Sheridan , is sharp and concise. But props really must be given to the cinematographer, Roger Deakins. There are multiple aerial shots of the barren deserts that can only be described as breathtaking. The most impressive scene from the entire film was of the four black SUVs, travelling in a single file as the weave through Mexican traffic. What happens next is really the most nail-biting segment in the entire film.

Alejandro ; Man of few words with a mysterious past. Every time he appears, he commands the screen.

There's a saying in Chinese: flowers can only be beautiful to the eyes with green foliage in the background as support; that's what you can say about composer Johann Johannsson's score. It's in the background, and you never really do pay attention to it, there's nothing much that stands out. But if not for the score, Sicario would have been lacking; with it, the movie transforms into what it is, a thriller that's constantly keeping you at the edge of your seats.

I smell multiple awards in the works.

Matt ; General jackass overall. Effective, gets the job done, but still a jackass.

Other trivial musings : I honestly think that they did a perfect job in casting the doe-eyed Emily Blunt, who pulls off Kate Macer's high-strung, but constantly confused look perfectly.

 TL;DR : We see how the War on Drugs is fought, and we see how sometimes, desperate times call for desperate measures. 

I rate it : 9/10 stars

Should you watch it? Yes, but be warned that Sicario might not appeal to the faint-hearted.

SICARIO (2015)

Genre : Crime Thriller

Runtime : 120 mins

Director : Denis Villeneuve

Cast : Emily Blunt, Benicio del Toro, Josh Brolin, Daniel Kaluuya

---

Like TWC's Facebook and follow my Twitter to keep up with updates. 

REVIEW : Transporter Refueled (2015)

On the left, Daario Naharis the First; on the right, Frank Martin Jr.

Guys, we've found Daario Naharis the First. Seems like he decided to take a bit of a career change along with a different name.

Then again, I guess it's kindda still the same job, just in a drastically different world.

It's 2010 in the French Riviera, and Frank Martin (Ed Skrein) gets hired as a getaway driver/muscle by a prostitute, Anna (Loan Chabanol), who is out to enact vengeance on her Russian pimp, Arkady Karasov (Radivoje Bukvić), along with three other girls who have suffered the same abuse and exploitation as her. Frank doesn't agree to it at first, since it wasn't exactly the deal he signed up for, but then the senior Frank Martin (Ray Stevenson) who's supposed to be a "sales representative" for "Evian water" (read between the lines here people), gets kidnapped, so Junior here is out to save the day. Rejoice.

It's a stupid plot, but it's your typical action-no-brainer-plot.

I actually really like the actions scenes in this movie, which is pretty rare for me these days unless you're Mad Max: Fury Road. They're well-paced and don't feel too drawn-out, and they're creative. You have Frank beating thugs in a narrow hallway with cabinet drawers, with a battleaxe, with his bare hands and the wheels of an unmanned car casually rolling behind him. Basically just very creative ways to kill people.

And then you planes, and yachts, and Frank riding a jet-ski in a suit before driving it onto land and hurling his body through the windows of an SUV. Good stuff I tell you.

See, what did I tell you. Same job, different universe

But the thing is, movies like this really demands that  you suspend what you know about the world, and all the logic and common sense that governs the world. Sure, when there's a bunch of people wanting to beat you up, they'll totally take turns. Sure, crash into a bunch of things and there won't even be a single scratch on your car. Sure, your bank absolutely knows in real-time when unauthorised transfers occur, and will even be able to pinpoint the exact location on your yacht where this is being carried out.

Suuuuuure, this is totally still 2010. /s

With all that said, so long as you know what you're in for, you probably won't end up hating this film.

#DealWithIt

 TL;DR : A convoluted Audi commercial in disguise.

I rate it : 4.5/10 stars

Should you watch it? Mmm, sure. Why not? Watch it, then proceed to forget all about it.

TRANSPORTER REFUELED (2015)

Genre : Action

Runtime : 96 mins

Director : Camille Delamarre

Cast : Ed Skrein, Ray Stevenson, Loan Chabanol