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

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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

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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

REVIEW : Ant-Man (2015)

When you really think about it, Ant Man's basically Iron Man without all the metal. I mean, both of them are superheros because of their suits. But then, Tony Stark is the famous genius-billionaire-playboy-philanthropist, while Scott Lang is the infamous skilled-poor-noble-criminal.

So perhaps Ant Man is the anti-Iron Man, I guess?

Paul Rudd joins Marvel's evergrowing team as their latest superhero offering, as Scott Lang, and as the titular Ant-Man. While he's determined to put his life of being a cat burglar behind him after being released from prison, it's easier said than done as employment is hard for someone with a criminal record to his name, and he's not allowed to visit his daughter Cassie (Abby Ryder Fortson) before settling child support payments. It's not that he doesn't try, but life's not cutting him any slack.

Before becoming the Ant-Man, he was already the hero in his daughter's eyes. Brb, crying ugly tears

Thus. Scott resorts to the one thing he knows best: pulling off a big score once and for all. With the help of a few friends (Michael Peña, T.I, David Dastmalchian), he breaks into the house of Dr. Hank Pym (Michael Douglas), with some really mad skillz might I add, only to find not the riches he was expecting, but a strange red suit and helmet. He soon finds out that the suit is able to shrink him to the size of an ant, and also that him stealing the suit was all part of Dr Pym's plan for him to steal a similar suit from the hands of his now estranged protege, Darren Cross (Corey Stoll), with the help of his estranged-but-not-really daughter, Hope Pym (Evangeline Lilly). You know, save the world from chaos and all that shebang, the usual.

"This is not the score I was looking for."

It's a breeze to sit through Ant-Man, considering the fact that it doesn't even break the two-hour mark. It's nice how they decide against dragging Scott's transformation into becoming the real Ant-Man, and instead just take us through with training montages of him throwing punches and talking to ants.

The writing isn't great, that I won't deny. It's formulaic and thus predictable, the deus ex machina trope is thrown into the film every chance it is needed; it's everything you've seen, and nothing new is brought to the table. But if there's one thing that sets it apart from films the likes of The Avengers, Iron Man, Ant-Man is actually pretty funny. I mean, Marvel films are pretty lighthearted generally speaking, but think giant Thomas the Train crashing out of windows, and Rottweiler-sized ants skittering down the street.

Now that I think about it, it's more creepy than funny, isn't it? But with context, it's quite hilarious. 

Squad goals, but with all else considering, not really. 

Sometimes the movie plays out like a self-aware parody of the genre it belongs to, doing things and saying stuff as if they're trying to tell the audience "Yeah I'm aware how silly all these 'high-stakes' seem, but bear with me". Pretty sure Paul Rudd has a line in the film that is somewhat to that effect. Maybe the comedy's expected considering director Peyton Reed is more commonly associated with films like Bring It On, The Break-Up, and Yes Man. 

(Then again, with a superhero named Ant-Man, I don't think they could have pulled it off if they wanted to walk down a more serious road with the movie.)

I mean, Ant-Man, really? Ant-Man???

Acting is very much meh in Ant-Man with every character  but I guess the actors did the best they could with the script they were handed with. Everyone from Scott to Hope to her dad Pym Senior are typical figures that are just vessels to move the plot along. Not even Rudd's charisma translates here as he just comes off as bland. Poor Michael Peña's basically playing your good ol' stereotypical Latino gangsta. 

Let me tell you who really stole my heart though: Cassie and Luis. The moment either of them first came onto the screen—especially Cassie—right off the bat I knew I love them already. Cassie, because no one can resist those puppy eyes; Luis because he's that funny, comic-relief of a sidekick that every superhero needs, even if he's a gross stereotype.

Cassie/Abby Appreciation #1

But hey, mediocre writing and even more mediocre acting aside, Ant-Man is entertaining and fun, and that's pretty much all superhero blockbusters really need to be. 

Other trivial musings:  

• That one comment about the Avengers being too busy dropping cities out of skies had me in stitches. 
• What's up with blockbuster female leads and The Lob (See: Bryce Dallas Howard in Jurassic World)
• Why can't these movies learn from the likes of Mad Max or Pacific Rim on how a film is perfectly fine even if you don't force a romantic relationship into it???
• That's it, Abby Ryder Fortson wins the "Cutest Kid on Screen Award". Hands down.

Cassie/Abby Appreciation #2

TL;DR : A fun but typical superhero flick  that's refreshingly small when compared with all the other behemoths of MCU. 

I rate it : 7/10 stars

Should you watch it? Yes. Even if you're a little sick and tired of all these superhero films, give Ant-Man a try. For one thing, it's different, and the fact that it's hilarious doesn't hurt.

ANT-MAN (2015)

Genre : Action Comedy Superhero

Runtime : 117 mins

Director : Peyton Reed

Cast : Paul Rudd, Michael Douglas, Evangeline Lilly, Corey Stoll

REVIEW : Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

Warning 1: This post contains a lot of GIFs.
Warning 2: I might have sunk into just an abyss of fangirlism. So proceed with caution.

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If you've watched the trailer for Mad Max: Fury Road, you're probably very weirded out by now. And yes, this film is so weird. And it's absolutely bonkers. What you see from the trailer is practically in the first 30 minutes of the actual movie itself. Think the trailer is crazy?

Trust me, it only get crazier from there.

Set in a post-apocalyptic world in the future, civilization has pretty much crumbled. One cult of remaining humans that still roam the earth are ruled by Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Bryne), a despot who controls the people as he controls the water supply, and he has an army of bald, pale-white War Boys at his disposal. It's the War Boys that capture Max Rockatansky (Tom Hardy), and it's a War Boy named Nux (Nichoals Hoult) that Max has to serve as a blood bag to. At one point, Max is even chained to the hood of Nux's car to continue feeding him his blood.

But while Max is the titular hero, it's Charlize Theron as Imperator Furiosa that carries the weight of the film on her shoulders. She's Immortan's best fighter, revered by all. But when he sets her out to scavenge for more resources, in reality, it's a guise for her to smuggle Immortan's Five Wives out from the citadel, as they are treated as breeding livestock that will carry his heirs. It is on the battlefield where all our main characters come together.

Max Bane? Bane Max?

The setting of Fury Road is undeniably bleak and desolate, a wasteland that's essentially a demolition derby. The land has turned sour, and little to no vegetation are allowed to grow. I went into the cinema with a slight hesitation, as I feared that the imagery of the film would be off-putting, despite the critical acclaim and 98% standing on Rotten Tomatoes. But in the hands of director George Miller, it transforms into something that's nothing but beautiful.

I don't know where to start singing praises for Mad Max: Fury Road because this is perhaps the most perfect movie I've watched so far in 2015 (then again, there isn't much competition up until now; and I'm most likely exaggerating my socks off). There are elements in this movie that I would worship but I wouldn't know where to begin. But I'll try, and I'll probably fangirl to the brink of no return.

Ready? Okay, good, Let's go.

I haven't watched the previous Mad Max movies because to be completely honest, I've never even heard about them before Fury Road, and the only George Miller film I've watched was Happy Feet back when it came out. I remember it was good, it was cute because penguins!, and I was still a kid, But in terms of serious work, no, so I didn't know what his films are like.

It's easy to focus on all the louder things in Fury Road: the car chases, the fighting, plenty of things that go boom. But to me what stood out was the ones that were much more silent. Miller could probably teach Christopher Nolan a few tips and tricks on how to be subtle, and how to make the audience be in the loop of things without spoon-feeding them with information. No one really explains how things in this grim post-apocalyptic future work, but the audience still figures them out through the bits and pieces littered all around.

There is beauty in Fury Road's brutality.

Characterisation is especially solid in Fury Road; no one in this film (except maybe Immortan Joe) feels trope-y. Be it Max, Furiosa, Nux, or even the supermodel wives, it's easy to love them because of how real they are. It's Max's offhanded comments about War Boys stealing his car and the grumblings under his breath that made Max likable, despite the lack of actual dialogue he has. Or maybe that's just Tom Hardy being Tom Hardy. (I may or may not be bias) You feel for Nux, and in extension, all the other War Boys when you realise that they're just delusional, deceived into thinking that a grand afterlife awaits them when they sacrifice themselves for a cruel tyrant. But be warned: on more than one occasion, George Miller is like George R.R. Martin, just when you think you're starting to love one character, Miller kills it off in an unflinching fashion.

One does not praise Fury Road without touching on the subject of the stunts and cinematography. Did you know that most of the action in Fury Road are practical effects as in real stunts and there's mnimal CGI? #nowyouknow It's amazing how at it's peak where things are the most chaotic, even when it's all explosions and fires and people launching themselves into midair while clutching onto a pole, it's still easy to make out what's happening. There's never a sense of things being too cluttered in Fury Road, nothing gets muddled together despite how insane things will get.

Composed by Junkie XL, Fury Road's score is of epic proportions. It's loud, and raw, and so exhilarating to listen to, even on its own. But the most important thing is how fitting the entire score is in the background of the film, making the film so much more immersive. I'm usually acutely aware of a film's score for two reasons: it's either absolutely awful, or mind-blowingly good. In Fury Road's case, it's simply mind-blowingly epic. Part of me just couldn't stop thinking: Holy balls, the score is love; the score is life.

It's a rock concert e'rybody

But the icing on the cake for Fury Road has got to be the female characters in this film. Sure you have your guys in Max, in Immortan Joe, his sons and those who fight alongside him in the battle to reclaim his wives, in Nux and the War Boys. But except for a few, they all blend together at some point in the movie. (Like I said, Immortan Joe and co. are quite trope-y and cliched) But the women: the wives, Furiosa, and the Vuvalini women they meet in the latter half of the movie, stand out as individual characters. Women in Fury Road are powerful, they make the movie. Not to mention all of them are just badass af. It's not something you find that often in action blockbusters like this.

I could go on, but I believe this article sums up my view on Fury Road's feminist sentiments quite nicely.

WE ARE NOT THINGS.

To some, Mad Max: Fury Road is one messy affair of monster car chases in an ugly and barren land; to me and many others, it cannot be more perfect. It may be an action-packed summer blockbuster–albeit an unconventional one–but I'll be damned if it doesn't deserve an Oscar nomination for its ingenuity, if not the actual award itself.

Mad Max: Fury Road - Like Fast and Fruious that's very much high.

I rate it : 10/10 stars

THE GOOD : Everything

THE BAD : Nothing

WATCH IT IF YOU...

• Don't watch it if you're not a fan of just generally very loud actions, but if you don't mind them, THEN THERE IS NO REASON FOR YOU TO NOT WATCH THIS FILM

MAD MAX: FURY ROAD (2015)

Genre : Action Adventure

Runtime : 120 mins

Director : George Miller

Cast : Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron, Nicholas Hoult, Zoë Kravitz