Dominatio Per Malum

Tuya’s Marriage (2007) 8/10

2007 Berlin International Film Festival:
Golden Berlin Bear
Prize of the Ecumenical Jury

Tuya’s Marriage is the sort of low key arthouse film that would normally have gone unnoticed by most people if it did not score a surprise win at the 57th Berlin Film Festival. Winner of the prestigious Golden Bear, Tuya’s Marriage as its name suggests is about Tuya’s (Yu Nan) quest to get married. At its heart, it is a sometimes funny, sometimes sad ’slice of life’ life that showcases the life and environs of Mongolia. From the rustic and beautifully shot scenery to the strong cast performance, Tuya’s Marriage is a worthy winner and an excellent Mainland Chinese film.

The only possible quibble is that the plotline is too predictable and the director’s dubious choice of interposing an ending scene near the beginning of the film. It was an unnecessary technique that did not add much to the film. Nevertheless, Tuya’s Marriage is a well crafted tale that deserves to be seen.

The Longest Night in Shanghai (2007) 6/10

Parts of the film feel like a direct ripoff of Lost In Translation, but overall the film is a crowd-pleasing albeit unremarkable tale. Its even moderately interesting at times, but is unevenly executed with some frankly uninspired subplots.

Miss Potter (2007) 6/10

Yet another family friendly but mostly mediocre offering. The plot is boring and predictable. The cast is likable enough, but the film barely passes mediocre. Its a watchable but unremarkable piece of filmmaking.

Next (2007) 5/10

Nicolas Cage is basically slumming until his next paycheck as a character who has possibly the most useless superpower ever. With a lame plot and horrendous scriptwriting, what saves Next from utter cinematic hell is Jessica Biel as eye candy and the fact that it stars 2 Oscar calibre actors in Cage and Julianne Moore. It campy and occasional fun, although it ranks more as silly than actually good.

Vacancy(2007) 5/10

Reasonably interesting premise squandered by shoddy execution and miscast actors. It tries to do a Psycho, but ends up more as an exercise in mediocrity. Neither scary nor thrilling, but more like a low budget Psycho ripoff. To its credit, it refrains from excessive use of gore which a lesser director might be tempted to do (ie, the lazy man’s way of selling a horror/thriller). However, the film is boring and mediocre.

The Good German (2007) 4/10

On paper, the film seems to be surefire hit. It stars Clooney, Maguire and Blanchett and is directed by Steven Soderbergh. Unfortunately, the end result feels like a Casablanca rip-off, a film noir that is technically beautiful but soulless. The plot is mediocre and the characters uninteresting. George Clooney basically stumbles from one scene to another and Tobey Maguire barely has time to make an impression. Blanchett is miscast as a femme fatale while the rest of the film simply isn’t interesting. Soderbergh captures the look and feel of an old 40s film. But beyond the look and atmosphere, he appears to have forgotten to add a good script.

Red Road (2006) 5/10

Like Eye in the Sky, this is also a ’surveillance’ movie. And while Red Road has been critically lauded, i did not enjoy this film. The technique has been compared to Michael Haneke, who is incidentally a director i don’t like watching. Not surprisingly, like a Haneke film, the movie moves at a glacial pace. While there are hints of voyeurism, a touch of Hitchcock’s Rear Window, the style is more Haneke, and the plot essentially goes nowhere. There is a revelation in the end about the female lead’s motives, but the characters created are so cold, so distant that one does not really care about them.

There is a certain brilliance in this film, and alot of potential. But the film is so terminally boring and slow that i cannot in good faith recommend it to anyone. If it was more Hitchcock and less Haneke, it would have been a better film. As it now stands, its a technically accomplished but boring film.

Eye In The Sky (2007) 8/10

Tautly crafted and brilliantly executed, Eye In the Sky is a study in subtlety. With top-notch performances by Simon Yam and Tony Leung Kar Fai, the film is an engaging look into the life of the police surveillance squad. But unlike most HK cop flicks, there is very little action. Instead, what follows is a slow burn, cat and mouse game between the police and thieves, a sort of intellectual chase through the streets of Hongkong. Possibly the weakest link in the film is actress Kate Tsui, who is a relatively new face and her inexperience shows when pitted against veteran actors Yan and Leung.

But as far as good cop flicks go, Eye in the Sky is as good as it gets nowadays. Currently the best HK film produced this year.

Zodiac (2007) 8/10

One of the best films of 2007. Although it may be a slow-burn kind of film that eschews explosions for depth, Zodiac is a compelling and finely crafted tale that brings you into the world of the mysterious Zodiac Killer, whose crime remains unsolved even today.

Quite possibly director David Fincher’s most low key and subdued work, it is also his most patient effort as Fincher takes pains to outline the chronology of events. This explains the overindulgent running time of more than 2 and a half hours, as well as the inevitable problem that some parts feel a tad draggy. However, this does not detract from the fact that Zodiac is a masterfully directed and well acted film that is compelling, enjoyable and intelligent. Fincher refrains from using much of the cinematic flourishes he is known for and rightly so, but i love his cinematographic touches when he does decide to use them. Excellent aerial shots of the city which i absolutely love. Plus the cast is fantastic , with the likes of Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo and Robert Downey Jr giving solid performances.

The only reason why it loses points is because the latter part of the film feels draggy and some attempts by Fincher to create a sense of peril to the life of Gyllenhaal’s character doesn’t really work. Also, since the case is unsolved, it leaves the ending sort of hanging, which does not make for a satisfying tale.

But even then, strong production values and excellent casting makes Zodiac a worthy addition to Fincher’s already impressive resume. Not only is it one of the best films of 2007, it may also be one of the best police procedural and serial killer films ever made. Highly recommended.
“Low-key but all the more compelling for it, “Zodiac” is the first must-see movie of 2007.” -CNN

“Though all of a piece visually, Zodiac becomes a deliberate melding of multiple cinematic personalities: It’s a suspenseful thriller, a police procedural and a newspaper movie. And this time, Fincher seems adamant about not letting technique overwhelm what amounts to one of the most detailed crime movies ever.”- Robert Denerstein

Obama: Don’t stay in Iraq over genocide - Yahoo! News

Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama said Thursday the United States cannot use its military to solve humanitarian problems and that preventing a potential genocide in Iraq isn’t a good enough reason to keep U.S. forces there.

“Well, look, if that’s the criteria by which we are making decisions on the deployment of U.S. forces, then by that argument you would have 300,000 troops in the Congo right now — where millions have been slaughtered as a consequence of ethnic strife — which we haven’t done,” Obama said in an interview with The Associated Press.

WTF. This is so wrong… Going by Obama’s logic, then the only time military intervention is justified to stop genocide is if they intervene against ALL genocide cases. What? you mean you have only enough resources to help one country? Too bad, under the Obama logic, you are obliged to do nothing. For a lawyer to spout such logical fallacy is really disappointing. Especially since i kinda supported him in the past. Looks like Hiliary Clinton is the better choice.

More here.

Yet another blatant attempt by me to covert more people into watching Battlestar Galactica. In anycase, i’m psyched about the new BSG movie coming out in November, titled Razor. It will probably rock big time. Anyway, here is another trailer of sorts for BSG.

Yes, i have not written anything substantial of late. Can’t be bothered, i guess. This has been an enjoyable period of slacking. I find that i look forward to checking emails when i go to work. Its like the highlight of the day, and makes slow days far more bearable.

I went to the 10ed sealed the other day. It was fun and i got the foil Reya promo (which incidentally, looks awesome in foil). My sealed deck was crap, and my rares were mostly bad. But i did open an Ambassador Laquatus, which was da bomb. Anyways, we played 7 rounds of swiss and i ended up with a 5-2 record and ranked 9th. I won with combat damage a grand total of 2 games and Laquatus singlehandledly won 8 games for me. Winning by milling: Now that was fun.

And since i have nothing useful to write, i shall leave you all with a poster of My Blueberry Nights, one of my most anticipated movies of the year.

The Edge of Evolution - Michael J. Behe - Books - Review - New York Times I had expected to be as irritated by Michael Behe’s second book as by his first. I had not expected to feel sorry for him. The first — “Darwin’s Black Box” (1996), which purported to make the scientific case for “intelligent design” — was enlivened by a spark of conviction, however misguided. The second is the book of a man who has given up. Trapped along a false path of his own rather unintelligent design, Behe has left himself no escape. Poster boy of creationists everywhere, he has cut himself adrift from the world of real science. And real science, in the shape of his own department of biological sciences at Lehigh University, has publicly disowned him, via a remarkable disclaimer on its Web site: “While we respect Prof. Behe’s right to express his views, they are his alone and are in no way endorsed by the department. It is our collective position that intelligent design has no basis in science, has not been tested experimentally and should not be regarded as scientific.” As the Chicago geneticist Jerry Coyne wrote recently, in a devastating review of Behe’s work in The New Republic, it would be hard to find a precedent.

Transformers (2007) 8/10

Loud, big, dumb and brainless. That sums up Transformers, the quintessential summer blockbuster movie. But even though the plot barely makes sense, Transformers is a fun, effects-laden film that won’t win any critical awards but qualifies as popcorn entertainment.

The robots themselves are the star of the show, and Michael Bay shows them off with a loud action sequence barely minutes into the beginning of the film. The Robots look great… that is until they speak because they spout some of the most corny and cliched lines ever.

What is surprising is how Bay actually handles the human element, and injects main leads Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox with solid comic lines. To their credit, both LaBeouf and Fox give decent performances. The same cannot be said for the other human characters. There is a group of soldiers who have zilch personality and some irrelevant subplot concerning computer experts. Both are just a waste of time, although John Turturro deserves major props for hamming it up as a federal agent.

As i’ve said, Transformers has explosions, cool robots and more CGI that the last 10 films i watched combined. Its plot is simply an excuse for the director to commence action sequences. But it is fun because its a loud, dumb action movies and sometimes, you gotta take a break from slow, artsy stuff for movies that blow things up with gigantic badass and transforming robots.

Pope: Other Christians not true churches - Yahoo! News

Pope Benedict XVI has reasserted the universal primacy of the Roman Catholic Church, approving a document released Tuesday that says Orthodox churches were defective and that other Christian denominations were not true churches.

Come Early Morning (2006) 7/10

Nothing much actually happens in Come Early Morning, but this is a film worth watching because of Ashley Judd’s illuminating performance which is quite refreshing. Directed with an assured hand, the film does not really have a plot, or a central conflict. It is simply a look at the life of a woman, Lucy (played by Judd) who has trouble commiting to a relationship. Its the kind of film that has arthouse written all over it. It won’t sell well on the box-office, but its a solid and engaging film.

Giving Till It Hurts - WSJ.com They are forgoing vacation homes, early retirement and college saving plans. Sally Beatty on the increasing number of ’stretch’ givers who donate out of proportion to their wealth.

… Arthur C. Brooks argues in his book “Who Really Cares,” which identifies the forces behind American charity, that people who give in a way that pinches are happier and, surprisingly, end up wealthier. According to Mr. Brooks’s analysis, a dollar donated to charity led to $3.75 in extra income for the donor in 2000. “They often create great discomfort among their families, but when people give there is substantial personal transformation,” says Mr. Brooks, an economist and professor of public administration at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School. “They tend to work harder,” leading to greater prosperity, and in the long run, he says, “this leads to more success, both financial and nonfinancial.”