Dominatio Per Malum

Maxed Out (2007) 6/10

A sobering, cautionary tale about how not paying your credit card bill can easily lead you to financial ruin. And a spotlight on some possibly unethical tactics of credit card companies. Its a documentary and a fairly watchable film as far as documentaries go.

I am Legend (2007) 8/10

Actually quite entertaining, with a beautiful shot of an empty, desolate New York cityscape that reminded me that opening scene of 28 Days Later. Will Smith as the lone, solitary human (with a canine companion) wandering the empty urban landscape gives the film a visual power that just grabs you. It is this day to day minutiae that proves gripping. What is not interesting, is the flashback sequences, which seem perfunctory and serve perhaps to only deliver some kind of backstory for Smith’s character. It was not necessary, and in fact detracts somewhat from the mood and feel of this film. As i have said, the film works because it is about the last man on earth. Towards the last half hour or so, the film introduces new elements which detract from the premise and weakens the story. It isn’t entirely a disaster, but still it was awkwardly executed and cobbled the smooth momentum of the film. And then there are the zombie-vampire-monster thingy which seem out of place and very obviously CGI-enhanced. In this case, less is more for the monsters. When they are hinted at, they are excellent as a plot device, but in the latter half when they congregate in packs they aren’t particularly impressive because of their obvious CGI quality. They don’t look particularly real or scary. Luckily, the film isn’t about these monster, although the last act does descend into a battle with monsters action sequence which similarly befell otherwise excellent films like 28 Weeks Later. As a blockbuster, I am Legend is actually worth of all the box office success it has reaped. If you are going to watch a big budget blockbuster extravaganza, I am Legend is worth a look.

Modern Beetles Predate Dinosaurs - Yahoo! News

New research hints that modern-day versions of the insects are far older than any tyrannosaur that trod the Earth.

Today’s plethora of beetle species were thought to have blossomed 140 million years ago, during the rise of flowering plants. But the new study of beetle DNA and fossils, published in the Dec. 21 issue of the journal Science, pushes their appearance back to 300 million years ago.

Away From Her (2007) 7/10

There are performances which win awards, and Julie Christie’s performance in Away From her is a performance that deserves an award. A small film that banks on the excellent performance of its cast, Away From Her is at once both romantic, sublime and quietly moving. Its refreshing to see older people featured as leads and this well crafted drama details how Alzheimer’s slowly destroys the relationship of a couple who have been married for many years. It is in many ways the antithesis of the standard romance flick that Hollywood churns out with mechanic regularity. There is no room for a happily ever after, and the film has a raw honesty about it that makes it so charming. Unfortunately, without sweet young starlets, explosions or CGI, the slow plot of Away From Her will probably bore those who want mindless entertainment. But those with discerning tastes will find a hidden gem and the patient ones will be quietly bowled over by the excellent acting and poignant script.

“Away From Her, like its dominant image of the tracks in the snow made fresh, time and again, from cross-country skiing, is a phantom of a movie whose beautiful flakes fall into the deep crevices of memory long after the seasons change. “- Austin Chronicle

The Page Turner (2007) 6/10

Déborah François is phenomenal. She is the reason to watch the Page Turner, a tale of revenge done with immense subtlety- a little too much subtlety, methinks. The film itself plays out almost like a suspense thriller, with Déborah François’s character as a young ingenue coming to exact revenge on Catherine Frot’s character. While François is electric and singlehandedly makes the film worth watching, the same cannot be said of the script. While the director was aiming for a more nuanced, thinking man’s version of the revenge flick, the underlying reasons which motivate François character are trite and unrealistic. Unlike Kill Bill, Sympathy For Lady Vengeance etc , there is no blood debt, no great enmity to warrant the actions of François’s character. This inevitably takes away much of the emotional resonance of the film. Still, Déborah François who has already made her mark with L’Enfant (2005), proves her potential and establishes herself as one of the most promising young actresses of her generation.

Waitress (2007) 8/10

Films about unexpected pregnancies have become quite the fad this year. And the surprising thing is that they are all critically acclaimed, from Knocked Up to Waitress and finally Juno (which Ebert ranks as #1 on his top 10 list this year). Waitress is a delectable tale featuring an excellent Keri Russell as the lead and a great cast which includes Nathan Fillion from Firefly. It is sweet and delightful comedy, as well as writer-director Adrienne Shelly’s final film. Tragically, Shelly was murdered not long after the film was completed. Not only did Shelly write and direct this movie, she also has a substantial role as a supporting character. It is sad, especially since Shelly shows such promise as a director and Waitress was quite a hit in the arthouse festival circuit. Waitress is a small, indie flick that shows alot of heart, love and effort. Highly Reccommended.

“Waitress wowed me”- John Beifuss

“The film skips along with an interesting mix of innocence and black humour.”- LIZ BRAUN

Eastern Promises (2007) 8/10

As someone who not a fan of director David Cronenberg, his latest work comes as abit of a surprise. A masterful take on the tale of the Russian mafia, Cronenberg takes a fairly cliched mafia genre and crafts a compelling, bloody tale of promises broken. Already, Eastern Promises has garnered several Golden Globes nominations, and will almost certainly earn a few Oscar nominations as well. And they would be well deserved.

The death of a young immigrant woman sets off two parallel storylines and brings us into the world of the Russian mafia. Compared to another high profile gangland drama this year, American Gangster which similarly uses two distinct plot lines, Eastern Promises does not wait until the ending for the two storylines to converge. It also helps that Eastern Promises is simply more interesting than American Gangster. The first storyline follows Naomi Watts as a nurse who delivers the baby of the dead woman. Finding the diary of the woman, Watts begins to unravel the story behind the life and death of this immigrant, and discovers the dark underbelly of the Russian underworld. The second plotline follows Viggo Mortenson, ostensibly a chauffeur for the son of a Russian mob boss, but in reality he does much more than just drive.

Cronenberg brings out excellent performances from his cast, and Viggo Mortensen has probably the single most memorable scene of the film. I won’t spoil it for you, but suffice to say, it is a daring and bloody performance that makes him a strong contender for Best Actor this year. Mortenson is equal bits mysterious and inscrutable, and utterly electrifying on screen. Not to be outdone, leading lady Naomi Watts not only has strong chemistry with Mortenson, but also continues her streak of picking excellent arthouse projects to star in. Definitely one of the most bankable female leads around today, And rounding up, we have an excellent supporting cast, including the likes of Vincent Cassel which makes Eastern Promises a top notch drama.

With a great script and an excellent cast, Cronenberg weaves a powerful and compelling tale that ranks as one of his best films so far.

First up, the excellent teaser for the final season of Battlestar Galactica. I must say that those guys at Sci-fi really know how to make good trailers. This is a teaser for fans of BSG- those who have never watched a single episode won’t get it:

And now that TV season is over, with episodes of LOST and BSG not expected until 2008, here are some thoughts on this season’s TV series:

Heroes Season 2: sophomore slump. Season 2 was truncated by the WGA strike, but even then, the story arc was disappointing. Annoying new characters, and poorly developed plotlines. When one of the most beloved characters, Hiro becomes boring because of the extended jaunt through ancient Japan, you know that Season 3 had better buck up. Biggest disappointment with Heroes? They didn’t kill off the twins. I was so happy when Sylar killed the last of the annoying twins but they had to resurrect her?!?!

House Season 4: Awesome. By boldly firing the staff and adding new blood, Season 4 of House is one of its strongest yet. It brings new ideas to a predictable formula and the series just rocks. However, now that the 8 episode recruitment arc has ended, i wonder if they will be able to keep things fresh?

Dexter Season 2: Goes from strength to strength. One of the best shows available, Michael C Hall has once again been nominated for Golden Globes Best Actor in a Drama series. I hope he wins (either that, or Hugh Laurie for House.)

Pushing Daisies Season 1: A nice, quirky series. I love the Amelie visuals, but the series lacks the high points and the really good episodes to hook audience. Still for a new series, its very promising.

Reaper Season 1: The first 2 episodes were absolutely brilliant, and laugh out funny! But after the novelty of the premise wears off, the series becomes somewhat formulaic. Still, the series has alot of potential and i hope it gets better.

Journeyman: One of the positive side effects of the WGA strike is that i am checking out new series i wouldn’t normally have time for, and Journeyman is one of those interesting new shows. I am halfway through Journeyman, and i am intrigued by the characters and love the soundtrack. Too bad that Journeyman will not be renewed for a second season, but this is definitely worth a look.

Batman Begins was one of my favourite films ever, and the trailer for the next Batman film, The Dark Knight is available here, and it is awesome.

The Warlords (2007) 7/10

Lensed in drab, dull colours, Peter Chan’s latest work comprises of 2 distinct parts. The first part is an action packed action film, while the second half is a dark, almost depressing tale of brotherhood and tragedy. Unlike other high profile period dramas which showcase vibrant colour schemes- think Hero, Curse of the Golden Flower, etc- Warlord’s muted colour scheme parallels the darker tone of the film.

The first half of the film sets up the background and is grounded in action, especially battle sequences. These battle sequences are not the best, and viewers should not expect a Lord of the Rings kind of visual artistry. Instead of giving the scale of a vast, warring armies, Peter Chan takes the action closer, using a frenetic verite camerawork to showcase the chaos of battle. The action is well done for a non-Hollywood production, although there isn’t anything here that is particularly spectacular or original. However, the actors do tend to be a tad overdramatic in some of the battle scenes, and the bravado can be overdone sometimes. In a sense, this is similar in look and tone to another of Andy Lau’s movie: Battle of Wits.

But it is in the second half that the film gains a lot of its emotional heft and the director seamlessly blend the action packed first half with a more emotionally satisfying and morally grey second half. It is when conflict drives the 3 protagonists apart that the film truly engages, and the easy black and white divide in the first half of the film (the 3 protagonists are the good guys and everyone else is the bad guys) fades to a murky grey. Complicating matters is a love triangle involving Xu Jinglei, Jet Li and Andy Lau which is unfortunately one of the weakest plot points of the film. Xu Jinglei plays the token flower vase role and does not have much to do other than preen and look like the damsel in distress. If a romantic subplot is superfluous, then it should be cut and the time given to better character development. There is no rule that states that all films must have a female lead. Luckily beyond this, the film and the drama becomes more engaging in the second half. Jet Li, better known for his action poweress than his acting skills, is surprisingly good in this film and puts in a decent performance. Indeed his character may well be the most compelling in the film. Both Andy Lau and Takeshi Kaneshiro are solid actors and they give strong performances despite the limited scope their characters provide. If there is any complaint, it is that by splitting screen time between 3 leads, character development invariably suffers, especially when a superfluous love triangle is thrown in.

It is the melding of politics, betrayal and moral ambiguity that gives the Warlords more emotional weight than a straightforward action flick. A pure testosterone-driven action flick such as 300 is technically well-crafted but soulless. Peter Chan understands this and brings something more than just action to the table. Jet Li fans may be disappointed that he has few action scenes to showcase his pugilistic skills, but the inner turmoil of Li’s character proves to be the more compelling hook. As a film, it sometime displays some excesses and overdoes the machismo, but its exploration of brotherhood, morality and righteousness makes it an enjoyable and involving film.

Geologic20Time3A20Age20of20the20Earth

From the US Geological Service: The results show that the meteorites, and therefore the Solar System, formed between 4.53 and 4.58 billion years ago. The best age for the Earth comes not from dating individual rocks but by considering the Earth and meteorites as part of the same evolving system in which the isotopic composition of lead, specifically the ratio of lead-207 to lead-206 changes over time owing to the decay of radioactive uranium-235 and uranium-238, respectively. Scientists have used this approach to determine the time required for the isotopes in the Earth’s oldest lead ores, of which there are only a few, to evolve from its primordial composition, as measured in uranium-free phases of iron meteorites, to its compositions at the time these lead ores separated from their mantle reservoirs. These calculations result in an age for the Earth and meteorites, and hence the Solar System, of 4.54 billion years with an uncertainty of less than 1 percent.

International Planetarium Society on the same topic:

The results consistently indicate an age of about 4.6 billion years for the Earth… These measurements of age are accepted by nearly all astronomers, including both research astronomers and planetarium educators. These astronomers come from nations and cultures around the world and from a very wide spectrum of religious beliefs.

A third reason why these ages, and other scientific paradigms such as Einstein’s theory of relativity, are so widely accepted is that by the nature of its acquisition–through independent lines of evidence and always subject to scrutiny–scientific evidence is built up only very slowly, one step at a time. Only when a very large and diverse body of evidence has been accumulated is a broad conclusion accepted. Even then, a broad conclusion remains subject to inspection, as further evidence may reinforce or refine it, or in rare cases, overthrow it.

And here is an easy to understand version:

Hairspray (2007) 4/10

I hate musicals. And hairspray is an unabashedly classic musical that starts with a song in its very first scene and it probably has more musical sequences than non-musical sequences. Which means i hate it. I didn’t like the songs, or John Travolta cross-dressing or the superficial treatment of racism. Your mileage may vary depending on how much you like cheesy musicals. If you can stand non-stop singing and dancing, Hairspray might be for you. Those who prefer a truly good musical should check out the far superior Once, which is one of the best musicals ever made.

The Namesake (2007) 3/10

Boring. A meandering tale where nothing much happens and its amazing how even with Kal Penn, the movie is so draggy and uninteresting. The problem here is with the script. Beautiful imagery of India does not a good film make; there has to be substance. One supposedly significant part of the movie revolves around the name of Kal Penn’s character, thus the title “The Namesake”. Unfortunately, there is no central conflict in the plot, and nothing happens! Now, if you were Wong Kar Wai, you could get away with it only having intoxicating visuals and smouldering chemistry from Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung. However, the director of the Namesake, Mira Nair, is no WKW, and the film simply drags from one scene to another in a tedious fashion.

Superbad (2007) 5/10

The one saving grace of this film? McLovin! Unfortunately, the rest of the film does not really reach the standard of Knocked Up, which i enjoyed immensely. This slacker-geek film was only moderately engaging. I’d rather watch “Harold and Kumar go to White Castle” instead. It simply wasn’t very funny, or particularly interesting. It isn’t bad by any means, just disappointing.

Bug (2007) 2/10

I hated this film. Its almost like a 2 person film, and the film was utterly boring. Its basically watching Ashley Judd go psycho. This is an example of an interesting premise for a 30 min short film which is stretched to a feature length movie. The leads simply are not compelling enough and lack any sort of chemistry. Watching this was such a bore. A film which features only 2 characters must have leads who have fantastic chemistry or else the whole movie basically implodes. 2 other similar films were released this year, the mediocre Vacancy (5/10) which shares a number of similarities with Bug, and the excellent Interview (8/10) which worked because of the unlikely chemistry of Sienna Miller and Stever Buscemi. In this regard, Bug is a painfully boring failure.

Frida (2002) 5/10

Biopics are another genre which i don’t like and Frida is watchable only because it stars the immensely talented Salma Hyek and Alfred Molina, and a short appearance by Geoffrey Rush as Leon Trotsky! Beyond that, the life of Frida simply isn’t particularly interesting.

Japanese Story (2004) 3/10

Imagine Lost In Translation, only much more boring.

Black Sheep (2007) 4/10

Killer Sheep?! No thanks. Neither funny nor scary. This deliberately B-grade flick is simply bland.

Shoot em Up (2007) 5/10

The very definition of a watch and forget movie. Utterly ludicrous, yet entertaining in a dumb way.

Stardust (2007) 8/10

The male lead is quite bland, i must say. Luckily, Claire Danes makes up for it with a magnetic screen presence, and the film boasts of an excellent supporting cast of Michelle Pfeiffer and Robet De Niro. In particular, De Niro singlehandedly lifts the film a notch as the flamboyant pirate. The result is a fun ride that is enjoyable and crowd-pleasing. One of the better family themed fantasy films made this year.

After the Wedding (2006) 8/10

Nominated for the best foreign language film in the 2007 Oscars, After the Wedding is a classic melodrama from Denmark which works because of a brilliant cast and excellent directing. Director Susanne Bier emerges as an immensely talented female director who knows how to lift the script beyond its cliched confines. Under a lesser director, this film could easily be a soppy, predictable melodrama, the kind you often see on TV. But under Bier’s masterful direction, she crafts characters who are compelling, flawed and utterly fascinating. And major credit goes to its fine ensemble cast. Its rare to find a ensemble cast where there is literally no weak link and every cast member pulls their weight, but i was simply charmed by the memorable performance by the cast. Mads Mikkelsen , looking like a Dannish version of Viggo Mortenson plays the character Jacob and has mastered the art of looking coolly aloof. Stine Fischer Christensen, Sidse Babett Knudsen and Rolf Lassgård are foreign names to me. But they are incredibly talented and give this film much of its dramatic weight. After the Wedding (Efter brylluppet) may be a melodrama, but its melodrama of the finest kind.

“AFTER THE WEDDING’S anguished portrait of family, charity, and mortality peels back layers in the characters that defy their easy categorization.”- Pfeiffer

“This is a cast from paradise.”- Tony Medley

Sicko (2007) 8/10

Why falling sick in America without health insurance is a very terrible thing. The first Michael Moore film i actually liked, Sicko is at its best when it lets its subjects talk and it can be a riveting and damning indictment of American healthcare and insurance industry. But when Moore does his attention grabbing stunts, like the Guantanamo bay bit towards the end, he detracts from the strength of the tale. There is a compelling tale here, and it does not need Moore’s attention grabbing stunts or directorial flourish to work. Still, this being a Moore film, one must watch with a heavy pinch of salt. Moore likes to play fast and loose with the truth, and gives perhaps too idealized a vision of fully subsidized health care in other countries. As a film, Sicko succeeds in entertaining and informing and is one of the best films of 2007. Just don’t believe everything you watch.