Dominatio Per Malum

The Advantages of Closing a Few Doors - New York Times

Why People rationally act irrationally.

That is, play the predictable irrational door game to understand why keeping your options open is sometimes an irrational proposition.

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Coens’ No Country sweeps Oscars

No Country For Old Men has won four Oscars, including best film and best director, a category awarded jointly to brothers Joel and Ethan Coen.

Its my favourite film of the year, and for once, i wholeheartedly agree with this year’s pick for Best Picture. Here is a link to my review of No Country for Old Men. However, as much as i think No Country is brilliant, i must add a caution to the average moviegoer who watches it simply because it won Best Picture. You will probably be bored. If you are not used to watching arthouse films, you will probably be alienated by this movie. This is a movie for those who appreciate the art of filmmaking. Casual viewers are probably going to enjoy Juno more. But, if you want to take a plunge into the arthouse arena, and want to take a chance and have the patience to sit this through, you will be rewarded with a modern masterpiece.

881 (2007) 5/10

Roystan Tan’s musical about Singapore’s getai culture was the breakaway local hit of 2007. Look beyond the successful box-office and the wide praise heaped by the local press, the film is largely mediocre effort that recycles predictable cliches.

The good news is that 881 isn’t bad by Singaporean standards. Certainly much better than a typical Jack Neo flick, although that is a very low barometer in the first place. Indeed the opening sequence detailing the growing up of the Papaya Sisters is reminiscent of the style employed in films like Amelie- a series of quick takes that document points in their lives, often in a quirky manner. Other commendable points about the movie include its crowd pleasing Hokkien soundtrack, the exuberant costumes and the fact that the acting is halfway passable. In any other film, i’d probably have criticized the acting, but since it is not as cringe-worthy as the typical Singaporean flick, i’ll let it pass.

The bad news is that the film is much like any other film you have watched before. 20 mins into the film, you’d be able to predict every single plot point and the films unfolds exactly as you expected. More glaringly, the film tries to blend comedy with tearjerker melodrama. It does not work, and worse, backfires badly. The comedy part is strong, and the energetic musical sequences keep audiences satisfied. But once it goes onto melodrama mode, especially in the last 20 minutes, the film falls into a screeching halt. Another minus is the terrible, terrible CGI employed in the film. Here is a hint: if you are going to use lousy CGI, you might as well skip it.

Most importantly, the reason why 881 fails as a film is because it does not craft compelling characters. The cast is largely a cookie cutter representation of good people and bad people and the result is that the audiences do not have the emotional connection to such one-diemensional cut-outs. And before you have the perception that 881 should be given some slack because it is a fairly low budget musical, let me disabuse you of the notion that musicals must have big budgets by referring to the charming indie musical that is Once (2007).

Overall, while 881 is a step up for local movies in that it isn’t as bad, it is still a long way from being good. Roystan Tan shows some promise, but in all honesty, Singaporean films are still decades behind the international standard.

What i think will win. What i think deserves to win will be in brackets if it differs.

BEST PICTURE
No Country for Old Men

BEST DIRECTOR
Ethan Coen and Joel Coen for No Country for Old Men

BEST ACTOR
Daniel Day-Lewis for There Will be Blood (I’d prefer: Viggo Mortenson for Eastern Promises)

BEST ACTRESS
Julie Christie for Away from Her (I’d prefer: Ellen Page for Juno)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Javier Bardem for No Country For Old Men 

BEST SUPPPORTING ACTRESS 
Cate Blanchett for I’m Not There (I’d prefer: Saoirse Ronan for Atonement)

BEST ANIMATED FILM
Ratatouille 

ART DIRECTION 
Sweeney Todd 

CINEMATOGRAPHY 
No Country For Old Men 

COSTUME 
Sweeney Todd 

EDITING 
No Country For Old Men 

MUSIC (SONG) 
Once

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
No Country For Old Men

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY 
Juno

The Golden Compass (2007) 5/10

The young female lead is good, but that is not enough to save this muddled and uninteresting film. Like Narnia, it uses CGI to compensate for pedestrian plotting and wastes its talented cast which includes among the Daniel Craig, Nicole Kidman and Eva Green.

Save the Last Dance (2001) 5/10

Julia Stiles is very good, but this film is painfully generic and utterly predictable. What a waste of talent.

30 Days of Night (2007) 4/10

Yawn. Borrring.

AVP: Requiem (2007) 3/10

Dumb and Boring.

La Vie En Rose (2007) 3/10

I don’t care how good Marion Cotillard is because this film is boring. Moving at a glacial pace, this film regularly switches timelines between past and present for no apparent reason other than to annoy us. It doesn’t help that the main character, Edith Piaf, is a haughty and utterly unsympathetic persona. All of which makes this film incredibly boring.

Wait ‘Til You’re Older (2005) 5/10

Passably amusing distraction.

Across The Universe (2007) 7/10

Together with Juno and My Blueberry Nights, Across the Universe has one of the best soundtracks. But then its kinda hard to screw up when you entire repertoire features the Beatles music. The concept of this film is simple: take as many Beatles music as possible and create a musical based on their music. The result: an uneven, sometimes over-the-top psychedelic musical that nevertheless charms because how can you possibly hate the Beatles?

Priceless [Hors de prix] (2006) 7/10

It stars Audrey Tatou. Audrey Tatou can do no wrong. Ergo, this film is good.

Lars and The Real Girl (2007) 7/10

Man falls in love with sex doll. That in a nutshell is a plot description of Lars and the Real Girl. While such a premise seems ripe for a low-brow, slapstick comedy by the Farrelly Bros, Lars and The Real Girl never descends to such a level. Instead it is a smartly crafted and often times heartwarming tale. It features a knockout performance by Ryan Gosling, already one of the top talents of his generation, with yet another Oscar calibre performance. It is a pity that Gosling seems to have been overlooked by the various awards this year but truly this is a breakthrough role for him. Together with an impressive supporting cast, especially the excellent Patricia Clarkson, Lars and the Real Girl is a film that will win your heart.

Michael Clayton (2007) 7/10

Legal thriller, morality poser, male-centric version of Erin Brockovich. Michael Clayton is all these and more. Watch it for its top notch cast, including a show-stealing performance by Tilda Swinton, and of course George Clooney who gets better with each film.

Rocket Science (2007) 8/10

If you love quirky, arthouse films (think Juno, Little Miss Sunshine, etc), then this is the film for you. The film is about a kid who is recruited into the debating team, but unlike the standard underdog movies where the movie progresses in a predictable manner, this is different. It refuses to give the standard david beats goliath plot trajectory that audiences expect and the film surprised me. I thought i’d figured out how this film would play out but at every turn it throws a curve ball. It is enjoyable, refreshing and most of all it is not a clone of all those underdog films. That alone makes it worth a look. Plus, for those Heroes fans, it stars someone from that series.

Obama has a great PR team.

YouTube sucks: 4 sites that do video better | Webware : Cool Web apps for everyone

I agree that Youtube sucks, but its still the default site i use because everybody uses it. Its like how MSN Messenger sucks, but i still use it because everyone i know uses MSN or MSN compatible clients- even Mac users. Such is the reality that once a program reaches a critical mass of users, the sheer number of people using it makes it the default market leader, even if it is objectively inferior to comparable products.

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007) 5/10

The plot of the film is spelled out in the title. Brad Pitt plays Jesse James; Casey Affleck plays Robert Ford. Like its needlessly long title, the film is a bloated and meandering tale that has sparks of brilliance but watching it will really test your patience. Technically, the film is top notch- beautiful vistas complemented by a haunting soundtrack. As for performances, Brad Pitt gives a maniacal and charismatic potrayal of the infamous outlaw, while Casey Affleck puts in yet another memorable performance. 2007 has been a good year for Casey, with his performances as Robert Ford as well as in Gone Baby Gone establishing him as someone to watch out for.

However, the film is very, very slow. It is really in the last half hour or so of the film that it really shines. In between, there are bits of brilliance but this is often overshadowed by the glacial pacing. The average film-goer will probably be totally bored and even arthouse film lovers will have their patience tested. Jesse James is technically impeccable and boasts of impressive performances, but all this counts for naught when the film is so damn boring.