Dominatio Per Malum

Op-Ed Columnist - Heaven for the Godless? - NYTimes.com

In June, the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life published a controversial survey in which 70 percent of Americans said that they believed religions other than theirs could lead to eternal life. … One very plausible explanation is that Americans just want good things to come to good people, regardless of their faith. As Alan Segal, a professor of religion at Barnard College told me: “We are a multicultural society, and people expect this American life to continue the same way in heaven.” He explained that in our society, we meet so many good people of different faiths that it’s hard for us to imagine God letting them go to hell. In fact, in the most recent survey, Pew asked people what they thought determined whether a person would achieve eternal life. Nearly as many Christians said you could achieve eternal life by just being a good person as said that you had to believe in Jesus.

Be Kind Rewind (2008) 6/10

Excellent concept, flawed execution. The idea of sweded films is hilarious, but the film doesn’t actually show alot of sweded films and actually spends more time on the idea of a bunch of guys saving a video store. This is one of those films which had tremendous potential but ended up being only above average.

Eat Drink Man Woman (1994) 8/10

Ang Lee’s classic film about food, love, family and women has all the right ingredients and he concocts a delicious and memorable serving of one of the best hours of cinema.

Run Papa Run (2008) 8/10

One of the best HK films of 2008, this is an increasingly small field of contenders, given the slump in quality of HK films. Still there are gems and this film shows off Louis Koo’s range.

Voice (2005) 7/10

Intriguing premise, and one of the better movies in the series of ghost stories set in high school. Not as good as Memento Mori but better than the rest.

Wanted (2008) 8/10

Highly enjoyable guilty pleasure. Angelina Jolie and James McAcvoy camp it up in an over the top hyperrealistic assassin tale. The film is utterly ridiculous yet oh so entertaining.

The Verdict (1982) 7/10

One of the best legal movies ever made. Sideny Lumet as director in one of his best films while Paul Newman puts in a great performance.

Manda Bala [Send a Bullet] (2007) 7/10

What I learnt from this movie: Brazil is very, very , very dangerous.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008) 7/10

Highly entertaining. Kristen Bell and Jason Segel are familiar faces from TV and its great to see them in prominent roles in this enjoyable rom-com.

Ad Lib Night (2005) 5/10

Interesting story but too slow and too dreary. (more…)

Religulous (2008) 6/10

Religulous, an amalgamation of religion and ridiculous, is a film about religion. Or more specifically Bill Maher’s view of religion, which is that it is a ridiculous fairy tale. I’m inclined to agree. But it doesn’t really matter if you agree with Maher or not because he embarks on a sort of Doubt trip where he interviews people who confess on camera believing on pretty ridiculous things. Maher’s best arguments aren’t as convincing as the damning statements of people who say they believe the Rapture will come in their lifetimes. Still, Maher does at times take cheap shots, often with a mix of snarky subtitles and his usual wit. To be fair, a number of his interviewees do deserve to be ridiculed but this also makes it fairly clear that this is more of a cheeky docu rather than a serious docu in the vein of say Lake of Fire. Maher does resort to what i call Michael Moore tactics from time to time, but luckily isn’t anywhere as egregious as Moore. As a film it mostly preaches to the converted, and whilst i verily agree with Maher’s point of film as a matter of film criticism i regret that i cannot award the film more than a 6/10. The film itself is more a collection of anecdotal comedic potshots than a stirring and powerful argument. In that respects, it isn’t as compelling as Jesus Camp or Deliver Us From Evil, two other brilliant docu on the darkness of religion.

Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008) 8/10

You could call this movie 3 babes and a hunk. It has a stellar cast, amongst them Javier Bardem, Scarlett Johansson and Penelope Cruz and is directed by Woody Allen. With so much talent involved, it is almost impossible to screw up this movie. And Woody Allen manages to give one of his best movies in recent years, a sharp neurotic and sometimes surprising romantic comedy. Its a Woody Allen Movie so you know what to expect, more or less. If you have always hated Allen movies, you probably won’t like Vicky Cristina Barcelona. Surprisingly, despite the A-list cast, it is actually Rebecca Hall’s character arc that was most interesting for me. Penelope Cruz has got some critical acclaim for her performance here, but i did not find her role particularly impressive, and so i am puzzled by all the kudos. With beautiful cinematography and this film could probably be a walking video postcard for Spain, Vicky Cristina Barcelona is a typically neurotic Allen film bolstered by excellent performances by its A-list cast.

Man on Wire (2008) 7/10

It is great to know that in an era of lifelike and increasingly indiscriminate use of CGI, sometimes the most evocative, mesmerizing and transcendental imagery comes from authentic still pictures. Man on Wire, already touted to be a strong contender for the best doc Oscar of the Year, is quite simply about a wirewalker who wants to string a cable across the World Trade Center and walk across it. It is as simple as that but the film dazzles with simply stunning imagery. This may be one of the few times when still imagery kicks the ass of all those Hollywood created CGI sequence. I kid you not when I say that the single best scene I have watched this whole year comes from Man on Wire. The documentary mixes re-enactments, talking head interviews and fantastic archival footage which the director fashions into a heist-like film. It is a plot at once audacious and awe-inspiring. And giving added poignancy to the film is the backdrop of the World Trade Center, and the knowledge that this audacious, insane feat will never be replicated ever again. It gives a lens into 1970s America, with a heartbreakingly moving portrait of the WTC being built. Man on Wire is a film that in a vacuum is a solidly crafted documentary, but when seen in the context of 9/11, transforms into something altogether cathartic. As an ode to the WTC and to the perseverance of man, Man on Wire is a must watch and possibly the year’s best documentary.

Slumdog Millionaire (2008) 8/10

Who would have thought that a film featuring Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (WWTBAM)could actually be one of the best films of 2008? Danny Boyle directs his greatest film yet, an uplifting, joyful ode to life and hope that lovingly features India in all its squalor and beauty. While the film treads the cliched rags to riches, against all odds storyline, Boyle infuses the film with such maniac energy and features such a refreshing and talented ensemble cast that you can’t help but be swept away by the buoyant energy and verve that he brings to the film. Irish director Boyle crosses national borders and films this movie in India with a wholly Indian cast. And he delivers cinematic magic. While Danny Boyle isn’t the best or my favorite director, he is certainly one of the most versatile, easily moving from horror (28 Days Later), Scifi (Sunshine) and drugs drama (Trainspotting). And with Slumdog, he has achieved his coup de grace, a moving, heartfelt tale about love lost, growing up and karma. The film is about Dev Patel who plays Jamal Malik, a slumdog or streetkid who finds himself on the cusp of winning the top prize in the Indian version of Who Wants to Be A Millionaire, and how, through a series of flashbacks it is revealed how his extraordinary life gives him the answers to the questions. While the series of coincidences are not particularly realistic, the audience is so caught up by the kinetic verve of this film that it almost doesn’t matter. And underneath the entertaining story lies the story of India itself as we progress through the times. Anil Kapoor deserves special mention as the slimy host of WWTBAM, and its young child actors manage to convincingly portray their roles.

It isn’t often that such an unabashedly feel good movie gets such high marks and ranks amongst the year’s best. But Slumdog Millionaire feels like a modern adaptation of Oliver Twist. While it has its missteps, like a none too convincing romantic story, some ridiculous coincidences, these are minor quibbles. Slumdog Millionaire is a typical rags to riches tale told with atypical verve. Who knows, it may just chart its own Cinderella path to the Oscars.


“Slumdog Millionaire, which was adapted from Vikas Swarup’s novel Q&A by Simon Beaufoy (The Full Monty), is, among other things, a terrific yarn, one so engrossing and surprising that the nature of the story’s structure — each question Jamal gets asked on the show corresponds with a traumatic or momentous moment from his childhood — never feels like a contrived framing device.”- Miami Herald

“Slumdog Millionaire is skillful entertainment, with the simple message that the most intense life experiences yield the greatest education.”- Globe and Mail

My new obsession is the insanely talented sori1004jy , who makes the electric violin sexy and dazzles with her fantastic skills. Here she is with Killing Me Softly and Mozart’s Türkischer Marsch

Little Adolf Hitler’s unhappy birthday | News | guardian.co.uk

Epic Fail of the year. Parents who are either morons, or Nazi sympathizers or probably both name child Adolf Hitler Campbell and then gets surprised and outraged when supermarket refuses to decorate cake with name. Like, duh! How dumb can you get, when you choose such a dumb name? The kid will be emotionally scarred for life and probably grow up hating his parents. Either that or he grows up into a racist bigoted Neo-Nazi. Either way, he’s gonna have issues. His siblings are not much better off either: they are named JoyceLynn Aryan Nation Campbell and Honszlynn Hinler Jeannie Campbell. Suffer the little children.

Cyborg She (2008) 3/10

As much as i am a fan of Kwak Jae-Young’s brilliant My Sassy Girl, i have to say that Kawk’s recent works have been a disappointing downhill slope. Windstruck felt like a shadow of My Sassy Girl while his latest effort Cyborg She feels like a shadow of Windstruck (in other words, a shadow of a shadow). All there remains is the merest glimpse of the talents that Kawk used to have. And even though i was unimpressed by Park Chan Wook’s recent I’m A Cyborg But thats OK, Kawk manages to actually create a more pedantic and boring Cyborg movie. Maybe Jap directors should lay off the hot Cyborg girl genre. With uninteresting leads, tepid story telling and a plotline that opens up a gaping big time paradox the film is an instant trainwreck. It feels like a cheap My Sassy Girl Rip-off with its pairing of (once again) loveable male schmuck with masculine female. Only the Male shumuck of Cyborg She is bland and uninteresting while the female protagonist is wooden and forgettable. Overall, a failure.

Just Follow Law (2008) 5/10

Ok, so i was really bored and had nothing better to do. So i watched a Jack Neo Movie. The good news is that it wasn’t as bad as i’d thought i’d be. That doesn’t actually mean that Just Follow Law is a good film, although it passes off as suitably mediocre mindless entertainment. The wafer-thin plot uses the same body switching device seen in films like Freaky Friday and doesn’t bring anything new to the game. The biggest Achilles heel of Singaporean films is terrible acting and equally terrible dialogue. Luckily, Just Follow Law avoids much of these pitfalls. Fann Wong gives a decent, at times even affecting performance while Gurmit Singh is affably likable albeit mediocre. There are some reasonably good supporting roles and surprisingly there is hardly any obviously bad or cringeworthy performance by the cast in general. Dialogue in a mix of english , chinese and singlish is passable and not gratingly fake unlike previous Jack Neo movies. So to conclude, this is actually the best Jack Neo movie i’ve seen. But, that is damning with faint praise because almost all of Neo’s works were either bad or really, really bad. While Just Follow Law is not obviously bad, and possibly even faintly entertaining, it is far from being good. With a cookie cutter plot, over reliance on (bad) CGI and poor resolutions to plot points the film is a generic and forgettable excercise in crass commercialism. The film never aspires to more than middling mediocrity and although, compared to the rest of Jack Neo’s filmography, the film is watchable, it is also painfully unremarkable. So even though Just Follow Law may be the best Jack Neo movie i’ve seen, it is still decidedly rotten and if you really need to watch a film about body switching you are better off picking up Freaky Friday instead.

Swing Girls (2004) 6/10

Formulaic, predictable, yet highly entertaining tale about girls who learn about jazz. The plot is standard group of novices learn how to play instruments plotline, only with kicker: the cast are real novices who actually learn jazz and play their own instruments in the film. That alone gives it major brownie points. The story is fairly unremarkable and there are better variants of this genre such as Hula Girls and Linda, Linda, Linda. Still Swing Girls puts a smile on your face and a swing to your step which makes it an entertaining albeit fluffy film that is worth your time.

BBC NEWS | Americas | US man uses pizza in self-defence

Fact stranger than fiction.

Tropic Thunder (2008) 8/10

The first 30 minutes or so of this film is pure cinematic gold. The faux trailers that precede the movie are a riot and this hilarious satire effectively skewers Hollywood, which is kinda ironic considering that Tropic Thunder is the typical Hollywood film headed by A-list stars. The film is funny, affecting and it has moments of pure cinematic magic. This is not only the credit of a sharp script but excellent performance by its ensemble cast, especially Robert Downey Jr, who has had a great year at the movies. Also meriting a mention is Tom Cruise’s incredible but hilarious cameo performance which i didn’t recognise at first. Having said that once you realise its Tom Cruise hamming it up, you can’t help but be distracted by the fact that this is Tom Cruise in a seriously impressive disguise. However, and there is a however, this film is probably better as a shorter sketch than a feature length movie, because after the brilliant beginning, the plot which kicks in turns out to be largely hit and miss. There are still many memorable gags and scenes after the first act, but it doesn’t flow as well. Despite the rough edges, the all-round brilliant performance of its cast (which has already netted Cruise and Downey Jr best supporting nominations at the Golden Globes) makes Tropic Thunder easily the funniest film of the year and one of the best parodies in recent memory. Not only does it Ben Stiller star, he also has directing, producing and script credits. In short this is the best Ben Stiller movie i have ever watched. Seriously, as one of the best movies of 2008, Tropic Thunder is one movie you don’t want to miss.

Battlestar Galactica Returns for its final season Jan. 16.

In the meantime, there is a trailer for the last 10 episodes, a new poster and also a new webisode to tide rabid fans over. Excuse me while i geek out.

Connected (2008) 5/10

The best thing I can say about Connected is that this Asian remake is better than the Hollywood version called Cellular. Unfortunately, that is faint praise since the original was ludicrous and pretty much forgettable. Connected is plagued by the same problem as Cellular, namely ridiculous script. In addition, it also has blatantly obvious Motorola cell phone product placements. When every single character uses the same brand of phone whose logo is always given prominent placement, you know product placement has gone overboard. The cast is passable but largely forgettable although Liu Ye looks ridiculous playing a white haired villain. The main annoyance is Louis Koo who plays a somewhat timid character who magically saves the day through some logic stretching coincidences and sheer luck. And seriously, how is it that Barbie Hsu gets rammed by a car, TWICE and has no visible wounds and still looks good throughout the film? Connected is a dumb, forgettable and passably mediocre film.