The Avengers. Snow White and the Huntsmen. The Dark Knight Rises. The Amazing Spider-Man. Prometheus. Total Recall. Men in Black III. GI Joe: Retaliation. The summer blockbuster season is around the corner! If "The Hunger Games" is a start of what's to come, this is going to be Big! May 4, 2012. Summer opens with a bang with decades-in-the-making superheros ensemble, "The Avengers."
Sunday, April 22, 2012
Thursday, April 19, 2012
"The Raid: Redemption"
If you're wowed when Luc Besson's "District B-13" (French) came out years ago and launched Parkour to the world, or even simply enjoy John Woo's movies, get ready for another level of 'wow.'
"The Raid: Redemption" is the first Indonesian movie internationally released and gained rave reviews at film festivals, among critics and audience alike. Originally titled "Serbuan Maut" or "The Raid," Sony Pictures added the word "Redemption" when it acquired the rights, in hopes to make it a trilogy and a Hollywood remake.
Set in Jakarta with largely an Indonesian cast, "The Raid" introduces Pencak Silat, an Indonesian style martial arts. There's not much of a story, but there's a clear hero that you would root for and a vicious villain who puts most villains to shame. A secret tie to someone in the building named Andy (Doni Alamsyah) is also revealed.
The hero, Rama, (Iko Uwais) is a rookie cop with a pregnant wife, and part of a SWAT team being tasked to take down a cruel crime lord, Tama (Ray Sahetapi), and its thugs-occupied, high-rise apartment building. When the sergeant, Jaka, (Joe Taslim) who heads the task force goes down, Rama must find a way out to survive and lead a few remaining members of the team out of the death trap. Aside from the head mob, his right-hand, Mad Dog (Yayan Ruhian), has a penchant for dragged out, in-your-face combats, as opposed to easy killing with guns.
"The Raid" is a non-stop, violent rush, filled with no-holds barred, head-bashing, throat-slashing, heart-stabbing, gut-kicking, and all that gory goodness - in close quarters. Weapons include rifles, guns, knives, swords, machetes, axes, and even makeshift ones such gas tank-stuff refrigerator and light bulb.
As a native Indonesian speaker, it's actually harder for me to focus because of my divided attention between listening and understanding what the actors are saying, and observing, noticing, and comparing with the recurrently mismatched subtitle. Also, having 'grown up' with Pencak Silat (which is as common as Karate in the U.S.), the level of amazement is not the same for me.
That said, I can highly recommend "The Raid." Welsh-born director, Gareth Huw Evans, skillfully executes and maintains the hold-your-breath thrill and tension with complex choreography of fight sequences, performed by real-life fighters, at a breakneck speed throughout the duration of the movie. No shaky cam, no cutaway shot, no slow-mo. There are multitude of memorable scenes, but the single, most nail-biting scene involves Rama crouching with a wounded cop behind a slim wall trying to avoid getting sliced by a sword.
If you're an action movie or martial arts fan, "The Raid" is a must-see. Once in a blue moon, comes a genre-defining picture. "The Raid" is one of them.
http://www.sdentertainer.com/arts/reviews-arts/movie-review-the-raid-redemption/
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Upcoming Movies: April 2012
April 6
The Raid: Redemption" (http://merantaufilms.com/the-raid/) - A SWAT team becomes trapped in a tenement run by a ruthless mobster and his army of killers and thugs.
April 13
"Lockout" (http://lockoutfilm.com/) - A man wrongly convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage against the U.S. is offered his freedom if he can rescue the president's daughter from an outer space prison taken over by violent inmates.
April 20
"The Lucky One" (http://theluckyonemovie.warnerbros.com/) - A Marine travels to North Carolina after serving three tours in Iraq and searches for the unknown woman he believes was his good luck charm during the war.
April 27
"The Pirates! Band of Misfits" (http://thepirates-movie.com/) - Pirate Captain sets out on a mission to defeat his rivals Black Bellamy and Cutlass Liz for the Pirate of the year Award. The quest takes Captain and his crew from the shores of Blood Island to the foggy streets of Victorian London.
"Safe" (http://www.safethefilm.com/) - A former elite agent takes on a two-tier mission: rescue a Chinese girl who's been abducted by the Triads, then use a safe combination to outwit the Russian Mafia, corrupt NYC officials, and the Triads themselves.
Sunday, April 1, 2012
"Mirror Mirror"
Visual master, director Tarsem Singh ("Immortals") is back. True to form, the retooled fairy tale is fantastic to look at. From the vast view of the castle perched atop a precipice protruding out into a lake to the outrageously ornate regal dresses. The script is sometimes too campy for its own good, but Julia Roberts has the best lines and costumes and looks like she's having a ball. Compared to the other rendition of Snow White, "Snow White and the Huntsman," "Mirror Mirror" is targeted towards kids, but it's also something that adults would enjoy. "Mirror Mirror" is lighthearted, whimsical and wickedly hilarious.
DVD (blu-ray): http://tinyurl.com/7ubmzzx
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