Chernobyl Diaries ★★☆☆☆

I am sorry to say Chernobyl Diaries is not a good horror movie. The story centers on a group of tourists who join a day trip to see the ruins left behind following the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident and found themselves stranded in the ghost-town, and they are not alone. 

Once the film opens, I started to notice and could not help but to mumble: "Looks like a very low-budget movie!" And it is! The practically unknown-cast, the stereotyped characters, the chiche-lines, the fact that one of the main character, Chris (played by Jesse McCartney) decided to propose to his serious lover, Natalie (Olivia Taylor Dudley) in Russia, after they went to all other more "appropriate places" like Rome, Paris, or even London, show how silly and unbelievable this movie is. 

My friend, B, cannot help but to comment that: "Looks like a mix of Frozen and The Hills Have Eyes." That is also true except those two movies are more superior in their execution and story lines, which this movie clearly lacks. The most impressive thing about Chernobyl Diaries is the location and the scenery, and it appears that the whole movie is filmed on real location. The problem with the movie is that the poor lightings, and where the scary scenes happen only in the dark or at night, does more harm than good. The director did not even make good use of the location; such as poorly focused shots on appearances of monstrous figures and the jostling of the camera as we run along with the characters as they attempt to escape.

The biggest issue is that the movie did not attempt to give the audience any explanations, any character developments, or more importantly--any clear death scenes. Now the movie looks very cheap. The Chernobyl setting seems like a gimmick more than anything. If the film had been made as a horror movie with a premise of Chernobyl accident and actually followed through on that, I think the potential was there for a decent movie. As it is, Chernobyl Diaries is a major disappointment that never meets its potential on any level. 

The Amazing Spider-Man ★★★★☆

Recently my friend and I were discussing that not many quality summer blockbusters had come out during the summer (unless you count the very brainless Avengers, or the very gory and crazy Prometheus); then I see The Amazing Spider-Man. To say it is not a film that I am normally interested in would be an understatement. I wasn't a fan of the Marvel comic teenage superhero, nor was I an admirer of the original franchise starring Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst to fully appreciate the depth of this story. Additionally, if there was ever a movie that screamed "another-recycled-action-flick-cos-we-ran-out-of-ideas" it would be this one. In spite of that, I've heard wonderful things about the the director Marc Webber, and the casting (with Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone and Sally Field) and decided to view the movie. I'm happy to say that I'm glad that I did. Virtually the director Webber put together a cast of relatively new young and better-looking actor and actress with spectacular special effects that truly made the story go. 

Webber, who is most famous for (500) Days of Summer, renewed the whole casting and changed the approach (no more Mary-Jane or the Oscorp father and son). Peter Parker is not the innocent and naive high school boy like in the first few movies, but he is troubled teenager who is a photo-taking geek. The rather young and new cast has a fresh feeling on the story and there are no preconceived notions based on a past actor or actresses work. That being said Andrew Garfield (the Social Network), and Emma Stone (the Help) had a true coming out party in The Amazing Spider-Man. Both of them played fantastic parts, which really made their chemistry mesh nicely together. Rhys Ifans, Sally Field and Martin Sheen were all spectacular in supporting roles alongside Garfield and Stone. The villain this time is the Lizard who is truly frightening and did a good job scaring the hell out of the audience. 

When a movie has the explosions, crazy action or crude humor that we've become accustomed to seeing in newer movies there has got to be a great story attached in order to maintain your interest; The Amazing Spider-Man had that great story. There aren't many movies that have you laughing, crying, getting angry or frightened and end up still being fantastic and that is where this one had me. With my common rule of no movie should be over 2 hours unless it is special; this one is very special. I would be surprised if there aren't a number of sequels coming.

Some scenes are quite fragmented and silly, and dialogues sometimes corny but thank god the movie quickly went back to its right path until the end. I still do not like how the scene when Peter Parker got bitten by the spider was handled. But the story generally flows well, and there is no lacking in its actions to keep you from being bored. Having said that, I watched it in 2D which I think is good enough. Never a fan of the 3D movies. 

Great Acting: YES! 

Entertaining: Yes 

Summer Movie Grade: A+ 

Is it Worth the Price of a Movie ticket: Yes 

Would I watch It Again: Yes!

It has its "Scream" Moments

Scream 4

★★☆☆☆ Ghost Face is not Freddy Krueger

I am a total Scream fan ever since the first one absolutely blew me away with its unexpected brilliance and Drew Barrymore's breathtaking opening scene, introducing us with a new horror slasher icon, the Ghost Face, who started off this killing spree that has lasted more than a decade.

I likewise loved the more creative takes in its sequels moving away from the high school setting, to college (Scream 2) and ultimately to Hollywood (Scream 3), and offering some insightful laughs at the film industry itself. I thought the end of Scream 3 is a perfect and meaningful end to the trilogy and closure for our protagonist, Sidney (Neve Campbell). Plus, David Arquette and Courteney Cox got to wed in the movie and in real life too.

Having said that, I must confess I didn't expect much from director Wes Craven's latest foray into franchise. Well, it turns out that Scream 4 is, again, playing with the formula of horror/slasher genre, with its occasional scares and twists, as well as some comedy and satire to be part of a very much enjoyed Scream-franchise.

But Scream 4 is nothing new. It returns to high school, and with high school characters (Emma Roberts, Hayden Panettiere), and it claims to have "new rules", but the actions and scares seems very much recycled from the first 3. The 3 main leads are definitely showing their age and tiredness. Lacking of any new materials, except for the iPhone and cyber-killing, the scary parts become predictable and "seen that done that" before. The problem is that the Ghost Face killer does not even seem to show up that often to keep us awake!!!

The "who did it" plot clearly does not have any impact now anymore, and the twist becomes a pointless and unconvincing vehicle for fame (which works really well for the first one when it first came out!). although Scream 4 embraces the final girl theory and ably mocks the horror genre, there is no more innocence left in this very mediocre sequel.

High Class City Romance in Don't Go Breaking My Heart

Don't Go Breaking My Heart

★★★☆☆Is Love Really That Simple?

Just came back from the opener and the "world premiere" of the latest romatinc comedy from directorial partners Johnnie To and Wai Ka-fai at the 35th Hong Kong International Film Festival.

The story in "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" is basically right out of the romantic comedy cookbook, revolving around a growing romantic triangle between the characters Gao Yuanyuan (who played Zixin), Louis Koo (who played Shenran), and Daniel Wu (playing Qihong). Oh, and there is a frog in the movie which steals the scene every time.

The big story is the fact that it is mostly in Mandarin, but starring Hong Kong actors, in a Hong Kong setting, by a Hong Kong director (shock!). What is this? Is Hong Kong cinema about to return to its Mandarin-language past? Oh AND the songs used in the film are also...in Mandarin? Also what's with their very very Chinese names...?No offense to the 1 billion audience in Mainland market. But this trend may further fragments the Hong Kong declining film industry.

Thank God the movie manages to keep its Hong Kong style of humor and local flavours. There are a number of laughs throughout and it also manages to keep us guessing which of the two leading men Zixin would end up right until the very end. But Zixin's indecisiveness between the two men, going back and forth, has provoked frustration than care for her choice.

While it may seem like a character study of all three, they are however all excessively whiny, and sometimes needy, wanting things to go their way, and requiring the others to follow them. We never get to really know who they are, enough to care about their lives. The story is sometimes quite jumpy and implausible, esp, how Louis Koo's character proposed to marry Gao Yuanyuan suddenly when they haven't even gone out for a first date yet!

DON'T GET ME WRONG, I enjoyed each and every nugget of experience and advice that Director Johnnie To wanted to offer through his characters, especially that Zixin's fear but longing to start a love affair, Shenran's struggle to overcome his playboy lifestyle and settle down with the ultimate girl he likes, and Qihong who never stops loving Zixin who pulled him out of his funk.

Daniel Wu is, as always, goodlooking and likable enough for everyone to root for him (especially after he shaves). Gao Yuanyuan, in her first leading role in a Hong Kong film, probably needed a meatier role than this one, having to play a character gone neurotic when realizing she's out of her own comfort zone. Louis Koo is the charming and goofy womanizer and always manages to woo us into siding him. Compared to To's previous comedies, the leading characters don't seem "middle class" anymore, they are indeed "the upper class", fulfilling a high class fantasy for love in Hong Kong.

Some scenes are cute and profound, while most of the time overlong and not particularly exciting. Still, the performance of the cast failed to steer the film out of its self-indulgence, deciding just to run on the spot rather than to move the story along. I was entertained throughout, and I appreciated Johnnie To's purposeful backdrop of the financial crisis in the city, and his return to city/office romance, and the cafe habitu/pacific coffee setting, and his mastery in repetition-variation style in humor (apparent in the office building window scenes).

It is a good date-night movie, but it never aspires to be anything more. And it doesn't have to, I guess. I would really like to love this film as I did with his earlier works, such as Needing You, Love on a Diet, My Left Eye Sees Ghost, but still, it is a solid effort and a fun romantic comedy.

Pictures from HKIFF Opening Night and Meet-the-Cast session:

(From 3rd to the right: Director Wai Ka-fai, Actor Daniel Wu, and Actor Louis Koo)

(From 2nd to Right: Director Wai Ka-fai, Actor Daniel Wu, Actor Louis Koo, Actor Terence Yin, Actress Gao Yuanyuan, Actress J.J. Jia, and Actress Selena Li)

3 "memorable" events at the Film Festival:

1. The movie was supposed to start at 7:15, but we waited until 7:20, 7:25, and 7:30...what the heck? We got so bored staring at the "No Smoking", "No Food/Drink", and "No Phone" signs projected on the screen...

2. The director and the cast members were not only late but also only showed up for a split seconds before disappearing to backstage or wherever they came from. Well, I would say it was nice that we get to see them...even just for a few seconds.

3. When the movie started, this is when the horror of FLASHES suddenly began!!!!

Apparently, some guy was taking photographs with flash lights on from the left side. So while we were watching the movie, there would be a sudden strong flash coming from wherever whenever.

And then he would disappear for a while. We would be okay until the flashes RETURNED from the right side. WTF? Turns out he moved to the other side and continued with his flash lights...so as to make sure every single audience would be FLASHED!

let's hope the film festival would get better later on.

Arm Channel

Love in a Puff

★★★★☆

She realizes that her long-time boyfriend isn't the one (i.e. "arm channel" in Cantonese, "match" in English) as she wonders if the guy from the back alley during cigarette breaks might as well be Mr. Right.

Calling a 5-year-relationship off for a guy she only knew for 5 days because she doesn't feel right; this is Cherie (Miriam Yeung). Simple, direct, bold and daring to take chances: she defines what it means to be a local HK girl.

She goes to the usual smoking spot on Saturday to "bump into" Jimmy (Shawn Yue), and tells him "It's a date! It's a date! It's a date!". Her excitement for romance and her half-serious attitude are blurring and mixed in between the smoke she blows out, at every beat. When the two actually fall in love, she suddenly announces "I am 3 years older than you." "Actually...4 years." It is the accepting expression on his face that comforts her, that is more telling and heart-warming, and makes her keep walking down the road further, into a more fruitful, hopeful world, at least.

How do our two titular protagonists actually match each other? Why are they compatible? Sure, they are both smokers, sharing different brands of cancer sticks in the alleys, telling each other lame jokes and raunchy stories. But there are so many smokers in the world, why does it have to be "you"? They are texting/teasing each other every now and then, and a sense of connection begins to emerge. If anything, they have to match to feel for one another.

She has a boyfriend, but she has no belongingness until loneliness takes charge and forces her to see someone else. He has just been cheated, dumped and humiliated in public, and he feels lonelier than ever. Two people, each in their own unmatched channels, with their unfit lovers, but nevertheless the loneliest smokers in the world and they do not understand what love means. Speculation gets both of them nowhere.

The two spend a night in a love motel and she is touched by his words "we don't have to do everything tonight" But he explains to her afterwards, he wanted to have sex, but it was just that he couldn't. Sometimes, people are often moved by illusions and blinded by their own bubble. But the truth often shatters the noble image of the person we fall in love with. The most romantic scene in the film is finally dissolved and gone like the smoke, up in the air.

Pang Ho-cheung's films are always like that, it's not deep enough for you to take it seriously, but it's also not something you could overlook. All the events in the world seem mysteriously vague in his films, and whatever left in our heads is far more vivid than what is shown onscreen. Among all good things in the world, a touch of sweetness hung in the air, and the characters are healing, recovering, smoking and finding love is in the puff.

It's a small small world

Toy Story 3

★★★☆☆ Take my breath away!

Toys will be toys, but kids will change. The story of the new Pixar film Toy Story 3 has basically been glided over once in Toy Story 2: when kids grow up, toys are left behind.

That was when Jessie the Yodeling Cowgirl tells her backstory in Toy Story 2. The sequence consists of no dialogue, but only a Sarah McLachlan song "When She Loved Me" (akin to the short sequence in Up's beginning where the couple grow old). It began happily where Jessie hangs out with her master Emily all the time, but as Emily grows up, makeup products slowly replace the toys, and Jessie was left under the bed, and then dumped to the side of the road. Pixar shows that it is the master in storytelling from this breathtaking sequence; Emily's face is blurry, but the faithful cowgirl never gets over this painful memory and never forgets her master.

This short segment is expanded into a full length movie in TS3 where they deal with the topic of the inevitable departure again. There's a similar sequence in the new film. The flashback of how the Lotso Bear (who smells like Strawberry) got replaced is very similar to the sequence in TS2. But the main problem in TS3 is that it lacks the necessary sequence that makes it memorable for this latest installment of the 15-year-old franchise which kickstarted the CGI animation.

TS3 like its predecessors is packed with clever and engrossing adventures, but like any sequels, it tries to balance its continuity with novelty. The continuity is there, but not much novelty is shown. The action scenes are similar, the jokes are similar, and the only novelty maybe come from the new toys (with a Totoro toy, but that's a Japanese character though?), and with Barbie and Ken, and with the new 3D technology (which doesn't really do much), or maybe we get to see Woody without his hat, or Buzz Lightyear in Spanish mode. When the toys finally face their nightmarish end, they stop struggling to escape, but they hold each other's hands, and are simply glad that they have been and are all in this together.

The true heartwarming scene is when Andy plops down on the grass to share his toys with a shy little girl, introducing the toys to the girl, and each speaking and acting for the toy, reenacting and reliving imaginary scenes, and creating a small, small world of their own. It is a moment that transpires sadness and layered pleasure. It is a moment where no one else would understand but only those who have done that before, those who had toys on their beds would know what it means.

When Andy heads to the next stage of his life, Woody says to him, "so long partner". Calling Andy his partner is a cowboy western kind of respect to a long-time friend. Simple on the outset, but filled with complex inner emotions beneath the words: respect, friendship, cherish, memory and changes. The toys finally understand and accept the changes, so they no longer seek Andy's attention anymore. The lesson here is to let go, and so they each move on to their separate paths: Andy to college, and the toys into another girl's arms. A bitter-sweet ending that concludes their journey together.

Playing with toys has always been a very personal thing. Sharing it with others expands an individual horizon. The attachment we have with toys, others might not understand, but the film provides a nostalgic reminder for everyone: is there an forgotten box up in the attic?

Could Sequels be Better?

The Twilight Saga: Eclipse

★☆☆☆☆ High School + Vampire + Romance = A Brand

"Let's face it: I'm hotter than you." Jacob (Taylor Lautner) said this to Edward (Robert Pattinson) when their beloved Bella (Kristen Stewart) shivers in the cold. This line woke me up from my coma. No, not this line. But I woke up to the immense laughers and giggling from the audience that are invoked by this line, which is the smartest joke played on by the actors themselves.

While watching this third installment of the fantastically popular teenage series, Director David Slade knows exactly how to sell a brand and serve his fans. The out-of-left-field moments are expected, not required by the plot, yet very much expected and necessary for the fans. Fans want to see shirtless Jacob, so you see shirtless Jacob (easier transition as a shape-shifter? yeah, right...) as a service for the fans. But after doing it already in the previous New Moon, Eclipse is in a rather delicate position and things are a bit trickier this time.

Sure, there are other things. There's the battle scene with the vampires, werewolves, and the "newborns" (don't ask!). There's the highly frizzy chase scene of Bryce Dallas Howard as the red-haired villain. There's also an all grown-up Dakota Fanning! But Twilight devotees couldn't care less. They just want to watch the film repeats the overwrought romantic triangle between Bella, Edward, and Jacob again and again and again...


There's nothing wrong with the direction but the transition from the 629 pages Stephenie Meyer's novel into a 2 hour blockbuster proves to be a murky task. The characters are all crowd-pleasing dolls. So what if Bella goes to Edward to lose her virginity immediately after confessing to her Dad that she's still a virgin? So what if she is in love with both Jacob and Edward? Like the graduation speech given by Jessica (Anna Kendrick), everyone makes mistakes and when Bella tells Edward that "I'm not normal", every contradiction is justified.

Oh, and the painful expression on Edward's face. We love seeing our sweet R-Patz suffer in pain. And also Jacob who repeatedly walks around shirtless and convinces Bella of their love (until she thinks she is too). Watching Bella agonizing back and forth between two studs, over her stupid choice to become a vampire or to give into the hypnotic adolescent werewolf, and that's all the fans need. Muse's soundtrack is just a surprise and I feel, at many points, like I just saw the same action and scene few minutes before. Count how many times Edward proposes to Bella? And how many times Jacob said to Bella "I know you love me" and you have the whole movie. No, this is no repetition-variation either. It's just simply--the same thing.

After three films in the same franchise, no progression whatsoever is present in the sequel but definitely a lot of fun for the fans. And that's enough. Don't bother if you aren't a fan because Eclipse is defined as a fetish object now, made up of iconic scenes rather than any contextual plot. The silly flashbacks lack any delicious length and offer nothing new to the series. Everything remains still in the struggle between the civilized and primitive, the suppressed and transformed, sex and purity, but the themes are never explored in the movies like what Meyer has envisioned in her novels. Now, Eclipse is strictly business. Let's hope Breaking Dawn won't be.

(USA, 2010)