Sunday, July 09, 2006

(Very) Belated April & May Movie Post

This has got to be the tardiest review post I've done, and in all honesty I can hardly remember some of these at all. But whatever. We soldier on.

Keeping Mum
Decent enough for a distraction at the movies. Good premise, but somehow the execution (no pun intended) doesn't quite live up to it. It all seems so "safe", with hardly any surprises. I wish Rowan Atkinson would stop playing the bumbling, well-meaning guy in his movies. He's hilarious when he's nasty (see Blackadder), and he should do that more often. Apart from that, the cast is uniformly good, with Maggie Smith especially delicious as the murdering housekeeper. Patrick Swayze shows surprising comic flair as an over-the-top obnoxious American - stereotypical and annoying, but he works in the role.

Where the Truth Lies
Kevin Bacon playing a Jerry Lewis-like character - good. Alison Lohman playing a reporter - not so good. In fact, she seems a little out of her league, and watching her get intimate with the men feels kinda like watching an uncle hitting on his own niece. Ugh.





黑社會: 以和為貴 (Election 2)
Good, dark, talky, yet has moments of intense, operatic violence. And anyone else feel like they were watching a political commentary on Singapore as well?







The Da Vinci Code
Overlong, boring, and the CGI bordered on the ridiculous. Ooh, glowing and floating numbers to get us "into" Tom Hanks' mind... Ooh, Tom Hanks' hair has a mind of its own... Ooh, Ian McKellan camping it up... Wait, the last bit was good.






Mission: Impossible III
Probably the first M:I movie that I really liked. Great action setpieces, intense pacing, and the deliciously evil Philip Seymour Hoffman make you almost forget that you're watching Tom Cruise prancing around. Someone please give Hoffman more baddie roles; he's awesome here. Oh, and Maggie Q is hot.




Paradise Now
Overly preachy at times, but nonetheless gripping when it gets going. Pity it takes a rather long time to build up. Plus it would be nice if it didn't seem like the characters were spouting pre-written political speeches in their dialogue.






Over the Hedge
Steve Carell is a freaking genius. Doesn't quite go into Pixar's level of "oh-my-God-this-is-a-good-script", but entertaining enough nonetheless.

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