Doubt

Gossip. Intolerance. Doubt.

Very well composed and phenomenally acted drama. Meryl Streep, Amy Adams, and Philip Seymour Hoffman, are all equally great. The plot (Roman Catholisism and child molestation by Catholic priests during the 60's) is also quite intriguing and very well written by writer/director John Patrick Shanley. The only character that I though was mediocre was Viola Davis as the boy’s mother. I’m not quite sure why she earned the Oscar nomination.
* * * * (four out of five) -- Definitely worth watching!! One of the better character dramas of 2008.


V.


Enjoyed Doubt? Viira recommends: Basic Instinct, The Hours, and anything with Philip Seymour Hoffman.


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Slumdog Millionaire

Who wants to be a millionaire?

Cute film with a well-written story. Not worthy of an Oscar though! Don't get me wrong, it wasn't a bad film. No, not at all. But I had expected more from an Oscar winner.

Was my disappointment due to the hype? I think it was partially the hype. In my opinion, the film, which was mediocre at best, got all the hype due to the extraordinary location (Mumbai, India) of where the story took place. I think it was the location that made the film so famous. Had it been Detroit, Michigan, Newark, New Jersey, Cleveland, Ohio or Miami, Florida (all reasonably large cities with extremely high poverty rates), I bet both the critics and the audiences would have perceived it much differently. After all, the whole rags to riches love story with the emphasis on honesty and truth is quite clichéish.

* * * WARNING: mild spoilers ahead * * *

Here’s something I found quite intriguing -- at one point in the film, Latika refuses to run away with Jamal since she cannot solely “feed off of love”. Later on, at the end of the film, when Jamal is moments away from winning 20 million rupees, she tells him (over the phone) “I’m yours”.

Could the street kid turned hustler turned prostitute be really in love with him? Could it be that she was always in love with him, yet she chose to be a prostitute for a wealthy crime lord only because she could enjoy the finer things in life? Could Latika's love for the money be stronger than her feelings toward Jamal? Perhaps I’m not supposed to analyze that. I’ll let you decide…

* * * (three out of five) -- Cute film. Original in it's concept? Yes. Worthy of a Best Picture Oscar? Not really. Merely my opinion.

V.


Enjoyed Slumdog Millionaire? Viira recommends: Trainspotting, The Beach, City of God.


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Twilight

When you can live forever what do you live for?

I’ve been debating for the past hour and a half trying to figure out whether I’d give this film a 2 or a 3 star rating. It wasn’t bad. But it certainly wasn’t all that good either. Bottom line -- I wasn’t impressed. Would I have liked it 10 times more if I was 10 years younger? Maybe…

Let me begin this by saying that I didn’t expect much from Twilight; I knew it was going to be a fantasy-vampire-romance-teen-flick. Truthfully, the concept, or the story, sounded intriguing and teen flicks are oftentimes underrated (e.g. Thirteen, The Lookout). After all, I was a teen once, long time ago…

What I did like, and thought was actually kind of cool, were the costumes, the cars (blood red CLK and the pitch black S550), and the post-modern luxury residence of the Cullen vampire coven, which made the Cullens look like the uber-cool Valmonts from Cruel Intentions.

Nonetheless, what bothered me about the film, was the lack of character development. Even though the characters were well acted on behalf of Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson, I wasn’t buying the romance. Bottom line -- it lacked depth. I have not read Stephanie Meyer’s bestselling novel, maybe I should, but I’m afraid I would have disliked the film more had I actually read the novel. I simply did not feel the love.

Another downside of the film was the Lifetime-B-Movie-like cinematography. Did anyone notice that? The sound was okay, and the performances by the leading actors were decent, but some scenes we’re a bit too Lifetime-movie-like for me. And lastly, Billy Burke as Bella’s father resembled more of a drunken lowlife than the Chief of Police. WTF!? Could they have picked any worse actor for that role?? I guess Gary Busey was in the rehab so they really had no other choice…


Twilight had a unique and interesting concept, but it was poorly executed.

* * (two out of five) -- Not impressed.


V.


Enjoyed Twilight? Viira recommends: Interview with the Vampire, Jumper, The Messengers.


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