The Dark Knight Rises review.

Review: 4.5 out of 5.

It is now the end of the Summer Blockbuster season and it is now time for the Bat to shed it's wings on the IMAX reel. No, this has nothing to do with vampires. Forget Twilight, its not for those fang lovers looking to either get eaten or to fulfill a dream that could only be found in erotica or soap opera and romantic novels. This is neo-noir or to put it blunt, a superhero film that blends crime, drama and thriller. High concept writer and director, Christopher Nolan, has carried the Caped Crusader in the space of nearly a decade. The first movie that rebooted the film series was Batman Begins (2005), which aimed for a more realistic tone and explored the origins of the Batman legend based on the DC comics character created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger. Nolan came back, this time with his brother, Johnathan, who co-wrote the script for the second installment in The Dark Knight (2008). This particular movie upped the anti and won 2 Academy Awards. With Nolan to return for the third and final chapter of The Dark Knight trilogy, can he break the rule of three-reel curse?

What's the story, you ask? The Dark Knight Rises opened eight years after the previous film. After Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) took all the blame for Harvey Dent's death and Batman has been missing ever since, Wayne has reduced to a recluse with his company plunging into rock bottom. Meanwhile, Commissioner James Gordon (Gary Oldman) is struggling in keeping the true reason behind Dent's activities which led to his demise. Selina Kyle (Anne Hathaway) stole Wayne's fingerprints to place a trade in a fit of chance to somehow clear her criminal acts. Gordon promoted John Blake (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) to detective - to persuade Batman to return as a new threat materialized in the form of powerhouse, Bane (Tom Hardy), who attempts to have the city of Gotham crumble under its own weight.

Good:

As usual Bale captured the man behind the mask and vice-versa profoundly well. It was excellent how Bale shifted through 3 faces of Bruce Wayne: the courageous, warm-blooded man who got trained by the League of Shadows, the enigmatic and irresponsible playboy and finally an incorruptible, driven, symbol that criminals now fear.

I loved the dynamic between the two characters between Batman and Bane, at first I was skeptical of the news that Nolan as the major antagonist in the film due to the treatment made to the character in the Schumacher era. However, I failed to realize how much of a wise decision it was as the character was a huge staple in Batman's history in the comics. Bane is every bit as intelligent and more than a match for The Dark Knight. Nolan envisioned a beginning of the end of a battle against crime and corruption in Gotham. Christopher, Johnathan and David S. Goyer structured a well complex, layered, story with twists and turns, foreshadowing and every device possible to wrap up the last adventure.


The cinematography by Wally Pfister maintained a surreal, urban, grimy look of this city and the choreography of the fight scenes were beautifully handled. The sound and the music by Hans Zimmer were not as great as last time, but it did carry the sequence fine and I can make that an exception. The production design from the costumes, vehicles, sets, aircraft, props, effects and designs are raw, gritty and military/black ops style as opposed to sleek, flashy and sexy. Hathaway's Catwoman has got to be one of the best interpretations of Batman's love interest and nemesis. The supporting cast including Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman and Oldman had less screen time but were prolific in their roles.

Bad:

Nolan's films tend not to have many flaws, for The Dark Knight Rises, it was quite a bit of technical errors such as Hardy's voice that is not clear throughout with annoying digital ringing to match. Not only that, but the music is not as captivating as the previous 2 films in the series. In addition, there were more than a few plot holes that lay across the screen like bad eggs. I don't want to spoil anything but there are some issues that happen that either aren't clear or don't make any sense e.g. how does Bane or Blake for that matter know Wayne's secret? Even the end had a knot that was quite loose.

Overall:

Apart from the back track in pacing and the fact that Wayne does not don the bat suit until the beginning of the 2nd Act, who could possibly complain? With an impressive cast, great effects work, on the ball dialogue and stunning directing and script that from all of the creative filmmakers that had input towards the final cut. If only they nailed the right pitch of Bane's voice.

- Written by Kbon

Inception film review

Review: 4.5 out of 5

To all of you people fanatical about film,

Kbon is now at it again. It has not been long since I reviewed Prototype, but I always wanted to take a chance in going through another item that dares pass my keen judgement. I just never had time. This, in particular, is the one movie I was intending to use before I watched A-Team. Well, today folks the film I am going to review is by Christopher Nolan, Director of The Dark Knight and The Prestige. Yes, it's Inception. Nolan and his younger brother, Johnathan, are geniuses when it comes to making Hollywood blockbusters. I don't need to mention anymore credits as their status as filmmakers are more painted on cash notes and worldwide than any word on the street. Oh, what the heck, Christopher has been nominated and won many Academy, Satellite and Empire Awards, notably for winning Best Director, Best Original Screenplay and more. He now has the next Batman film in development while adapting a whole twist on the Man of Steel everyone knows, Superman.

The newest contender in the film world introduced his idea of dreams to Warner Brothers in 2001, which started with an 80-paged treatment. Christopher then decided he was not ready to produce something at this kind of scale. I understand this due to how grand a concept it can actually be once you start talking about the mind. My question is does it live up to it's expectations as does, say The Dark Knight? Well, I have little anxiety towards Nolan's works and Inception borders on an entire new level of The Matrix. In short, this guy knows exactly what he's doing. Recruited in Nolan's team of actors is Leonardo DiCaprio who did films such as Shutter Island who plays extractor, Mr. Cobb, tasked with stealing dreams. He leads a team of extractors to perform a process called inception; store an idea in a subject's mind while unconscious. A pretty insane length to rob an item, don't you think? Maybe, but you got to love the odds with this. Imagine planting a suggestion into your teacher's head and convincing them of giving you straight A's. That would be cool. So, what is the plot?

Inception has a total of 148 minutes and was made by Nolan's own studio, Syncopy Films, and Legendary Pictures. This was distributed by Warner Brothers. Mr. Cobb is first shown on the beach, waking up to find an old man who describes a symbol, a spinning top, which is the perfect indicator of whether he is sleeping or not. Cobb, with his right-hand man, Arthur, (Joseph Gordon Levitt) embark on a mission within the mind of Japanese business man, Saito (Ken Watanabe) via drug inducement methods. The mission becomes awry thanks to Mal (Marion Corillard), a formidable woman always ruining missions and who poses a threat against Cobb. It appears this was a test, forcing Cobb to help Saito convince Robert Fischer (Cillian Murphy) in terminating his rival's empire, father of Robert, Maurice Fishcer (Pete Postlethwaire). In return for the mission's success, Cobb will be free to visit America and see his children. He drafts in Eames (Tom Hardy), the forger who can alter his form within dreams, Ariadne (Ellen Page), the architect in charge of building dream worlds and Yusuf (Dileep Rao), a chemist who specializes in sedatives that causes these mental projections to occur. With a team assembled, they face danger in every corner and death in this realm could result in the mind to enter a relapse: being lost forever in-between fantasy and reality.

The Good:

Alright, now that we sunk deep into our creators' madness, I got a few more things I got to say about Inception. The strengths is down to construction. Nolan, where have you been in my whole life? This is stupendous, not only has our writer/producer/director has got everything down to the cast, he's got an intelligent script and mesmerizing visuals courtesy of Wally Pfister. The drama creates urgency making you realize no matter how precise your skills are or how clever you can be, anything can go wrong. Brilliant acting plus a moving score by Hans Zimmer provided that unsettling build up. My favourite is the hotel scene where Arthur battles henchmen while escaping his team in a floating sequence. It will be memorable and is really breathtaking to watch. Nolan has obviously worked on this for a long time as the whole story is broken into layers split in the shape of an onion that connects like a domino effect. Of course, it does have some low points.

The Bad:

Unsurprisingly, this feature does not have many downsides. However, every watcher of Nolan's films knows his tendency to confuse audiences. Many can be a bit more than baffled at how well crafted his multi-strand plots are. It did the same to a friend and he almost slept near the bitter end of the movie. Me, being the film buff I am prevented this and I continued to watch. I got to admit though, I did pull a "What the--?", a couple times but it all made sense to me eventually. Another defect is the pacing is slow and quite daunting, it makes you lose sight of what Cobb's motive for the mission are? Finally, the main conflict against Mal as we learn in the close of the first Act that she's merely an avatar of Cobb's late wife is gotten rid of too easy. It would have been great if she had more screen time to fill her presence as someone imposing. I believe the actress, Marion, had potential and would have been more suited better as the film's villain if she was given more opportunities to be shown more of her character. At least she had enough for exposition but she felt a bit flat.

Overall:

Inception was a terrific film and is, believe it or not, one of the best films of this year. I can't wait until it hits DVD and Blu-ray release. My advice to anyone who goes to see a film like this, go watch it in IMAX theatres. I didn't have a chance to do that but it is worth the experience. This is by far the most fantastic use of mind blowing action since The Matrix or even Equilibrium. While those gratifying pieces built the foundations of imaginary settings, Nolan beats them by looking at the minor details that distinct them from this.

- Written by Kbon

4.3.2.1. review

Review: 3.5 out of 5.




Hey everyone,

I'm back from my break and I'm writing my first online film review for Noel Clarke's and Mark Davis' British crime thriller, 4.3.2.1. Before I get on with the feedback I'm presenting on this site I would like to congratulate a good friend of mine who goes by the name, Lil Dre for sorting out his big T-Shirt promotion for the web comic, Nemesis Dawn of a Legend and a 20 minute short film called The Hardest to Survive that he's developing with J-Starz and Matthew Ezee. I saw his video teaser for a soundtrack he's using for the action thriller the other day on Facebook and it is really good. Big up Lil Dre for that. Let me remind you that this review is not Latino Review so I only review stuff I myself have watched or any cycle of information I can gather. If you want me to review other types of films like this and different entertainment like video games or music, I will do it but let me know by following my blog and comment on the top of the screen. Now for the review.

The film is really 116 minutes long, so just a little over 2 hours and is distributed by Revolver Entertainment, as Clarke rightly put it, 4.3.2.1 follows "four" young women involved with a heist of expensive diamonds and are caught in a wide adventure at a span of "three" days set in "two" cities with only "one" chance to make things right. To be honest, I felt this movie was really good but it wasn't great. It is better than Kidulthood by far and only just better than Adulthood by two notches. There is a reason I gave this rating a 3.5 out of 5 stars, but I'll discuss that later. The girls, Jo (Emma Roberts) is a worker at the till, stuck in a supermarket being tested by the arrogant Tee (Noel Clarke), the supervisor at the market who does not show up again until the last 45 minutes of this entire movie. There is then Cassandra (Tasmin Egerton), a middle class pianist visiting the city of New York to see a "cyber friend" as Jo had said, Kerrys (Shanika Warren-Markland), a sultry, in-your-face, tough vixen hungry for sex and dominating over anyone who gets in her way - man or woman. Finally, Shannon (Ophelia Lovibond), the quiet graffiti artist who only wants to meet her number one guy. The film opens with Shannon holding diamonds near the River Thames in London and about to commit suicide while the other girls confront her in a Mexican Standoff.

Three days earlier, the group meet in a clothing store and have a talk over what seems to be a whole friends reunion. I have got to admit, I'm fascinated by the visuals done in the film, although the soundtracks is not as good in Adulthood, the visuals here is better. Especially a moment in the film where Shannon drunk too much during the club scene right after the meeting. You can see how damaging it is to her as she tries getting with a man. Kerrys causes a fight with the man Shannon was trying to sleep with and both of them escape. Shannon gets attacked by a group of hooligans with paintball guns over what she had done and rescued by the mysterious Kelly played by Michelle Ryan. After dressing, Shannon realises after meeting Jo at the market kissing Dillon (Adam Deacon) and walking out, she came into possession of the diamonds. She narrowly escapes from Kelly who wants the diamonds. Shannon comes home to visit her father and confronts her mother about the self-inflicted scars made after leaving home. She then writes a letter to warn the others of her situation, all the while feeling alienated by her trusting friends.

Subequently, the other girls are dealing with problems of their own, Kerrys has been locked in Cassandra's panic room with her girlfriend by her half brother, who is dealing with Dillon over something we don't yet know, Jo is being watched by Tee and Cassandra had only barely passed her exam on the piano while her virginity was selfishly taken and privacy endangered by her internet boyfriend. Kerrys is set free and gets revenge she rightfully deserves on her brother. It turns out Tee's supervision at the market is just a cover up to get the diamonds hidden in a safe, but already discovered by Dillon and his friend the rapper/actor Ashley "Bashy" Thomas. Tee's cover is blown when Dillon robs the market but a tight fest happens between Dillon, Jo, Kerrys, Kelly and Tee about the diamonds. Clarke's storytelling is neatly sewn in and woven into each girls perspective and background, which makes for effective character, but slows down the pace and makes the plot feel drawn out instead of moving forward quick enough. Shannon is found to have the diamonds by Cassandra, Kerrys and Jo, reconciling their differences. The girls move on from their normal lives and board a plane to America with the diamonds as Kelly joins them, implying an open-ending for a sequel. I hear some other reviews tearing this film apart but I am someone who will give my fairest criticism as possible.

The Good:

4.3.2.1 has very clever dialogue, it is almost as if Clarke is giving himself the best lines for his script in the acting category. There's some great on-the-nail black humour in it, performed by a majority of the cast. Clarke is recommended by his style of telling his story, even though there wasn't much depth to the plot. The soundtrack is smooth but I still think it's not as good as Adulthood was and the visuals were crystal clear as the diamonds itself. Each main character is likeable, my personal favourite was Shanika's character, Kerrys, it's too bad that she hates men though cause she's a real sight for sore eyes. In an interview with Clarke, he said each woman is really strong personality wise. Well, they each are very strong in their own way at dealing with their troubles, but the most vulnerable has got to be Shannon. We feel sympathy enough for her going through so much yet achieving so little.

The Bad:

Unfortunately, the reason this movie didn't get the number 4 star I really wanted to put in place in this review is because of the acting. It was bad, not dreadful, but could have been much better. For me, Clarke performed well as Tee better than most and the worst actress out there is ironically Shanika, I'm sorry. She was good at showing off her short skirts and bad attitude but it was not genuine for me and felt a bit flat. The multiple plotlines for the girls is brilliant, however it can get quite boring at times and makes it slightly drawn out than it's supposed to be. The film can be a little predictable at times but it makes up for this with the mystery of how all of the girls had got to where they are seen in the opening sequence and who had stolen the diamonds. There is not enough depth in the plot to make this more than just satisfying and may easily be taken for just another popcorn chick flick than a crime story.

Overall:

It is fun, a laugh, gripping and should be watched again. It is worth going again in cinemas and I would definitely add this to my collection of DVDs. It is a clap trap of edgy lines that would make you go say it aloud. Only the acting is bad, it covered mostly every area of film. With better performance this could have been a must see. I only hope it does well enough in the box office to warrant a sequel.

- Written by Kbon