Sequels better than Originals - No. 5 - Batman Returns

It is debatable among whether this sequel is better than the 1989 Batman film by Tim Burton. It is really a matter of preference. Some people prefer, the first film because of Jack Nicholson as the Joker and consider this film bittersweet compared to the original's triumph. People also didn't like the Penguin, but I like how they made something disgusting and evil so sympathetic. I prefer this because it is darker, more gothic and Tim Burton upgraded his style, I love bittersweet. Michelle Pfeiffer steals the show as Catwoman, and has great chemistry Michael Keaton who plays Batman. 

Sequels better than Originals - No. 6 - Superman 2

The pacing is much faster the first. The chemistry between Christopher Reeve and Margot Kidder is stronger. Terence Stamp is amazing as General Zod and the battle of Metropolis is great.

Sequels better than Originals - No. 7 - Shrek 2

The humour is more smart than the first. The relationship between Shrek and Fiona is less cliched and more believable than the first. The fairy Godmother is more interesting villain than Farquard. This also introduces Puss in Boots my favourite character.

Sequels better than Originals - No. 8 - Eclipse

I know Twilight is stupid. Sparkly vampires, is Stephenie Meyer insane? So it’s almost impossible that a ridiculous film series has a watchable sequel, Twilight was mediocre and New Moon was a load of crap! Eclipse does surprisingly good qualities such as the slick direction by David Slade (who also directed Hard Candy and 30 Days of Night) the newborn vampires was an interesting idea.

Plus my future wife Bryce Dallas Howard takes over as the sexy and evil Victoria.

Sequels better than Originals - No. 9 - Aliens

Another obvious, James Cameron’s Aliens is far better than Ridley Scott’s Alien. Granted the original is very suspenseful and has the scariest version of the chest-bursting. But Aliens has a lot of action scenes, a much stronger performance from Sigourney Weaver and best of all, the Queen Alien!

Hereafter – Review – 5/5 stars

This film has met a mixed response mainly due its subject which is very take it or leave it. Mainly due to different opinions on the afterlife, but you don’t to believe life after death to enjoy this film. The film even grounds us in reality by setting these characters during the events of 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and the 2005 London bombings. This a film about three different characters who each have a different experience involving death, loss and afterlife, this is more of a character study than a film about the afterlife.

It opens with a brilliant recreation of the tragic 2004 tsunami, which causes French journalist Marie (Cecile de France) to have a near death experience. The images of her experience in the afterlife don’t seem any more unrealistic than real-life claims from people who had near death experience: white lights, blurry people etc. The second character George (Matt Damon) who can commune with the dead but is trying to escape trying to have a normal life. The other is a young English boy Marcus who lost his twin brother Jason (played by Frankie and George McLaren) and is trying to communicate with him.

Matt Damon is good as always and is surprisingly believable when doing psychic readings; he leaves it ambiguous enough for the audience whether he’s really having these visions or just works it out picking up vibes (remember his character explained he had brain surgery). Cecile de France is great as a character trying to discover what happened to her, although most her lines are in French. The McLaren twins are good for child actors with no experience. Then there’s the lovely Bryce Dallas Howard (I don’t care what anyone thinks, one day she’ll be mine!) in a small role as a girl Damon tries to start a relationship with, she starts off sweet and likeable then she discovers his secret.

It’s almost impossible to see a bad film by Clint Eastwood or with Matt Damon. Don’t expect this to be a huge a action packed thriller just because it’s big opening sequence. This film is not for everyone, try not to afterlife parts too seriously if you don’t believe and get to learn about the characters and will be more enjoyable (at least for me).

Sequels better than Originals - No. 10 - The Dark Knight

Counting down from 10

The Dark Knight

I thought I I’d start off the obvious. Batman Begins was a fantastic film but The Dark Knight is Epic, all actions are completely jaw-dropping, storyline pulls us in and of course Heath Ledger as the Joker.

What made Heath Ledger stand-out so well is that nobody thought he could do it (don’t say you did!) he was funny, he was scary and just completely insane! The best version of the best Batman villain ever, the real downside is that is will be only time we Ledger as the Joker.

With great acting, great story and epic action sequences, the next film The Dark Knight Rises is going to be hard to beat even for Christopher Nolan, could be easy if Batman has sex with Catwoman.

Black Swan - Review - 5/5 stars

This is a very enjoyable film to watch even if it you don’t like ballet, since most of it is over-shadowed with a dark psychological story. Darren Aronofsky does a great job at putting the audience in the point-of-view of main character Nina (Natalie Portman) and like Nina has to wonder what is real and it is not. With clever camera shots, close-ups the scenes effectively the transformation Nina goes through both physically and mentally.

I’ve never particularly been a fan of Natalie Portman but she was fantastic and very believable when is literally changing from the white swan to the black swan. She makes the character Nina both likeable but also very disturbed, that even when goes crazy you can sympathise with. Natalie Portman has recently been nominated for an Oscar, she deserves to win. Vincent Kassel and Barbara Hershey both add great support as the Swan Lake producer and Nina’s mother. Then there’s the lovely Mila Kunis, who plays Nina’s rival Lily, who makes the character very versatile that it’s hard to work her intentions and can be interpreted two ways. Why wasn’t she nominated also? Winona Ryder also plays a small role as Beth, the prima ballerina Nina replaced, she’s very good I would’ve liked to have seen more of her character.

This film will keep you guessing throughout even with many WTF moments even including almost abusive scenes with Nina and her mother, reflections in the mirror and a sexy but freaky scene between Portman and Kunis, which all comes together in the final act. This is one of the best films made recently, nominated for five Oscars, including Best Picture, it deserves all of them.

If you see this thinking it’s going to be another chick/dance flick, then you are going to be freaked out.

The Air I Breathe - Review - 5/5 stars

The Air I Breathe is based on an ancient proverb which says that all emotions are different but they are always connected. With that, the film tells a story of four different characters, each representing an emotion, which are each connected. These characters and emotions are: Happiness represented by a bored businessman (Forest Whitaker) with an obsession with butterflies who bets his life on a horse race after he discovers there has been a fix; Pleasure represented by a gangster (Brendan Fraser) who sees the future must decide whether or not to follow his visions; Sorrow represented by a beautiful pop star (Sarah Michelle Gellar) who finds her management contract unexpectedly in jeopardy and Love represented by a doctor (Kevin Bacon) who tries to save the love of his life from a deadly injury. A common thread weaves its way through the lives of these characters: the ruthless crime boss Fingers (Andy Garcia).

The title “The Air I Breathe” makes the film sound poetic as breathing air is essentially life and the transition of it. The film opens with a quote “No emotion, any more than a wave, can long retain its own individual form” by Henry Ward Beecher, which implies the characters are connected through their emotions. A clever approach is that the main characters’ names are never revealed (except Gellar’s character who’s stage name is Trista but refuses to tell her real name), they each have a back-story revealing the reason behind their feelings but the viewer only knows the character by what their emotion is.

This is Jieho Lee’s directorial debut and he did an amazing job, most of the scenes were shot beautifully with excellent cinematography e.g. a scene where Sorrow is standing on a rooftop a sheet covering her is blown to make it look like wings and has beautiful sunrise in the background. With clever direction and editing, “The Air I Breathe” has the look of a big budget film, but it’s not. On a negative side, the dialogue was quite blunt and not very well written, but that was forgiven from a number of poetic statements from some of the characters, including “… when a butterfly leaves the safety of its cocoon, does it realize how beautiful it has become?. Or does it still just see itself as a caterpillar?” and “Sometimes the things you can’t change, they end up changing you.” That makes it relevant to the storyline as the film has a poetic and artistic theme, which is made to leave questions as opposed to answers as art aspires to do. Even though it’s artistic, the storylines manage to look realistic even when Brendan Fraser’s character is seeing into the future it just looks like mental images that everyone gets when they try to think what the future maybe like. The soundtrack plays a good part as the opening music sets up real excitement, but then a very peaceful piece of music is used to set the tone for the film.

The acting gives this film a real advantage, including Brendan Fraser who plays a depressed character adding real charisma outstandingly to the role.  He manages to show the evolution of his emotion from depression to pleasure really well. Forest Whitaker and Kevin Bacon add a great support to the cast and they did a good job portraying their emotions, but there screen-time is limited. Andy Garcia plays the main villain, which is the character that weaves the other characters together. It was rumoured that he represents Anger because the way he presents his character showed flawlessly the emotion of anger very successfully that makes his character a figure the audience can hate. However, the real star of this film is Sarah Michelle Gellar as she gives her best performance to date with the deepest emotion to play. Forget about her as the hero from “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” or the rich bitch from “Cruel Intentions”, this time she plays a very frail human being in need of help, and she knows how portray sadness perfectly.

What makes “The Air I Breathe” a great film is not that it plays out as a crime drama but because it has a very unique style, it’s like watching a poem.

JackforFilms

I love films. With this blog I will be discussing about films, and briefly television programs, new ones and old. I will talk about what I love and hate about them and why. I will be writing a few reviews about them, the brand new films, the classics and the lesser known films.

Anyone with a passion for films don't be shy to comment on what I blog in the near future, I open to any discussions. If you don't agree with what I have to say tell me why I'm up for debate.