Holitao Reviews

28 Days Later (2002)

Danny Boyle's tautly imagined `28 Days Later' is an ambitious zombie film more plausible than supernatural, more hysterical than scary, and more raw than gory.

[8/10 · 1 July 2003]

Danny Boyle's tautly imagined `28 Days Later' is an ambitious zombie film more plausible than supernatural, more hysterical than scary, and more raw than gory. Although the film is being marketed as a horror film, it bares truer resemblance to thrillers like `Outbreak,' based on the terrifying non-fiction, `Crisis in the Hotzone.' Unlike George Romero's genre-defining visions of `Night, Dawn and Day of the (Living) Dead' trilogy, D. Boyle's zombies are not dead but rather terminally enraged. Clearly the makers were inspired more by `Crisis in the Hotzone,' especially the way Ebola virus spread, and applied it in a zombie film. (In the final stages of Ebola infection, contaminated blood pours out from every orifices of victims' bodies while causing them to thrash violently and infect others through eyes, mouth, open wound and some even through air.)

Wonderfully transparent Cillian Murphy plays Jim, a bicycle messenger who fell into coma just before the outbreak, wakes up to find all of London empty and left to discover the terrible fate of humanity. Embracing the limited budget and digital video, D. Boyle champions inspired collaboration from his talented cast and cameraman, Anthony Dod Mantle. Christopher Eccleston's insane Major Henry West and Brendan Gleeson's tenderly father Frank are excellent, and DV photography helps shape the film's creepy mood as well as freer application of digital visual effects. John Murphy's aggressive score highlights film's implicit violence and psychological turmoil occurring throughout the film. While `28 Days Later' is not as scary as G. Romero's Dead Trilogy, D. Boyle succeeds in breathing fresh life to the living-dead genre. This one rates 8/10.

Cremaster 3 (2002)

Artist Matthew Barney's `Cremater 3' is a frustrating anti-cinematic experience.

[4/10 · 24 June 2003]

Artist Matthew Barney's `Cremater 3' is a frustrating anti-cinematic experience. Without having a prior knowledge of the series, this 3 hour-plus film appears repetitive, contrived and cryptic. To be fair, there seems to be an incredible design and depth to the material but the director Matthew Barney is more interested in visual and performance artistry than a film concept. Art expressed properly in any form is balanced in craft and vision, and Matthew Barney is limited in film language to properly execute his big ideas. Even though there are some visually striking images appearing in the film, the grand Masonic vision for `Cremaster 3' does not shine strong enough to matter or even care. This one rates 4/10

Hulk (2003)

Ang Lee's ambitions efforts based on the popular DC Comic book series are often masterfully executed, yet fails to bring toughness and excitement critical to this genre.

[7/10 · 23 June 2003]

Even with all the muscle and rage, potentially explosive `Hulk' is an unsatisfying action film experience. At first, it seemed like an odd choice for a character sensitive director like Ang Lee but considering his genre-breaking resume, the producers were hoping to breath art into action. As it turns out, Ang Lee's ambitions efforts based on the popular DC Comic book series are often masterfully executed, yet fails to bring toughness and excitement critical to this genre. Nick Nolte's tyranny and Jennifer Connelly's aching stare are effective as the tormented father and compassionate girlfriend, Betty Ross, respectively. Eric Bana's Bruce Banner and Sam Elliot's military man Ross are serviceable but too often get eclipsed by their counter parts. Danny Elfman, a veteran scorer of blockbuster movies, provides the film with energy often lacking in the film.

`Hulk' aims to remain faithful to the original material and to connect emotionally but come at a price of tensions either being subdued or indirect, critical for an action arena where the experience is more visceral than emotional. Making a good action film that rock is as difficult as a good art film that transcend. Still, it is welcoming to see Hollywood trying to do something different and this one rates 7/10.

Winged Migration (2001)

An international coalition of filmmakers collaborated to create `Winged Migration' a beautiful and dreamy film.

[8/10 · 19 June 2003]

An international coalition of filmmakers collaborated to create `Winged Migration' a beautiful and dreamy film, offering breathtaking views into the world of birds migrating, flying side by side with them across oceans, continents, deserts, rainforests, in snow and rain, against the setting sun, to the Arctic Circle and back. At 98 minutes this poetically edited film can be challenging as a cinematic experience, offering little in terms of ornithology, aimed more as a meditative piece. It is evident these filmmakers took extra care to bring the audience closer to see what these creatures see, feel what they feel, invite us closer to ourselves and inspire urgency to coexist harmoniously with the outside world, by showing us a glimpse of natural beauty to our familiar industrial lives. This one rates 8/10.

Herod's Law (1999)

How many times can we say movies have the power to change a political system?

[8/10 · 19 June 2003]

Politically inspired `Herod's Law' weaves a familiar story of a mousy junkyard operator making his way up to a powerful position and more importantly, corruption that ultimately follow. Director Luis Estrada commands an ensemble of talented actors and masterfully executes this sharp, tough and funny material. Set in 1949, Damián Alcázar plays Juan Vargas, a newly appointed mayor, promising to bring `modernity and social justice' to San Pedro de los Saguaros, a small but troublesome town. Although Juan Vargas initially has good intentions, he is soon forced to `Herod's Law' – a sort of Darwinian way of looking at your peers. D. Alcázar's physical comedy is perfectly pitched and the scenes with Doña Lupe, the brothel madam, are especially funny.

When this film was released in Mexico, it cause so much stirred that the ruling party for 70 years, PRI, was voted out. How many times can we say movies have the power to change a political system? This is 8/10.

The Italian Job (2003)

Under the assured direction of F. Gary Gray, "Italian Job" never loses its grip on being cool and fun.

[7/10 · 3 June 2003]

Under the assured direction of F. Gary Gray, "Italian Job" never loses its grip on being cool and fun. Although the material is rehashed and average, the film itself is masterfully executed and is satisfyingly good. The tone could easily have been much heavier, considering the murder-revenge plotline but F. Gary Gray keeps the tone light by good humor, snappy dialogs and pulsating music. It is a pleasure to see these would-be-bad guys form a great bond and stick to eachother through deceit and murder, while never forgetting to have fun. This one is 7/10.

Finding Nemo (2003)

"Finding Nemo" is a virtuoso visual feature that pushes the envelope of animation to the next level.

[8/10 · 2 June 2003]

"Finding Nemo" is a virtuoso visual feature that pushes the envelope of animation to the next level. Never has been the diverse marine life rendered so perfectly in an animation picture that it is a marvel just to watch, despite its formulaic and predictable plot. It is interesting seeing how Pixar has blurred the line of animation and live action but still cannot upgrade from its pedestrian storytelling. Regardless, good children's entertainment are hard to find and this one stands out well above the rest. 8/10.

The Shape of Things (2003)

In "Shape of Things," director Neil LaBute painfully weaves a story on unfair practices between man and woman.

[9/10 · 28 May 2003]

**Spoiler Alert**

For ages art has been used both gloriously and perversely by its students to present mankind's (especially self) struggle to exist harmoniously with his/her surroundings. In "Shape of Things," director Neil LaBute painfully (so painful that it becomes absurdly funny) weaves a story on unfair practices between man and woman. When an art student Eve-lyn (Rachel Weisz) crosses the exhibit "boundary" at an art gallery, and bates Adam (Paul Rudd), she means to enlighten us on our obsession with surface of things, thus, "Shape of Things." Right from the start, Eve-lyn uses deception and manipulations to always gain upper hand on Adam, who never had a chance, and even after learning the truth, still remains loyal putty to her manipulations. Men never learn.

The film plays on the misogamy side but this is an audacious work in both form and contents by Neil LaBute, well versed in film language, who may be saying cynically, highest form of art is sublime and therefore open to many interpretations, not just a logical one. This one rates 9/10.

The Matrix Reloaded (2003)

"Matrix Reloaded," fails to make necessary emotional connection to its jaw-dropping visual effects, resulting in a dramatically flat 'middle' trilogy.

[6/10 · 20 May 2003]

The first Matrix was technically brilliant as well as narratively sound. In this 2nd installment, "Matrix Reloaded," fails to make necessary emotional connection to its jaw-dropping visual effects, resulting in a dramatically flat 'middle' trilogy. In the first, the cool action sequences served to introduce our characters as super beings, once in the Matrix. In this one, while the action sequences are still pretty cool, now feel long and pointless. Combine this with the film's ambitious effort to bring Greek mythology, Christianity, Buddhism, Marxism and nihilism together in a cryptic way as not to reveal too much in light of the next, conclusive install resulted in an even film. The success of "Matrix Reloaded" should be attributed more to its brilliant marketing strategy than the film itself, which grossed some $160 million opening week worldwide. This one rates 6/10.

Ghosts of the Abyss (2003)

James Cameron and his crew made an extraordinary expedition, but failed to bring the audience along with them.

[6/10 · 7 May 2003]

James Cameron returns to the infamous Titanic site sunk deep in the North Atlantic, armed with some high-tech equipment. For the most part, "Ghosts of the Abyss" is a bore, and could have been cut short by 20 min., which is what normal Imax films run. Initial site of the Titanic is breathtaking, lying massive under the deep sea. Beyond that, the film offers not much more and focus is directed towards two submerged remote controlled robots, to help them peer into insides of the Titanic. Far as 3-D experiences go, we are only limited to outside view and once inside, smaller windows show up in 2-D. The length of the film and 3-D film format is not warranted here, except for hype effect, for they do not reveal anymore insight. James Cameron and his crew made an extraordinary expedition, but failed to bring the audience along with them.

Identity (2003)

Good but feels like cheat.

[7/10 · 6 May 2003]

"Identity" is another well played cat and mouse game. The most enjoyable aspect of this film is James Mangold assured direction, while the film never really gets past cheap scare tactics. Like "Spider" this movie deals with schizophrenia and is being marketed as a horror film, but it plays more like a thriller, "Identity" perhaps more audience-friendly. By its surprise ending I felt cheated and tainted my enjoyment of the film. Nevertheless, this film is done quite well(photography, acting, music, editing, etc.) and deserves a 7/10.

X2 (2003)

Working with more resources this time around, Bryan Singer again succeeds in bringing in logic and emotion to the foreground in a genre where so many have failed.

[8/10 · 6 May 2003]

Seen from the Mutants' perspective, the world is full enemies and easy to understand Magnito's resolution to rid of humans. We aren't given much compelling reasons to like humans, who seem full of fear and wants no part of the Mutants, the films underlying scores of racism and homophobia. This, is the reason for Magnito and Professor X to join forces and fight General Stryker who has built another Cerebro to annihilate the Mutants.

Working with more resources this time around, Bryan Singer again succeeds in bringing in logic and emotion to the foreground in a genre where so many have failed. Although the script appears contrived in places, "X:2" nevertheless is a good Hollywood entertainment.

Better Luck Tomorrow (2002)

Note worthy Asian-American film that ultimately, disappoints.

[6/10 · 6 May 2003]

For a film of this scope, it is note worthy. Having said that, the film is full of dull notes and only manages to become engaging at the end murder sequence. "Better Luck Tomorrow" is receiving praises for overcoming Asian stereotypes but its characters and story are such mixed bag that it doesn't know what to say. Justin Lin is film smart enough to know what to shoot but not yet savvy enough to make the connection between his shots for 2 hours. For me, the film ended when it was just getting started. [scores 6/10]

Nowhere in Africa (2001)

Caroline Link does not discover new territories with this traditionally-told melodrama but succeeds in making "Nowhere in Africa" a timeless and moving film.

[10/10 · 6 May 2003]

Based on a true story, a Jewish family escapes Nazi Germany and relocates to Kenya. Traumatic at first, then the family discovers a new way of life to be not without its rewards.

Listening from a portable radio in Africa about the details of Jewish holocaust is somewhat confining but a wonderful way of providing emotional tension central to this story. Instead of being witness to visceral aspects of the war, we are left to examine the resilience of human spirit and infinite possibilities of life. Vast and captivating African sceneries are not only beautiful but also gives spiritual lift that guide the family along their journey. Caroline Link does not discover new territories with this traditionally-told melodrama but succeeds in making "Nowhere in Africa" a timeless and moving film.

The Core (2003)

Fueled by scenes that go boom "The Core" does what you expect, perhaps too much so.

[6/10 · 24 April 2003]

Only thing surprising about "The Core" is how poor it is doing at the theaters. It is quality work as far as overly-produced Sci-Fi action films go, which are often doomed from script stage. No logic will reassure you that what you are seeing is plausible, but will give you 30 min. of pretty pictures that mostly go "boom," and 90 min. of actors desperately working to be in the same movie. This one is a 6/10.

The Man Without a Past (2002)

Man loses memory after being beaten with a bat but finds a new life, friends and even love.

[9/10 · 21 April 2003]

If you're already familiar with Kurismaki's films then you know that he is a minimalist, and he works in black-humor. "The Man Without A Past" is a beautifully and achingly told fable about life (or is it death?) continuing on. Kurismaki once again works with lives on the fringe who depend on one another for survival, this time the protagonist gets help from sympathetic Salvation Army workers. The setting and the pacing of the film is slow and deliberate that it appears out of time, much of dialogs and emotions are absent from acting to comical effects, and the story is simple but tangled with mysterious plot points, lifting it to a spiritual plane. Kurismaki remains to be one of the original voices left alive in todays' international cinema.

Anger Management (2003)

Mildly funny movie about a man who gets wrongfully sent to a anger therapist.

[6/10 · 21 April 2003]

Although "Anger Management" is seeing a huge box office success, I wonder how many of its viewers are walking out feeling much left to be satisfied. Continuing on his anger-ridden character(Punch-Drunk Love), Sandler collaborates with Nicholson and pulls off a mildly-funny movie about a man setup by his girlfriend, who seeks a anger management expert to help with their stagnant relationship. Cameos by Woody Harrelson and Heather Graham are funny but sparring and even with Nicholson's charm the movie struggles to find its comical pulse. [Rating - 6/10]