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The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)

  • Reviewer: Aaron Yap
  • Date Added: 21 May 2012
  • Aaron's Rating:3.0

It’s unfortunate that David Fincher’s sturdy treatment of Stieg Larsson’s bestseller The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - previously adapted by Niels Arden Oplev in its native Swedish tongue - will suffer from the sometimes unavoidable viewing conundrum that comes with English-language remakes of foreign films: if you’ve seen the original film, there’s very little here that will surprise. Much of the suspense and mystery, the material’s pulpy lifeblood, has gone, leaving the viewer to find other elements that may hold interest, such as tonal nuances and structural tweaks, both things which Fincher’s version has a bit of. But it’s more apparent by the end that this is simply a commercial reality, a straight-ahead make-over for movie-goers who are specifically adverse to reading subtitles. That said, it’s also superior in a number of ways, not least of all Fincher’s masterful pacing, and the fleetness in which he parses hefty investigative info into a cinematically sound experience, no small feat considering both versions still demonstrate how hard it is to streamline the narratively saggy nature of its source. Emotionally it’s more involving, particularly with regards to Lisbeth, the titular goth-punk fact-checker who’s memorably portrayed by Rooney Mara. Without her spunk and fiery heart, the film’s not much more than another airport potboiler pic, albeit stylishly directed.

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  • 3.8

The Descendants (2011)

  • Reviewer: Aaron Yap
  • Date Added: 21 May 2012
  • Aaron's Rating:2.5

The Descendants is like an Alexander Payne movie made by someone who grew up studying and wanting to make Alexander Payne movies: it has the sudsy dramedy formula down pat, all unerring character sensitivity and bittersweet/sly humour, but it ain’t the real deal. It’s a bit of a bummer seeing Payne so removed from his winningly satiric Citizen Ruth or Election days; where his writing once bore some teeth, it’s now smoothed out into an inoffensive middle-of-the-road Oscar-ready tearjerker. The film remains endurable, however, thanks to George Clooney’s affable performance, and the fact that the laid-back Hawaiian setting, marked by coyly travelogue-ish cinematography and a score of gentle slack-key guitar melodies, lulls you into indifferently accepting its pleasant dullness. Clooney is Matthew King, a lawyer who’s saddled with the task of actually looking after his two daughters Scottie (Amara Miller) and Alex (Shailene Woodley) when a boating accident leaves his wife in a coma. If the film’s drama is largely heavy-handed, its comic scenes are even less successful, relying on such banalities as King’s youngest daughter, Scottie spewing profanity, or deadweight characters like Alex’s dude-friend Sid, who’s introduced as a complete airhead but does a 360-switch into a person of unexpected depth during a credibility-straining heart-to-heart with Clooney.

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  • 3.8

The Lincoln Lawyer (2011)

  • Reviewer: Aaron Yap
  • Date Added: 14 May 2012
  • Aaron's Rating:4.0

After a series of forgettable, career-eroding rom-coms, Matthew McConaughey finally finds a role of relative substantiality that makes good use of his signature cocky swagger: Mick Haller, the charismatic, conniving defense lawyer from Michael Connelly’s series of best-selling crime novels. Nothing groundbreaking here plot-wise, with more than a hint of Primal Fear in its embattled lawyer/client dynamics: Haller is hired to defend a rich brat (Ryan Phillipe) accused of beating up a prostitute, but of course, the case isn’t so open-and-shut. The Lincoln Lawyer is airport novel pulp at its most operational, but it’s also entertaining as all get-out, especially when we’re watching McConaughey trying to stay one step ahead of the twists of his case and wrestle with his own ethical quandaries as a defense attorney. Director Brad Furman’s camerawork could do well to stay still a little, and the final act stretches credibility, but overall it’s one of the better legal thrillers we’ve seen of late, and bonus points for William H. Macy playing a private eye with crazy hair and moustache.

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  • 3.7

The Divide (2011)

  • Reviewer: Aaron Yap
  • Date Added: 14 May 2012
  • Aaron's Rating:2.0

Xavier Gens’ The Divide has a set-up that’ll be familiar to fans of the post-apocalyptic genre: a nuclear blast demolishes the world outside, trapping the remaining survivors in an underground bunker. It’s an entirely promising - and potentially exciting - premise, but excluding a nerve-jangling moment where mysterious hazmat-suit-wearing figures appear and enter the bunker, the film turns out to be a disappointingly ordinary cabin fever thriller where we’re made to watch characters slowly grow mad and do horrible things to each other. The extreme-horror elements, recalling the intensity of Gens’ much-better debut Frontier(s), may satisfy gore-hounds, but the film is mostly a heavy-handed, underwritten, relentlessly grim experience that’s exacerbated by an overbearing soundtrack, dragged-out duration and unnecessarily hyperactive direction. It’s fun seeing ‘80s action/sci-fi mainstay Michael Biehn hammin’ it up as the paranoid, super-cranky apartment super though, and post-apocalyptic completists will want to check the film out for curiosity’s sake.

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  • 2.4

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011)

  • Reviewer: Aaron Yap
  • Date Added: 8 May 2012
  • Aaron's Rating:4.0

Tomas Alfredson’s adaptation of John le Carré 1974 spy novel, previously made into a BBC mini-series starring Alec Guinness, is certainly not one for ADD-afflicted consumers of amped-up spy escapism a la Bourne/Bond. Gary Oldman, in a remarkably reserved performance, stars as George Smiley, a former British Intelligence Deputy who’s been pulled out of retirement to covertly investigate a claim by an agent that there’s a mole in the top ranks of the “Circus”. Sherlock’s Benedict Cumberbatch plays the intel officer assigned to assist Smiley in the investigation, which unfolds in a convoluted, regularly flashing-back plot. Chilly but richly textured and immaculately performed, the unfashionably Cold War-set Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy stews in its clandestine atmosphere, forcing the audience to process a wealth of spy-speak on top of an already-snaking mole-hunt. Lest we switch off, the seductive meticulousness of Alfredson’s (Let The Right One In) execution - rich in period and milieu detail - and the uniform strength of the powerhouse Brit ensemble (Oldman! Firth! Hinds! Hurt! Strong! Hardy!) ensure the film is nothing less than absorbing even if you may not entirely comprehend the specifics of its narrative.

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  • 3.7

Tabloid (2010)

  • Reviewer: Aaron Yap
  • Date Added: 8 May 2012
  • Aaron's Rating:4.0

Tabloid is another wicked doco from Errol Morris, a marvellously entertaining truth-stranger- than-fiction tale about Joyce Mckinney, a former all-American beauty queen whose obsessive pursuit of romance with Mormon missionary Kirk Anderson is anything but ordinary. The story quickly spirals out of control when Anderson disappears, leading McKinney to hire a bodyguard, a private investigator and a pilot to travel to England to find him. What ensues is the kind of gonzo, scandalous story the tabloids lap up: a mix of chained sex, religious brainwashing, kidnapping and porno shoots, the doco often plays like a bizarre Douglas Sirk-meets-John Waters melodrama, dizzyingly stacking on the lurid details until the end where an even weird twist of events almost-too-perfectly sums up everything that has come before. Morris decks out the screen with retro design and bold, headline-style graphics befitting the sensationalist nature of his subject, while McKinney is an engaging raconteur, spinning her wild tales with rapid-fire charisma that’ll leave you breathless and unable to keep your eyes off her.

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  • 3.5

Bobby Fischer Against the World (2011)

  • Reviewer: Aaron Yap
  • Date Added: 30 Apr 2012
  • Aaron's Rating:4.0

Liz Garbus’s solid, well-made documentary on the legendary chess champion, whom many believed to be the best player who ever lived, is an absorbing, if deeply saddening study of the thin line that separates genius from madness. Fischer was a truly enigmatic figure whose unbeatable chess prowess barely masked his psychological instability; like many brilliantly minded people, he was also paranoid, egotistical, demanding, erratic in his behaviour. At the core of the doco is the nail-biting 1972 World Championship match between Fischer and Russian grandmaster Boris Spassky, which highlights many of Fischer’s idiosyncrasies as well as his amazing game on the board. Throughout Garbus weaves in many fascinating backstories - the FBI had a 900-page file on Fischer’s mum! - and fleshes them out with an incredible wealth of archival footage, photographs and interviews to make this a compelling portrait of a one-of-a-kind individual.

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  • 3.1

X (2011)

  • Reviewer: Aaron Yap
  • Date Added: 30 Apr 2012
  • Aaron's Rating:2.0

Deep down X knows it’s just a scuzzy, low-budget exploitation thriller. Filmed on location around Sydney’s red light district, Hewitt’s film wallows in sleazy mayhem and seedy ambience, filling its frames with creepy johns, crazy hookers, angry pimps and sorry junkies holed up in stinky run-down hotel rooms. Its occasional split-screen flourishes suggest a kinship to ‘70s grindhouse but they don’t seem to function much beyond showy window-dressing. The biggest problem with X is not because it’s unpleasant and ugly - which it is in spades - but it’s all kinda dull and prosaic, especially when it tries to be a grimy cautionary tale about the dangers and evils of prostitution. The crime plot, involving a woman-hating douchebag cop, stretches credibility, while there’s a whiff of laughable pretension to the whole subplot with the kindly taxi driver who’s also, um, a hypnotist/magician. Viva Bianca and Hanna Mangan Lawrence give stronger performances that help with their thinly sketched characters but their retiring veteran call girl/fresh-faced, clueless teen hooker-dynamic is never properly developed to allow us to sympathise with their situation.

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  • 3.0

Drive Angry (2011)

  • Reviewer: Aaron Yap
  • Date Added: 23 Apr 2012
  • Aaron's Rating:3.0

Patrick Lussier’s Drive Angry is another entry in the recent spate of faux-grindhouse films (see Machete, Hobo With A Shotgun), a genre that’s grown increasingly wearying in its self-conscious attempts to relive the grimy glory days of trashy exploitation movies. Mounted on a healthy budget, the film looks a hundred times slicker than any of the movies it’s trying emulate, and doesn’t really do anything extraordinary, but if you know what you’re in for, you probably won’t be bored taking in the copious amounts of over-the-top violence, car chases and explosions. Unsurprisingly the 3D shots stick out like a sore thumb in 2D, but adds to the cheese factor. I can’t imagine anyone else but Nic Cage in the role of Milton, but it’s William Fichtner’s hilarious performance as the devil’s messenger that steals the show. If you like the idea of watching Fichtner bobbin’ his head to KC & the Sunshine Gang while plowing through cop cars in a hydrogen-tank-carrying truck, this is the movie for you.

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  • 3.1

Hugo (2011)

  • Reviewer: Aaron Yap
  • Date Added: 23 Apr 2012
  • Aaron's Rating:4.0

For all intents and purposes, Martin Scorsese’s Hugo is a children’s movie, but acts and feels like something else, speaking more to the veteran filmmaker’s life-long love affair with cinema than anything else. A lavish, lushly photographed adaptation of Brian Selznick’s bestseller The Invention of Hugo Cabret, it’s a bit of on odd duck. Its cinephile charms will go down a treat with movie buffs but may test the patience of families hoping for a sprightly adventure seemingly promised by the opening scenes where clock-tending orphan Hugo (Asa Butterfield) is chased around by a station inspector (Sacha Baron Cohen). But the film grows more ruminative, morphing into a mini-biopic of silent film pioneer Georges Méliès (Ben Kingsley), who’s now a grumpy toy shop keeper who’d rather see his past achievements buried. Hugo’s unwieldy structure and extravagant length keep it from being a complete triumph; much could be excised, especially the needless detours into Cohen’s attempts to woo station florist Emily Mortimer. But Scorsese and co’s exemplary technical craft is ultimately enrapturing: from its vibrant evocation of 1930s Paris to the reconstruction of Méliès’s old film sets, Hugo is one of the most gorgeous films of the year, and one hopes its lovely images will have the power to instill wonder in any kid, even if the Film History 101 stuff won’t fully register.

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  • 4.1