the 09 viewiography
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[big screen]
ponyo on the cliff
- a bit more kiddish than his previous works but still as always vividly imagined
milk
- a more straightforward van sant perhaps but still bears a tinge of edginess
rachel getting married
- adequate indie-ish dysfunctional family drama but offers little surprises
red cliff 2
- frankly dun remm much, iirc enjoyed it but wasn't terribly impressed
the wrestler
- affecting comeback for rourke, with a heart at its core and little else. aronofsky at his most barest to date
departures
- love that deus ex machina which i didn't see coming
watchmen
- overblown but not as much as transformers
dragonball evolution
- why bother?
the convert
- understatedly engaging
jay
- an attempt to be clever with little means and expectedly dun accomplish much
berlin song
- don't qte know wat it sets out to be so it became somewhat overstretched
birdsong
- awful source/projection, therefore, pretty much a snooze affair, would have looked great if 35mm on decent sized screen
daytime drinking
- deadpan comedy with its moments
klass
- overstayed its welcome even before they got to its climax(es?)
anvil: story of anvil
- with its uplifting conclusion, definite fest favourite
the boat house
- vividly coloured vintage musical attempting to cram all the cliches under the sky - hilarious!
dada's dance
- emotionally hollow. without any political agenda, zhangyuan lost his edge
breathless
- a way too deliberate effort to shock, works for a while then become tiresome then ultimately grating
sell out!
- unpretentiously imperfect
punksters and youngsters
- sucky projection again though i doubt it mattered for this one :p
wendy & lucy
- michelle williams sober and intricate portrayal gave much weight to this minimalist production
a moment in june
- horrendous projection once again, while the film's very much less than great, nonethless would help if greater clarity of its very impressive production values
still walking
- understated ozu-ish family dramas but given a more macabre update, quietly moving with seamless blend of wickedly fun-filled bits
x-men origins: wolverine
- why bother?
star trek
- i can never get the appeal of original but this update by jj abrams literally rewrote its history yet remained true to the spirit of the original, pushes all the right buttons for a very well made blockbuster at the same time
terminator salvation
- having christian bale gone ballistic and all, mcg took this too seriously i think
drag me to hell
- nice of raimi to revisit his roots, a bit glossier perhaps but with the gooey moments intact, quite enjoyable
i love you, man
- benign bromance hard not to like
transformers: revenge of the fallen
- clunkily put together and executed, it's michael bay on a self-indulgent acid trip
harry potter and the half blood prince
- decent effort, what strikes me most is how much the young cast has matured, somewhat more apparent for this instalment
murderer
- how did some of the most seasoned maybe even talented big names got involved in this uber stinker? the most mind boggling cinematic mystery of the year!
frozen flower
- watchable period epic too lavish and bold for its own good
g.i. joe
- inspite of not having any press screenings which is often interpreted as drastic measure of damage control or an utter lack of faith, qte decent popcorn entertainment
up
- the slightly depressing opening was a nice touch, the rest of it a tad generic
district 9
- well made and grossly imaginative
coco before chanel
- bland
moon
- could be the most humane sci-fi ever, brilliant score
onibaba
- irrepressibly bizzare, definitely way ahead of its time both thematically and technically
thirst
- quite a drag until the complications settles in; for most parts, bloodily sumptuous visual feast with a beautifully realised final scene
4bia 2
- possibly one of the most consistent anthology ever made, except for perhaps the first one, the rest pretty much hits the bull's eye; the zombie instalment was 28 days later successfully overhauled but its the comedic last part (sequel to the best segment in 4bia) stole the limelight once again
whatever works
- surely one of allen's lesser efforts
inglourious basterds
- rather fun to watch tarantino indulging himself all over again, christoph waltz came out of nowhere and stole the entire show, never mind the hands strangling diane kruger wasn't his
tokyo sonata
- possibly kiyoshi kurosawa least bizzare effort (except for maybe licence to live), all of that heightened family drama leading to a really moving final scene as all tensions melted away to the tranquility of debussy's clair de lune
the accident
- exquisitely lensed and quite nice build-up but let down by a sketchy characterisation and hurried ending
taking woodstock
- though visually and aesthetically adequate, lee ang's depiction of 60s flower power hippism is simply not as successful as his take on the decadent 70s
(500) days of summer
- impossibly likeable from the non linear structure to the soundtrack to the references, and zooey is possibly one of the few who could make even the most irritating flaws in her character so darn endearing
a town called panic
- absolute madcap but could be a case of the makers having way too much fun of their own and forgot about the audiences
max and mary
- felt a deja-vu-ish connection with the story despite being based on the director's personal story. but really cannot remm where this memory of mine originated from. other than that, qte emotionally stirring
waltz with bashir
- the brilliantly rendered "waking life" technique. despite its well intentions, a little too distant
2012
- yet another emmerich disaster flick with little else to offer, only difference is probably the major involvement of china
paranormal activity
- micro budget DIY feature that equals blair witch in terms of hype and success. sporadic creepy moments but imo, only one that's frightful enough
a year ago in winter
- caroline link gone a bit (uncharacteristically?) complex but manage to wrap up with one of the most beautiful denouement seen this year
fantastic mr fox
- the medium fits wes anderson sense of wicked understated humour to a T
an education
- carey mulligan is a revelation!
zombieland
- wacky!
avatar
- surprisingly a bit better than decent, has to be seen in 3D
bodyguards and assasins
- heavyweight cast, historical significance, action choreography etc etc - the elements of an epic chinese blockbuster adequately put together
no puedi vivir sin ti
- qte a long while since a general release made up almost entirely of dialect dialogues went undubbed, heartening to hear all that hokkien and hakka spoken, adds on to the authenticity of this very simple film of aptly gritty b/w cinematography and stark humanity
[achievement of the year]
satatango
- some really gorgeous shots. given its duration, inevitably some scenes juz went on and on and on and on.....in particularly that very repetitive drunken bar dance scene. thankful for the 2 intervals which came with qte posh refreshments, quite possibly one of the thickest tea i've drunk
[small screen]
the class
- fly on wall approach worked wonders for the subjects
changeling
- a weak last third but jolie qte literally belongs to the 30s
let the right one in
- no doubt unique in almost every way but somewhat overhyped i feel
doubt
- strong script and performances
slumdog millionaire
- exhilarating
suspect x
- very intricately plotted but very the warped morally
if you are the one
- romcom with a delightfully deadpan rational stance but the heart wins out gracefully
night and fog
- unsettling and uneasily balanced take of violent family tragedy
phantom pain
- passable cliche
claustrophobia
- interesting dissection of somewhat vague gender roles in a relationship
the september issue
- the real devil-wears-prada, a bit less dramatic but does not make it any less watchable
halfway
- the thin plot is far from great but all the other elements aesthetics especially are characteristically shunji iwai.
hansel & gretel
- intriguing idea/premise but disappoints ultimately.
summer hours
- subtle family drama that started off cold but slowly drew one in with gradually infused sentimentality
hot air balloon club
- not something one would expect sion sono to do and he kept it comfortably edgy
the fog
- the irony at the end is really pushing the limits
cloverfield
- really different hybrid/perspective of the monster-rampaging-city genre, quite commendable effort
before sunrise/sunset
in the mood for love
- still every bit maybe even more exquisite as i remembered them to be
gigantic
- too self-consciously deadpan
flakes
- the idea of a cereal boutique is not convincing but also not absurdist enough either, anchored by a rather dislikeable lead character, not even zooey can make it tolerable
go-getter
- couldn't finish the last 20 mins as watched this back to back with the above, much better but then not great either
miao-miao
- didn't quite engage on emotional level, more of aesthetic i guess? despite its flaws, hard not to like a film with cheer's meaning of travel as a recurring theme song.
candyrain
- was a bit better than expected, only the first was too slight while the last too freewheeling, the segments in between are relatively decent.
[gigs]
卢广仲 crowd lu - 7th feb espl recital
- a one man show which showcased his musicianship but his attempts to banter tends to end up flat or became inconsequential which was (un?)intentionally funny
jason mraz - 5th march singapore indoor
- finally a full fledge solo concert which should please one and all as he displayed his ability to entertain with not just his voice but also quite a mixed bag of antics as accumulated from his many previous live performances
brad mehldau - 15th march espl concert hall
- a display of light nifty finger works that looked so effortless, mehldau played a mix of standards and original pieces including a mesmerising take on nick drake's riverman
cinematic orchestra - 20th march espl concet hall
- without orchestral backing so sort of a misnomer, the 7 piece band sounded a tad less lush than intended. a spellbinding rendition of "to build a home" nonetheless
魏如萱 Waa - 11th sept espl recital
- would be great if a bit of that fun could be offset with a bit more of her vivacious singing
nylas - 22nd oct espl recital
- with 黄玠 in tow and kept to the minimal sparse instrumental against samples to mostly twee selections but came very much alive during showcase of their dreampop shoegaze-y early stuff
[theatre]
华丽上班族《生活与生存》design for living - 30th jan espl theatre
- office politics with a bit of devil-prada before ending off with a sunset-boulevard-ish finale. has little going for it and didn't accomplish much. though seeing sylvia chang doing her stuff on stage was nice :)
宝岛一村the village - 8th feb espl theatre
- everything's pitch perfect here from the brilliant ensemble performances to the writing to the simple sets that worked very well. despite a distant subject both in locality and era, it engaged the audiences with its well timed humour and moving moments. surely in the running for the best stage production of the decade, close fights would probably comprised of stan lai's timeless classic peach blossom land (2007) given a 歌仔 twist, what is man (2008)- edward lam's impressionistic and thought-provoking transposing of the water margin, robert lepage's technically exuberant buskers' opera (2005) as well as some of li xie's stronger works like her uplifting take on kpk's little white boat(2007), her wickedly audacious house of sins(2008) and of course the restaging of her minor masterpiece vaginalogue(2003)? then again, i don't watch much theatre.
visible cities - 22nd may drama centre
liv - 2nd june espl theatre studio
invisible room - 5th june lasalle
cherry orchard - 12th june espl theatre
- perhaps i chose all the wrong shows. anyway, collectively, this yr's artsfest for me is very disappointing maybe even quite atrocious, despite setting new attendance record and all.
上身不由己 bondage - 8th august the artshouse
- script is brimming with quite exciting potential, a pity the execution fell a little short.