Aslan's Talk

Resident Evil

The T-virus, what exactly is it again?
Red Queen: The T-virus is protean, changing from liquid to airborne to blood transmission, depending on its environment. It is almost impossible to kill.

How does one become infected?
Red Queen: Just one bite, one scratch from these creatures is sufficient. And then, you become one of them.


If you know that much, then you are set to go. The T-virus escapes the controlled enviroment that it was developed under and infects the workers of the Umbrella Corporation. Milla Jovovich, knowing her from Fifth Element is very capable in delivering this heavy action character. Thats as far as i will go for my appraisal for the casting. There were good visual effects, lots of blood and high quality action. Paul W. S. Anderson shows that he can effectively transform a video game into a non-cringe worthy movie.

However, for a movie thats based on zombies, there is very little onscreen time for the zombies itself. Very modern zombies too. They have retained their dullness but move faster and are more vicous in their attacks. Mutating zombies, argh.

Redbelt

PAN AND SCAN. Una historia interesante, resonante y muy bien contada. Chiwetel Ejiofor es un perfecto centro de gravedad. / An interesting, resonant and very well told story. Chiwetel Ejiofor is a perfect center of gravity.

Rosemary's Baby

A 1968 Roman Polanksi work - my newest favorite horror movie.

Rosemary (played by Mia Farrow) and her husband, Guy move into a new building that has some odd rumors about its previous occupants. The seemingly happy couple settle in and are friendly with their neighbour, the Cassevetes and decide its time to start a family. Without giving too much away, a deal is made with the devil and Rosemary is caught in between. The scene where Satan procreates with Rosemary (a euphemism for the brutal rape that takes place) is one of the most nastiest without the use of blood, sharp weapons and torture for its time.

Highly enjoyable, more of a thriller than suspense most of the time though. The best horror film of its time.

Rosemary Woodhouse: You... you had me while I was out?
Guy Woodhouse: It was kinda fun in a necrophile sort of way

Defiance

Sin City

Violent, stylishly presented and a work of art. The visual artists have truly outdone themselves, after the initial scene that in which most of the filming was done in black and white, the redest of all reds was seen.. the effect captured by that scene alone was one of awe. This is full of blood, gore, nudity and crude humor. It is understandable why the critics have labelled this as a gore fest. Marv, played by Mickey Rourke is out to seek retribution for the death of an 'angel'/ whore that showed him kindness. The monster Marv was played amicably. The strength of the casting was evident by the intense curiousity that persued me throughout the entire movie. Dwight- Clive Owen, Jessica Alba, Bruce Willis, Alexis Bledel, Rosario Dawson, Elijah Woods and Devon Aoki were just brilliant. They brought to life their character with dedicated effort. If you arent familiar with the Frank Miller based comic like me, you are in for a higly unpredictable treat;

Shellie: If you're gonna slug me, just go ahead and get it over with, you sick bastard.
Jack Rafferty: There you go, lying about me again in front of my friends. I have never hit a woman in my life.
[Jackie-Boy hits Shellie in the face]

Strong suggestions of violence, and intent on fully delivering that violence;

Marv: I've been framed for murder and the cops are in on it. But the real enemy, the son of a bitch who killed the angel lying next to me, he's out there somewhere, out of sight, the big missing piece that'll give me the how and the why and a face and a name and a soul to send screaming into hell.

And lastly, crude humor.

Priest: ...ask yourself if that corpse of a slut is worth dying for.
Marv: Worth dying for.
[shoots priest]
Marv: Worth killing for.
[shoots him again]
Marv: Worth going to hell for.
[shoots him again]
Marv: Amen.


Robert Rodriguez has delivered us a truly superb film experience.

Rachel Getting Married

Wristcutters - A Love Story

Dead Poets Society

This film altered my sense of reality. This is an uplifting and inspiring film that doesn't seem to have been appreciated much. John Keating(Robin Williams) is the new english lecturer at a boys boarding school. He's unorthodox teaching methods are percieved in two ways, extremely favorable with his students and considered defiant of tradition by the rest of the staff. His students, take on re-enacting The Dead Poets Society, which is basically where a bunch of boys take to reading poetry. But its more than that, its the raw emotion that the words convey. One of the students, Neil, comes from a struggling family and has a passion for acting. His father forbids him from having anything to do with this passion but Neil defies him;

[Neil's father has just driven him home from his performance in "A Midsummer Night's Dream."]
Mr. Perry: We're trying very hard to understand why it is that you insist on defying us. Whatever the reason, we're not gonna let you ruin your life. Tomorrow I'm withdrawing you from Welton and enrolling you in Braighton Military School. You're going to Harvard, and you're gonna be a doctor.
Neil Perry: But, that's ten more years! Father, that's a *lifetime*!
Mr. Perry: Oh, stop it! Don't be so dramatic! You make it sound like a prison term! You don't understand, Neil! You have opportunities that I never even dreamt of, and I am not going to let you waste them!
Neil Perry: I've got to tell you what I feel!
Mrs. Perry: We've been so worried about you!
Mr. Perry: *What*? What? Tell me what you feel! What is it? Is it more of this, this *acting* business? Because you can forget that! What?
Neil Perry: [pauses] Nothing.
Mr. Perry: [pauses] Nothing? Well, then, let's go to bed.


What i dont understand is, how can parents be so selfish and not understand? Sad irony, the boy who embraced carpe diem is the one who ends up losing it. This movie is more than poetry, its about life and how conformity takes us all over. The casting is brillian, Ethan Hawke played Todd Anserson, the shy adolescent who slowly unfolds through the movie. Beautiful Scenery, dramatic sequences, good acting and a thought provoking plot is the perfect ingredients to a near flawless movie.

Meet Joe Black

A Martin Brest work. This was a facinating portrayal of Death. Death personified. William Parish(Anthony Hopkins) is a business mogul who is about to die. Joe Black(Brad Pitt) is the Grim Reaper who has come to claim him. There is a certain chemistry evident between Hopkins and Pitt, and this makes the movie more enjoyable. There is a great mix of love and drama and humor. Brad Pitt was well chosen for this role, He executes perfectly the innocence, wonder and pure joy of discovering everyday things like peanut butter and more serious issues like falling in love. There is an irony, Parish is embracing his death while he is alive whilst Death(think: grim reaper) learns what it is like to live. Although this movie was a hefty 3 hour long viewing, like all lengthy movies, its worth the watch.

William Parrish: Love is passion, obsession, someone you can't live without. If you don't start with that, what are you going to end up with? Fall head over heels. I say find someone you can love like crazy and who'll love you the same way back. And how do you find him? Forget your head and listen to your heart. I'm not hearing any heart. Run the risk, if you get hurt, you'll come back. Because, the truth is there is no sense living your life without this. To make the journey and not fall deeply in love - well, you haven't lived a life at all. You have to try. Because if you haven't tried, you haven't lived.
Susan Parrish: Love, passion, obsession, all those things you told me to wait for, well, they've arrived. What are you afraid of, Dad? That I'll fall head over heels for Joe? Well, I have.

First, a word of warning. This is a lengthy film (3 hours), and tends to be very slowly paced. If you are averse to either, or if you do not like any of the three principals; Hopkins, Pitt and Forlani, I'd advise you to avoid the film.

A film about death. Its better than it sounds. Trust me.

Misery

Misery is one of my favorite Stephen King Thrillers. Its dark and calculating and chalk full of horror. Paul Sheldon (James Caan) is a writer who has a car accident. He is helped by Annie Wilkes (Kathy Bates) a mysterious stranger. In his latest novel, Sheldon killed Annie's favorite character, making her a little angry, feisty even. She traps him in her home and makes him bring the character back to life in his next novel. Annie is Paul's self-proclaimed number one fan. Specifically, she is obsessed with the Misery Chastain series, Paul's major claim to fame. Caan and Bates deliver their roles marvelously, so it was no suprise when Bates won Best Actress Oscar for her role. This film brings a new definition to conceit.

You will either love or hate this movie depending on how morbid your sense of humor is. I must say, best film of its kind since Hitchcock's Psycho.

Annie Wilkes: Here's your pills.
Paul Sheldon: Annie? Annie, what is it?
Annie Wilkes: The rain. Sometimes it gives me the blues. When you first came here, I only loved the writer part of Paul Sheldon. Now I know I love the rest of him, too. I know you don't love me, don't say you do. You're beautiful, brilliant, a famous man of the world and I'm... not a movie star type. You'll never know the fear of losing someone like you if you're someone like me.
Paul Sheldon: Why would you lose me?
Annie Wilkes: Book's almost finished, your legs are getting better. Soon you'll be wanting to leave.
Paul Sheldon: Why would I leave? I like it here.
Annie Wilkes: That's very kind of you, but I'll bet it's not all together true.
[pulls out a gun]
Annie Wilkes: I have this gun.
[pulls the trigger]
Annie Wilkes: Sometimes I think about using it. I'd better go now. I might put bullets in it.

My Bloody Valentine 3-D

My Bloody Valentine
This movie was painful to watch. Horrible. Close to having no story line, it was full of people who obviously thought they could act...and needless to say. they were wrong.

The Lost Boys

Jami Gertz looks positively attractive in her role as Star. Lucy(Dianne Wiest), and her two sons, Sam (Corey Haim) and Michael (jason Patric) move to a Californian town Santa Carla, commonly known as the murder capital of the world, to live with their grandfather after getting divorced. This is an entertaining film about modern vampires who have more style. Excellently done in production which highly deserves and earns the kudos it's been given. This movie wasn't scary but it was full of suspense, heart warming, humorous, not-so-serious and highly creative on the part of the set producers. Unlike most modern gothics, Lost Boys uses special effects and make up very sparingly. It is refreshing to see a horror film without CGI and bucket loads of fake blood. Yes, its an 80's movie and definitely worth the watch.

Edgar Frog: You did the right thing by calling us. Does your brother sleep a lot?
Sam Emerson: Yeah, all day.
Alan Frog: Does the sunlight freak him out?
Sam Emerson: Uh, he wears sunglasses in the house.
Edgar Frog: Bad breath, long fingernails?
Sam Emerson: Yeah, his fingernails are a little bit longer, um, he always had bad breath, though.
Alan Frog: He's a vampire all right.
Edgar Frog: All right, here's what you do: get yourself a good sharp stake and drive it right through his heart.
Sam Emerson: I can't do that; he's my brother.
Alan Frog: OK, we'll come over and do it for you.
Sam Emerson: No!
Edgar Frog: You'd better get yourself a garlic T-shirt, buddy, or it's your funeral.

Jeni, Juno

It's always a pleasure to see the original version of a remake movie, and this movie gave me that pleasure... Jeni, Juno is the original version of Oscar nominated movie Juno, which is I thought all of you don't know about that... The beginning of the story is the same, the girl in this movie found out that she's pregnant after a one-night-stand relationship with her boyfriend... But what happen later is the difference of this two movies... In Juno, the girl (Juno) decide to keep the baby and give him to a couple of parents who wants a baby so badly... But in Jeni, Juno, the girl (Jeni) decide to tell the boy (Juno), and then this two young lovers decide to keep the baby themselves without thinking any consequences they could got or what their parents will say... Overall, watching the original version is always a pleasure, and I found that in this movie... Great movie after all!!

Madeinusa

LETTERBOX. Bastante sólida y fuerte. Su mayor defecto es la poca definición de sus personajes (unos menos que otros), en especial el de Carlos de la Torre (cuya actuación es demasiado liviana para lo que exige la película). Sin embargo, el final es sorprendente y cambia mucho la perspectiva sobre todo lo visto. / Quite solid and strong. Its greatest flaw is the scarce definition of its characters (some less than others), especially Carlos de la Torre's (whose performance is rather lightweight for what the film demands). However, the ending is quite surprising and changes the perspective about all before seen.

The Reader

Frozen River

Mon Oncle (My Uncle)

PAN AND SCAN. Hermosa y profunda en su simpleza. Satírica sin ser pueril. La escenografía y presentación general son magníficas. / Beautiful and profound in its simplicity. Satyrical without being puerile. The art design and overall presentation are magnificent.

Vals Im Bashir (Waltz with Bashir)

Monsters, Inc.

Well this was certainly a redefining moment for the world of Monsters. The scary fuzzies are actually lovable and very cute.

The monsters in Monsters Inc. use little children and their fears to generate power for the Monster World. Sulley, the main monster, finds a little baby girl has roamed into the monster world and in order to subdue the havoc her appearance would create, tries to get her back into her human world, thus an adventure! Pixar brings us the best in animation in terms of story, adventure, character and visual effects. Our fears, and how we over come them is the important theme in this movie. Very ingeniously portrayed however apart from that, there is nothing else for the movie to stand on.


Henry J. Waternoose: Well hello, little one. Where did you come from?
Sulley: Mr. Waternoose.
Henry J. Waternoose: Ah, James. Is this one yours?
Sulley: Ah, actually that's my uh, cousin's sister's daughter, sir.
Mike: Yeah, it's uh, "Bring an Obscure Relative to Work Day".
Henry J. Waternoose: Hmm, must have missed the memo.

Gran Torino