Grade Scale
- A+: Never say never
- A: A masterpiece
- A-: A near-masterpiece
- B+: Very good movie
- B: Good movie but some minor flaws
- B-: Pretty good but some flaws
- C+: Slightly above average
- C: Average
- C-: Mediocre
- D: Bad movie!!!
- F: Atrocious, avoid at all cost!
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|  By Castor | 
Directed by Steven Spielberg, Empire of the Sun is a coming-of-age movie based on J. G. Ballard’s semi-autobiographical novel of the same name. The movie stars Christian Bale as Jamie “Jim” Graham, a bratty young British boy living in Shanghai, China, who has a fascination with flying and airplanes. During the Japanese invasion of the International Settlement, Jim is separated from his parents. He wanders the streets for a while, meeting an opportunistic American sailor named Basie (John Malkovich), he is eventually captured by the Japanese and sent to an internment camp where he has to struggle for his own survival.
Having barely grossed $22 million at the US box office ($35 mil budget), Empire of the Sun could qualify as one of Steven Spielberg’s biggest flop. This, however, doesn’t accurately depict the quality of this movie which was through the roof as I truly think this is up there as one of his best movies. This is a character driven movie and it’s true that the plot is somewhat nonexistent at times. However, there is enough great moments in this movie to make up for the occasional lack of narrative drive.
Present on nearly every frame, Christian Bale, then 13 years old, demonstrate what brilliant and credible child acting is all about. We gradually see the loss of childhood innocence in his demeanor. He goes from a bratty, aristocratic kid who is completely dependent on his parents to an Oliver Twist-type creature who does everything he can for his own survival. Jim is not your typical Hollywood hero, here is a kid who idolize the Japanese aviators and eventually steals shoes and food from the dead. Then relatively unknown John Malkovich gives a good performance as Basie and broaches on a level of emotional complexity that made his character less of a caricature than the material gives him credit for. Other supporting characters such as Miranda Richardson, Nigel Havers, Ben Stiller, or Joe Pantoliano make appearances but they are not asked to do much of anything unfortunately.
Visually, this film is incredibly stunning and the cinematography is one of the main highlight. The movie was shot partly in Shanghai which, at the time, had barely changed since the end of World War II, giving the movie a nice feeling of authenticity. The CGI of the airplanes still looks astoundingly good to this day while the bleak landscape of the internment camp gave the film an atmosphere of desolation. Finally, the soundtrack by John Williams is first rate and complements the action on screen well.
One of Steven Spielberg’s most underrated film, Empire of the Sun is a film of great beauty, power and sadness.
A-
Notes: 153 min
VN:F [1.8.4_1055] Rating: 9.5/10 (4 votes cast)
| By Castor |
 Movie News:
- Guy Ritchie abandons DC Comics Lobo to focus on Sherlock Holmes 2 (Hero Complex)
- George Lucas to direct a CGI-musical with fairies, don’t laugh… It’s true (Heat Vision)
- Miramax goes belly up (First Showing): RIP Miramax.
- A Prequel of Bourne trilogy might be made without Matt Damon (Empire)
- I, Frankenstein to begin shooting in July (First Showing)
- Johnny Depp will direct a documentary about Keith Richards (The Playlist)
- New viral website for upcoming movie Repo Men (theunioncares.com)
- Clash of the Titans, last two Harry Potter movies, Transformers III will be in 3-D (Hollywood Insider)
- Underworld 4 3D in the works, Kate Beckinsale wants small role only (Bloody Disgusting): This should make Red about as ecstatic as it gets!!
- New Shutter Island pictures (Collider)
- Sgt. Rocks may be set in future, not WWII (LA Times)
- DC Comics looking for potential sequel to Watchmen (Bleeding Cool)
Casting News:
- Sam Worthington in negotiations to play titular character in Dracula Year Zero (Heat Vision)
- Keanu Reeves cast in sci-fi romance Passengers (Variety)
- Zac Effron joins cast of spy thriller Fire (Deadline Hollywood)
- Mel Gibson in talks to join spy thriller Cold Warrior (THR)
  
- Seth Rogen, Michelle Williams to star in Sarah Polley’s Waltz (Deadline Hollywood)
- Zachary Quinto to star in Steven Spielberg’s biopic (Deadline Hollywood)
- Olivia Wilde joins cast of Jon Favreau’s Cowboy and Aliens (Heat Vision)
- Zooey Deschanel to star in half-hour HBO pilot for “Confession of a Groupie” (Deadline)
- Hugh Jackman cast in Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, Li Bingbing replaces Zhang Ziyi (THR)
  
- Biggest news for last: Terrence Malick casts Christian Bale, Javier Bardem, Rachel McAdams in an unnamed romance drama set to begin shooting in fall 2010 (Deadline Hollywood): WOOHOO! Not only does this mean that Terrence Malick is not going to take another 15-yr break but this also means Tree of Life should be nearing completion in post-production! As for the news itself, a fantastic cast for a legendary director! From what I gather, this unnamed movie will be an addition to Tree of Life but obviously, it won’t be clear what the movie is until it hits theater.
Continue reading Movie News: Weekly Round-Up »
| By Castor |
I haven’t posted for a few days but I was hard at work with this post! Few people have actually posted about the top performances of the decade and the few that I saw are top 25 so I went 10 steps further for a top 35 performances of the decade. I tried to be balanced and populated the list with about as many female performances as male one. The list was initially ranked because everyone loves rankings so much but after some pondering, I had to remove those meaningless numbers and shuffle things around. The point is those performances were some of my favorites of the decade and it wouldn’t do justice to any of them to try to put one ahead of another.
This was an incredibly difficult list to populate because there was so many notably good performances each and every year to choose from and making a small list of 35 doesn’t do justice to all the excellent work we have had the chance to watch over the years. Finally, well I haven’t seen every movies of last decade so there might be a few glaring omissions. I’m working on those! If you feel like I personally offended or infuriated you, yes it was definitely on purpose. Here are Anomalous Material top 35 performances of the decade:
Warning: Heavy in content. 56K users should not proceed.
Continue reading Top 35 Acting Performances of the Decade »
| By Castor |
Michael Mann is one of my favorite directors of all-time as you can see in my favorite movies list. His latest movie, Public Enemies stars two powerhouses in Johnny Depp and Christian Bale in a gangster movie set in the 1930’s. Depp plays John Dillinger, a notorious bank robber who lives openly in Chicago with little fear of being apprehended and is deeply in love with Billie Frechette (Marion Cottilard). His crime spree gets the attention of FBI director J. Edgar Hoover (Billy Crudup) who appoints Melvin Purvis (Bale) as the head of the Chicago office with the main objective of catching Dillinger dead or alive. Purvis soon finds out the reality on the ground of hunting a skilled criminal while Dillinger is seeing his prospects dim as the snare tightens.
The movie has some of your usual Michael Mann quirks such as the intense, fluid and gritty action scenes, interlaced with the notorious quiet and slow-building sequences. As expected, Public Enemies is well written, well directed and well acted. The performances from Johnny Depp and Christian Bale as well as the supporting cast are top notch. Depp gives an effortless and charismatic interpretation of John Dillinger, a character driven by the excitement and ease of robbing banks for a living as well as his romantic involvement with Billie Frechette. Bale gives Purvis his trademark intensity which is almost too predictable but it works… It would be nice to see Christian Bale actually having fun with his character instead of his robotic ultra-intense acting which does get tiresome after a while. Marion Cottilard gives a feisty and steely performance as Frechette but unfortunately, her characters doesn’t get enough screen time after the halfpoint of the movie.The action scenes are excellent with most notably a firefight in a pitch dark forest which we are somehow able to follow. Let’s face it, it’s always a treat to watch a recreation of gunfights during this fascinating era of American history.
The main problem with Public Enemies is that it never really fully grabs the viewer emotionally and lacks that “it” factor that allows movies to take it to the next level. You would expect the movie to analyze John Dillinger but Mann backs away from a character study and the characters never really develop beyond their appearances. Dillinger is portrayed as some sort of populist Robin Hood, which could be argued, but we never get to really see why. He feels that his moment in the sun is about to be over but he never considers retiring before it’s too late. His associates die one by one but we never grew any kind of attachment to them. The romance between Dillinger and Frechette could have been used as the main driver for the movie but it is not. We also do not get a feel for the hardship of the depression era. In all, the movie lacks a compelling emotional driver.
Public Enemies is a technical feast as you would expect from Michael Mann and the compelling performances from Bale and Depp make the movie interesting enough. Nevertheless, Public Enemies feels too superficial and is somewhat lacking in terms of enjoyment and emotional intrigue.
B
Notes: R-rated for violence and language. 140 minutes
VN:F [1.8.4_1055] Rating: 6.5/10 (4 votes cast)
| By Castor |
The premise of Terminator Salvation would make any sci-fi fan drool like a starving dog smelling bacon. Of all the memorable sequence in the Terminator Trilogy, I have to say that the Terminator 2 intro scene which took place in the future, where we see humans battling robots in 2029, was the one that captured my imagination the most. Hence, I was quite disappointed when critics nearly uniformly called Terminator Salvation a major disappointment last spring. It was with lowered expectations that I just saw the movie and in my opinion, it is a fairly solid action movie when taken on its own.
Set in 2018 with a post-apocalyptic California as backdrop, the movie picks up with Skynet having blown most of the world to bits which led the few surviving humans to hide below ground. John Connor (Christian Bale) is now a local leader of the resistance (meaning he is not the big boss yet) and doing all the stuff we imagine he should be doing by now, like organizing the resistance in his area, trying to kill some damn Terminators and of course trying to stay alive from assassination attempts. It’s tough being John Connor after all and he will need to decide whether to trust that newcomer Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington) who isn’t as human as he looks. Kyle Reese (Anton Yelchin), the man who is later sent to save John’s mother, also is in the mix as he encounters Marcus early in the movie. The movie is a little light on the plot so I won’t go much farther so as to not spoil it.
Terminator Salvation is loaded with CGI action from start to finish. The ravaged landscape is beautifully shot and provides an austere atmosphere to the movie. A welcome change is that we don’t get as many chase scenes like we did in the first three movies and the movie has a lot more of a war movie feel. Sam Worthington is a revelation in the movie as he manages to upstage Christian Bale, who is reduced to play a thankless role as the shallow, high intensity John Connor who is seen screaming into some radio half of the movie. Worthington gets to have a budding romance with the sexy Moon Bloodgood and is easily the most intriguing character of the movie. Anton Yelchin did not do it for me and had some pretty mediocre line delivery which really made me question how he could be John Connor’s father. We also get to see a few scenes with Helena Bonham Carter and Michael Ironside but let’s face it, no one is going to come watch Terminator for acting lessons or to see a romance. McG uses the original Terminator theme score which is quite appreciated and uses some effective and extremely loud sound design throughout the movie. Watch out toward the end for a short but sweet “cameo” that should satisfy any Terminator fan.
The main problem with Terminator Salvation is that it does not have the spirit of the first three movies. It feels almost like a completely unrelated movie in many ways. The plot is also on the thin side and fails to capture the essence of the Terminator tradition, the unequal fight between humans and machines and the sense of inevitability of it all.
Little backbone in terms of story-telling but Terminator Salvation is an entertaining, fast-paced, all-out action flick nonetheless. Recommended
B-
Note: 118 min, PG-13
VN:F [1.8.4_1055] Rating: 7.0/10 (8 votes cast)
| By Castor |
Finally got to see the Dark Knight after being unable to go this past weekend. Drove off to another town just to realize that the showing was sold off, and came back to the local mall for a later showing. Ok, great, after half an hour of driving in a perplexed state, we got seats, grab food and beverages, theater ends up full to capacity, watch trailers, excitement grows, heck we see the trailer for Christian Bale future movie as John Connor in Terminator: Salvation. Exciting, I can’t wait I thought! Movie is about to start and then suddenly idiots appear in the left corner of my eyes. Apparently inoffensive kids next to me become giddy at sight of idiots. One of the idiot comes and sits his idiot self in the seat next to me. Now the entire row of idiots on my left doesn’t care about the movie. Idiots talk, cuddle, make noises, use cell phone during entire movie. Not obnoxious enough to be kicked out, but just enough to make me contemplate whether I should atomic kick someone in the throat and if the Marine Corps has a waiver for felonies such as assault and battery… Just kidding but in any case, much as in the movie, I had my own inner fighting between good and bad.
**SPOILERS**
 Let’s get on with the movie. What can I say that hasn’t been said… Nothing. I was blown away. Great acting all the way through from Christian Bale as Batman all the way down to the smallest role in the movie. Heath Ledger as the Joker was mind-bogglingly perfect. This can’t be stated enough whether he was alive or dead. They better not bring back the Joker in subsequent movies because that would be a crime. Excellent script, great lines, unspectacular fighting scene the way it should be: Batman is not superhuman. The movie is dark, I was shocked to see that Rachel Dawes died. Nothing against Maggie Gyllenhaal because she is a brilliant actress, but Katie Holmes was at least half-decent looking and this really doesn’t say much. Part of the fascination about Batman is that he is also Bruce Wayne, a handsome billionaire who could get whatever he wants and those ladies are somewhat of a mismatch with this picture. But then again, Holmes’ questionable acting skills would have been exposed in that explosion scene and Gyllenhaal nailed it. Nevertheless, just think of classic beauties WITH acting talent like Amy Adams or Rachel McAdams (she turned it down) as Rachel Dawes in both Batman Begins and this movie, and those movies would have reached the stratospheric level. Anyways, they won’t have that problem anymore and I guess it makes it easier for the audience to see Gyllenhaal get blown up lol…
In all, superb movie and definitely one of my favorite of all-time already. I’m going to go watch it again in a few days, minus the idiots.
A: A Masterpiece. Period.
Some of those great lines:
“would you wait one second please? I’m a little busy” when Gordon foils the Joker’s attempt to kill Batman
“I don’t want to kill you. You complete me“
“I believe whatever doesn’t kill you simply makes you… stranger”
“You prefer a magic trick, instead? Watch me make this pencil disappear.” (Priceless)
“Hmm.. Very poor choice of words.”
Last little detail I wasn’t a big fan of: Batman’s new suit, the streamlined, simple capped suit from Batman Begins was so much better looking, it had an aura of authority about it. VN:F [1.8.4_1055] Rating: 9.3/10 (3 votes cast)
| By Castor |
 3:10 to Yuma, directed by James Mangold (Walk the Line), stars two Hollywood powerhouses in Russell Crowe, and Christian Bale, to go with an outstanding surrounding cast. The movie was very good, but not great enough to be a masterpiece. First of all, the guys paid the big bucks, and supposed to carry the load, did not disappoint. Both Christian Bale, as Dan Evans, and Russell Crowe, as Ben Wade, put up magnificent performances that are a gift by themselves to watch. Although I liked Bale, Crowe stole the show, I was thoroughly impressed by his performance. Ben Wade is cunning, and deadly dangerous, but he is also a man with morale who quotes the Holy Bible regularly. The cinematography is excellent: the movie was shot in various locations in New Mexico, with breathtaking backgrounds and well-shot action scenes. The plot is solid and intriguing, with that good old atmosphere of the unforgiving wild west, a mix of tension, cruelty, hardship, and omnipresent death. Excellent acting, and an immersive atmosphere make this movie a joy to watch and rewatch. In short, I loved it.
A- VN:F [1.8.4_1055] Rating: 0.0/10 (0 votes cast)
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