Kerenblog

Have I written about CHEF here? Not yet? Well, I should have because it feels that for me BEGIN AGAIN is as joyous as CHEF. I love how filmmakers use music to enliven their films, and John Carney (the guy that brought you the romantic-musical ONCE) did it wonderfully in this latest feature. From the story only, BEGIN AGAIN is not perfect, but the use of surprisingly easy-listening songs make it more enjoyable to watch. read more �

LOCKE is the (last) name of the only character appears on this film, Ivan Locke, which is portrayed so genuinely by the only actor appears on screen, Tom Hardy. The other actors' performances are voice-only, because the entire story of LOCKE takes place on a car: Ivan is driving while making/receiving tens of phone calls to and from them. Many filmmakers are dealing with some big-budgeted film projects that involve some bunches of actors in some spectacular shooting locations, but here Steven Knight is writing and directing a small film with BIG performance that dictates genuineness in its truest definition. read more �

Why is there this kind of movie that takes a rewatch to be fully understood? Why can�t it be understood in its first viewing? In the case of Terry Gilliam �s latest feature THE ZERO THEOREM , the answer would be because it is too confusing to grasp in its first, or perhaps second, watch. Too bad I don�t have too much time in my hand to �join the excitement�; I don�t usually watch a movie two or three times just to understand it. But there�s a catch: are you sure THE ZERO THEOREM worths your next viewing? read more �

Even IMDb doesn�t quite understand what ILO ILO means. The winner of Camera d�Or of Cannes Film Festival 2013 , ILO ILO is a Singaporean drama by debut director Anthony Chen that centers on a family living under the '90s economic crisis that hit most Asian countries. But, more than that, ILO ILO also talks about immigrant worker and how she�s involved in the dilemma of child-parent relationship. Its honesty in reenacting the situation is the key power that successfully brings ILO ILO to major critics acclaim all over the world. read more �

Imagine an earth fully covered by snow and ice. Imagine an earth so cold that no living creatures can live outside so they look for shelters to live. That would be the earth the story of SNOWPIERCER takes place. Perhaps it would be hard for me to mention two or three other movies about dystopia and surviving, but I am sure I already knew the big line of SNOWPIERCER before actually watching it because, beside of its outstanding production design, costume design, and cinematography (and some acting!), there is nothing fresher that Bong Joon-ho offers in his debut in Hollywood. NOTE: some parts of this review may contain clues about the story of the film. Although I don�t consider them a spoiler, you who prefer knowing very little about the film before watching it are suggested to read this review only after watching it. read more �

In this review I'm pointing out the reasons of why I consider HER the best film of 2013 . Some people shortly address HER, written and directed by Spike Jonze , as �an unlikely love story of a lonely man and a female-voiced computer� which, in a way, I find underestimating. It's your right to call it whatever you want, but hell, I personally disagree with it. My call is, it's �a love story that proposes an interesting idea about the future� . I tell you why. read more �

Sorry for the late post. Now we are heading to see my selection of 20 best films of 2013 . For your info, I saw 78 films of 2013 (according to my Letterboxd history). If you want to see all the 78 films ranked, see my list in Letterboxd . And I'm sorry if only a few (if not none) of these films were reviewed and posted in the blog previously. Most of them are only short-reviewed (again, in Letterboxd) but I write my short opinion for each of these 20 movies. The good thing is, different from 2012, we had 2 films with 5 star and 6 films with 4.5 star. 2013 has been a great year for movies, ain't it? read more �

The second last post of the 2013 Movie Recap series! We're gonna see my choices of 2013's best acting performances, including Best Actor in A Leading Role , Best Actress in A Leading Role , Best Supporting Actor , Best Supporting Actress , and Best Young Performers . Check them out! read more �

Next one! We're gonna see my choices on last year's best writing and directing. I have three categories in this post, including Best Original Screenplay , Best Adapted Screenplay , and Best Director . Don't forget to leave your comment :) read more �

Let's celebrate last year's best cinematic achievement in technical categories , including six subjects: editing , visual effects , cinematography , art direction , score , and songs . I'm picking five films which I consider as the best for each subject. Here we go. read more �

So you're never regularly writing any reviews for months and suddenly you come up with a yearly recap? Really, Bar? Haha. The thing is, I am still on the same track. I watch movies even though I didn't really write any reviews (except some short ones I usually write on Letterboxd ) and of course I always rate the films I watched. But this year I'm trying something new; I will not only list my selection of last year's best films, but also figure out the best ones from acting, directing, writing, and technical departments. read more �

2014 Golden Globe Awards �held Sunday, January 12th, at 8pm ET/5pm PT�might be an unusual one. First, the separation between Drama and Musical/Comedy is getting blurer. Before Midnight and Her into Musical/Comedy while Blue Jasmine into Drama? Well, they have something to improve in the upcoming years! There are also other things like Woody Allen�s absent despite him being honored to receive the precious Cecil B.DeMille trophy (and Diane Keaton accepted it on his behalf) , or even sewage bursts along the red carpet pathway , really spark up the award�not to mention the Red Carpet fashion parade ( karamelkinema wrote a very nice post about it ). But let�s just get straight into the award itself which already hooked me to raise comments, and also have some small talks about what it has to do with Oscar next February. read more �

Why should a film about porn addiction shows a lot of footage from real porn videos? The first ten minutes of �Don Jon� , Joseph Gordon-Levitt �s directorial and screenwriting debut, is half porn for both real porn clips inserted and many of his half naked body (and while he showed so many of his bare chest, we won�t see any of Scarlett Johansson �s bare breasts, LOL). Dynamic, interesting, young, but weakly written, �Don Jon� is too proud of being a study of a porn addict. read more �

It�s still October, dammit! But with the record-breaking 76 countries submitting their films to compete for the 86th Annual Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Films , who on earth does not feel excited about it? Because I feel really excited! Best Foreign Language Films always becomes a getaway if you feel bored with all these similarly-themed Hollywood films playing on cinemas. And with the new regulation made by AMPAS that allowed countries to submit films not in their mother-tongue language, we can feel the heat even before the real competition is begun. Why? Because many of them have become champion in numerous international film awards, not to mention the two I�m gonna discuss in this post. read more �

I�m not exactly sure about how I should start my writing about �Gravity� , not because the movie is so bad that I can�t crystalize my opinion about it (and not because I haven�t written anything in the last three weeks either), but I am afraid my poor English can not describe how spectacular �Gravity� is. But let me put it this way: �Gravity� does not only offer a story�it offers an unforgettable cinematic experience you can�t buy by watching it on DVD. Edgar Wright once tweeted that we should watch it on the biggest screen we can find in our town, again because Alfonso Cuar�n does not only deliver a sci-fi with lots of visual effects�he brings a bare side-by-side comparison between human powerlessness and the enormity of the universe. read more �

Why live when you can rule? The freshest, Sundance-entry coming-of-age �The Kings of Summer� by director Jordan Vogt-Roberts and writer Chris Galletta is kinda reminding me of Wes Anderson �s �Moonrise Kingdom� or Rob Reiner �s �Stand By Me� , except that we are having three teenage boys looking for freedom. It was a sweet escape, both for them and for the viewers, and however shallow and superficial the plan turns out to be, it�s still a journey of fun to get through for one and a half hour of duration. read more �

It might sound silly that I have not heard anything about Brit Marling . It turns out that this actress is also a script writer and a producer. �The East� is one of the films that she takes part not only as an actress but also as a screenwriter (together with director Zal Batmanglij ) and a producer. Marling and Batmanglij have spent some months experiencing freeganism and joining anarchist groups before writing the script of this provocative thriller. It might become a proof of how original �The East� is, regardless of whether it is as amusing as it is original or not. read more �

First I have to admit that I am a total beginner who spent not a great deal of my time watching newly coming movies, so until now I haven�t watched a significant amount of movies. I even missed lots of movies in this summer so probably I�m gonna tight up my watching schedule around the end of this year. LOL. read more �

I have never predicted that �Trance� can do more than I expected. It�s been so long for me not seeing such a twisting, un-predictable, multi-layered crime-thriller like this one. I didn�t keep good track on Danny Boyle �s filmography but I�m sure that he is also the one who turns the great story into such a tidy, chic presentation. I just think that this is the movie every crime-thriller lover should see. Read more to understand why. read more �

This is Park Chan-wook �s debut film in Hollywood. The most popular film from this South Korean director, �Oldboy� , is one of my favorites. However, I can say that compared to �Oldboy� or any other Park�s films, �Stoker� is much tamer. No blood, not even thrills. Supported by great performances from actors like Mia Wasikowska , Matthew Goode , and Nicole Kidman , is it fair to conclude that �Stoker� is not as interesting as �Oldboy�? read more �