Kerenblog

Several hours before the new year�s eve of 2018, I want to share with you a film that really struck me right in the heart when I first saw it several weeks ago. This one�s easily becomes one of my favorite films of the year, and most of the time, when I talk about my favorite films, I refer to those that feel personal or relate to me in reality. This one is not necessarily like that; although may I say I wish I could feel what the characters in this film feel, in one way or another, in real life. This film, called �Call Me by Your Name� , is a queer coming-of-age film that remarkably captured the beautiful complexity of identity-searching of the youth and then transferred the emotional nuance in the process with such an empathetical, intimate style. read more �

What do we know about Stephen Hawking? He�s a physicist (or theoretical physicist, or astrophysicist, or cosmologist). He�s that scientist with a disease that made him sit on his sophisticated wheel chair and talk using a computer. For most people (I mean, non-�science� people) he is world famous not because of his brilliant theories about the universe, but because of his statement about us no longer needing the existence of God, now that science can explain all the �magic� used to be explained by faith and religious tenets. �The Theory of Everything� covers the life of Stephen Hawking and his wife, Jane Hawking, with the most beautiful form of acting performance I have seen this year. 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 �

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 �

The first question: where have you been, Bar? The answer: nowhere. I have been nowhere, but I am busy with my mind and I lost my mood to write, so... I spent a week with not even a single writing posted. The second question: what movies have you watched in cinema recently, Bar? The answer: I haven�t gone to cinema for the past two weeks (the last time I went to cinema is to watch �Man of Steel� ) so perhaps I skip �World War Z� , �Monsters University� , �White House Down� , and more. Sigh. Anyway, I have been watching some past-year movies and in case I can not write one review for each of them, I wrapped them into one post. Here they are: read more �

There�s a lot of love for �Amour� in the Oscar last February, although in the end it only won one out of several nominations it gained. Like what I wrote in this post , I guess the warmth of love of this French-language Austrian film didn�t last long. I, honestly, don�t really like this film�although it is undoubtedly a qualified representation of modern cinema. This is the first chance for me to watch any of Michael Haneke �s works and, well, I can say that I need more time to adapt with his style before starting to know him via �Amour�. read more �

F. Scott Fitzgerald �s classic novel, �The Great Gatsby� , has been taken into a vibrant, grotesque movie by the hand of Baz Luhrmann . And I never expected that such classic story was also adapted for a 3D movie, which at first I thought would be just too much. Critics seem don�t like it, because their reviews on this movie was mixed. I think I�m gonna be against them: I love this movie (but I don�t really like Luhrmann�s style), maybe because of the fact that I haven�t either read the novel or watch the previous movie. This is a saddening, sorrowful story of The Great Jay Gatsby , despite of its glamorous package. read more �

Some movie-buffs said, if you think drama movies are suck, try watching �Up in the Air� . This idea has never come across my mind, but for me �Up in the Air� is a good proof that a drama-comedy can turn out to be both heart-pleasing and entertaining. Jason Reitman , as both the director and the screenwriter of this movie, is the guy behind two other popular drama-comedy: �Thank You For Smoking� and �Juno� . Let�s see what makes �Up in the Air� could be placed as one of his bests. read more �

I rarely had free time to go to the cinema these weeks and when I did have, I skipped �Iron Man 3� and chose �What They Don�t Talk About When They Talk About Love� instead (I�ll shorten this too long title just as �Don�t Talk Love"). �Don�t Talk Love� had its premiere on this year�s Sundance Film Festival as one of the contenders of Grand Jury Prize in category �World Cinema � Dramatic� and, proudly, this is the first Indonesian movie that goes to Sundance. Mouly Surya , the director, has impressed me with her latest film, �fiksi.� , so it didn�t take long for �Don�t Talk Love� to be included in my watchlist. read more �

I was so amazed by "The Tree of Life" , the only movie by Terrence Malick I have ever seen, that I put it in my favorite movies list. I had a very pretentious and awe-inspiring introduction to his work and I learn that although it is not so friendly, "The Tree of Life" give me a heart-pleasing thought and experience in appreciating movies. Now that I have been waiting (and excited) to "To The Wonder" , in most parts it is disappointing. "To The Wonder" is tiring. It visualizes so much but it is shallow when it comes to the story, emotions, and characterization. read more �

I actually don�t plan to watch �Madre� because, well, recently this Dewi �Dee� Lestari novel-to-movie adaptation is just way too much. We have seen �Perahu Kertas� part 1 and part 2 , �Rectoverso� , and now comes �Madre�. Actually �Madre� is based on a novelet, not a novel. I haven�t read it (actually I barely have read all her works), but I always come up to this conclusion that it takes an extra effort to adapt her works into movies. Because, well, it is not an easy job to describe her ability of word-playing into a visual entertainment. �Perahu Kertas� part 1 is good, �Perahu Kertas� part 2 is okay, �Rectoverso� is below average, and �Madre�... well just read more to know my opinion about it. read more �

There are certain movies that interest you not just because of the story, but more because of the roles and the acting of the actors. �The Devil Wears Prada� is one of them. I won�t say that the story is not interesting at all, but I appreciate it more because of the performance of the leading and supporting actors. Especially, the living legend Meryl Streep in this movie! I don�t know, but she truly is the one that attracted me most and, although on the other hand she is one factor that gives power to the movie, somehow she makes the story unbalanced because the rest of the cast should work on her �level�. But, of course, this is not her fault. read more �

Adapting a novel into a movie is not an easy job, I tell you. The magic of a novel is in the words, while the magic of a movie comes from its visual and story. It�s no wonder that there are many novel-into-movie adaptation do not work out. For me, �Rectoverso� is better be enjoyed as a novel instead of a movie. It�s actually a compilation of short stories by Dewi Lestari , one of the most well-known and highly-acclaimed author in Indonesia. I remember I had a chance to read one of the short stories in �Rectoverso�, and I recalled that experience as an amazing one. Dewi �Dee� Lestari had a rare ability to play with metaphors in words, and while the book itself has a sense of audio-visual imagination�more than just words��Rectoverso� the movie is not as good as the book. read more �

I don�t usually celebrate February 14th, but I think it�s a good opportunity for you, movie-holic, to celebrate this so-called Valentine�s Day with some good romantic movies. But how if you don�t feel like going to cinema to watch romantic movies (although there�s a bunch of �em currently showing in cinemas), or you haven�t even bought any DVDs to watch, or you don�t even have a girlfriend ? Don�t worry, with a good internet connection you can still enjoy this day with some short movies available in Youtube . Here are my picks of 7 romantic short movies (both animation and live-action) for your Valentine, in no particular order. read more �

Even the title is very young. �10 Things I Hate About You� is so teenager and light, could just be another kind of rom-com, and so cheerful that it is needless to frown or scowl to watch this flick. This is the kind of movie you could enjoy with your friends (or, especially, with your girl/boyfriend) and a bowl of popcorn and a glass of soda in your spare time. �10 Things I Hate About You� is actually a modern-day adaptation of classic play by William Shakespeare , �The Taming of the Shrew� (and you can see some references and clues about it in the movie), but, regardless of that, it is just an easy movie. read more �

Maybe this is the first time I watch a purely musical movie like this, where every single line of the dialogues is sung by the actors. It may seem awkward if you haven't seen any like this one, but for me, "Les Mis�rables" just blows my mind. Phew. It is based on the similarly-titled musical play by Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Sch�nberg which is in fact based on �Les Mis�rables� , a classic novel written by Victor Hugo . Actually there have been a lot of movie adaptations of �Les Mis�rables� previously�the last movie of �Les Mis�rables� was in 1998 , starring Uma Thurman and Liam Neeson �but this year, Tom Hooper tried to re-visualize it in the newest �Les Mis�rables� in a way considered as �a world�s first�, since they live-recorded every song instead of prerecorded it. read more �

I�m so curious with this film because from its outlook, it doesn�t offer something promising that worth a bunch of nominations of Golden Globe or Oscar. It seems like another rom-com, except that it contains a good cast and a well-acclaimed director. �Silver Linings Playbook� is one of the contenders of this year�s Academy Award�s Best Picture , and before watching it, I erased all the Golden Globe and Oscar buzz in my mind so I could see it as it purely is. Then, we will examine if it really worth its acclaim. read more �