Sarcasm Included

Yes, I am back with more reviews. What else can you expect when I had a two-week holiday and a DVD player recently moved to my room? And I still have twenty five films to see. I am a hoarder of movies; it’s a disease. I’ll be as brief as I can, promise.

Seen:

A for Awesome!

1. Easy A
A high-school comedy that is a cut above the rest. Rising star Emma Stone plays Olivia, a girl who pretends to sleep with a lot of guys (read: losers) in exchange for gift cards. It starts out as a way to help a gay friend but Olivia enjoys the notoriety she gains and thinks of it as charity. Funny without being too graphic, the movie has an excellent cast lineup and is guaranteed to entertain. It’s Emma Stone’s finest, really.

2. Agora
Alejandro Amenabar‘s dramatic historical story of Egypt under the Roman occupation. If the filmmaker name sounds familiar, it’s because he is a multi-talented man who was responsible for Abre Los Ojos (The original Vanilla Sky, before Tom Cruise got his grubby hands on it) and The Others.  The film’s in English, fortunately, and features one of my favorites, Rachel Weisz as Hypatia, an astronomer in the scholarly city of Alexandria. Fiercely independent and brilliant beyond imagination, she remains principled even as the rise of Christianity brings turmoil to her hometown and beloved temple of science. The film is visually striking and the story is engaging. The theme of religious conflict is relevant to today’s struggle and Amenabar makes the bold choice of portraying early Christian movement as fanatically violent as the Western people view Moslem extremists now. Quite a feat.

3. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
Yet another Michael Cera film where he is this lovable, awkward loser who goes to extreme to win a girl. Yes, he is the Scott Pilgrim in the title. Based on a comic, the story is odd as it comes: Scott must defeat the seven evil exes of the girl he loves before he can have her. By defeat, I mean physically beat them in a fight. If you like quirky movies or video games, you might like this movie. If you’re neither, well, at least the fights are cool. The cast is surprisingly diverse: Jason Schwartzman is hilarious as the big baddie, and two of the exes are superheroes (Superman’s Brandon Routh and Captain America Chris Evans). Funny, but not for everyone.

The Quirky French Adventurer

4. The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec
Disclaimer: I didn’t watch this movie in its original language (French). For some reason, the DVDs distributed in Indonesia all come with Chinese audio. There is an English subtitle and I’m basing this review on that.

The title character, Adele, is a daring journalist in early 20th century who writes about wonderful adventures in exotic lands. The film opens with her in an Egyptian tomb of a great physician, whom she hopes to revive in order to wake her sister up from a coma induced by a spirited tennis match in the past. No, I did not make that plot up. There is also some bit about a dinosaur, lovesick curators, and French bureaucracy. It’s a bizarre film but incredibly funny. Leave it to the French to do a film like this.

5. The Ghost Writer
It’s a Roman Polanski film, yes, but despite him being charged for sleeping with a minor, he is a terrific director and he’s done a wonderful job on this one. Ewan McGregor is a ghost writer hired to help write the “autobiographies” of famous people. He is persuaded to help the former British PM, Adam Lang (Pierce Brosnan) to write his, after the first ghost writer was found dead. What happens next is a thriller reminiscent of Hitchcock in its intensity and style. In fact, this is the genius of Roman Polanski. Not a lot of directors make movies like this anymore. Olivia Williams is brilliant as the mistreated wife of a politician. Then again, I know her as the icy Ms. Dewitt from the short-lived Joss Whedon series, Dollhouse and have seen her as Jane Austen in Miss Austen Regrets so it’s no surprise to me. The movie is a wonderful, old-fashioned thriller.

6. Downton Abbey
It’s yet another Masterpiece Theatre production, based on the novel with the same title. The series follows the life of one Lord Grantham’s household, who lives in Downton Abbey. It is set in the early 20th century, right around the sinking of Titanic, which, incidentally took the life of Lord Grantham’s heir, his cousin. Now the family faces a dilemma. The Lord has three daughters but the law dictates that only a male heir can legally own the estate. What follows is the arrival of a distant relative who can become the next lord and the schemings of Lord Grantham’s (not in any order) wife, mother, and eldest daughter to prevent that from happening.

Only the first season has been made but I’ve been completely hooked. Downton Abbey to Brits is what Mad Men is to Americans, a comparison made by Graydon Carter in his editorial on VF’s January issue. It highlights the golden age of England and at the same time points out the worst of the antiquated (or is it?) class system. Even the service staff of Downton Abbey are snobs! Written and directed by Julian Fellowes of Gosford Park fame, the series is stylish and intelligent, supported by a stellar cast that can only be found on British TV. The plot can be slow and unexciting at times, but as a whole, it is delightful.

Heard:
1. Songs About Jane – Maroon 5
No, it is not new but it was the album that catapulted Maroon 5 into great heights. Plus, this is the definitive work of the band and my favorite by far. Whoever “Jane” is, thank you for being the inspiration of the great songs, however crap of a girlfriend you may have been.

Plus, Maroon 5 was the first band that I’ve ever seen live and they were performing the whole record. Listening to it really brings back memories.

2. The Progress – Take That

Together Again

Yes, the five Mancunian lads are back together! Robbie Williams officially rejoined the boyband he once left more than a decade ago. And what a difference it has made. The songs are always excellent but Robbie has stepped up the game even more with his participation in the process. I recently saw a documentary of the recording process and it has made me aware of the struggles these men have gone through. They’re more mature and wiser now and it is reflected in this album.

3. Natasha Bedingfield – Strip Me
I didn’t care for her previous work but this record is reminiscent of the ones I did love. Natasha is at her best writing upbeat songs about self-respect and believing in yourself and she does that a lot in this album. Her vocal powers through the songs and Ryan Tedder’s participation cements my love for Strip Me.

Read:
1. The Percy Jackson Series – Rick Riordan
All five books in a week. Sometimes, I amaze myself. Ehem. Percy, if you still haven’t heard of him, is a half-blood, the son of Poseidon and a mortal woman. After a whole life of being a trouble child, he finds out the truth about his parentage and is immediately plunged into a conflict between the gods. The choices he makes can save the world or end it…you know how it goes.

The story is exciting, the mythical characters abundant and Ric Riordan makes everything sound so damn hilarious. The similarity to Harry Potter is glaringly obvious but it’s no reason not to enjoy it. Better than the film adaptation, anyway. And it gives you a chance to learn a lot about Greek mythology. The new series, The Heroes of Olympus has just been released, featuring other characters than Percy.

2. One Day – David Nichols
After finding this book on everyone’s best of 2010 list, I had to get it. Its storytelling method is unique, highlighting one day, the same date, in the characters’ lives in each passing year, moving from when they first met in late 80s to now. Dex and Em first connected on the day they graduated from university. They become best friends and go through a rollercoaster relationship worthy of Hollywood romantic comedies.

This book is bloody brilliant. The voice of each character and their journey are skillfully constructed and the dialogues are extremely funny, in the way that only Brits can do. The story will affect you deeply, trust me. It reminds me of another great, Beginner’s Greek, which is another book about starstruck lovers with a wonderfully witty voice throughout.

Nichols is a genius. This is the book I wish I could write someday.

Let’s hope the upcoming Hollywood adaptation doesn’t turn this book into shit.