THE LEGO BATMAN MOVIE (2017)

Genre: Animated

Running Length: 1:45

Cast (Voices): Will Arnett, Michael Cera, Rosario Dawson, Zach Galifianakis, Ralph Fiennes

Director: Chris McKay 

Screenplay: Seth Grahame-Smith, Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers 

Adults who avoid intimacy or closeness with someone, usually stems from the emotional abandonment they experienced in childhood from one or both of their parents. When parents are critical, preoccupied or taken away suddenly from the child's life, the vulnerable child will feel misunderstood, alone, hurt or angry. So during adulthood, in order to avoid feeling the same emotional pain they once experienced, they distant themselves from relationships or get involved in unhealthy abandoning type of relationships. 

That basically sums up the source material for THE LEGO BATMAN MOVIE. Yes, it's deep. That said, this entertaining, over-the-top and colourful ("All important movies start with a black screen") movie is perhaps the best possible thing that could have happened to the recent slate of humourless movies from the DC cinematic universe. 

When I watched the trailers, I wasn't exactly excited to catch the film as it felt like the entire movie was strung together with gags and silliness. I didn't see the Minions Movie because they were adorable in small doses in the Despicable Me movies but not in a movie of their own. Same reasoning for this movie as Batman stole every scene he was in in the brilliant The Lego Movie.

But I was so glad it wasn't the case because its self-deprecating comedy (my kind of humour) cleverly jabs at the other Barman properties (and WB's biggest properties) and familiar pop culture. This movie got me chuckling the whole time and LOL at certain scenes! It also emotionally had me at hello some scenes when Batman allows himself to feel vulnerable. 

Although the movie is a little over bloated (and the ending was so-so) and only Batman fans will really get most of the jokes, this movie still works well for the family. The voice cast is good and Will "I'm Batman!" Arnett is perfect. And I like the sensitive Joker too, Overall, highly recommended for a geek out and entertaining time.    

RATING: 8.5/10

KUBO AND THE TWO STRINGS (2016)

Genre: Animated
Running Length: 1:35
Cast (Voices): Art Parkinson, Charlize Theron, Ralph Fiennes, Matthew McConaughey, Rooney Mara, George Takei, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Brenda Vaccaro
Director: Travis Knight
Screenplay: Marc Haimes and Chris Butler, based on a story by Shannon Tindle and Marc Haimes

From the trailer, there seems to be a lot happening but KUBO AND THE TWO STRINGS is ultimately the classic hero's journey story. The story is told in a surreal feudal Japan (think Samurai) setting where reality meets fantasy.

Let's get the downside out of the way first because there's way more upside going for me - so much so that this film will most likely end up in my top 10 of 2016. Firstly, there is indeed a lot happening in its 90 minutes it feels that the filmmakers are being overly ambitious. A "less is more" approach could have been more effective. Secondly, the resolution at the end seems a little anti-climatic and too neat.

But as for the rest of the film, it's a powerful story about the power of storytelling. It's a story about hope and love grounded in the gritty reality of death and loss. Eventhough it has enough humour and action to distract a child audience, this is no Minions. The villains are scary and the themes explored are dark; right from the start we are introduced to a baby Kubo (and his mother) escaping from his grandfather who wants to gouge his other eye out. Yep, this is just the beginning.

The choice of using stop motion at core + CGI to tell of such an epic fantasy seems like a limitation but I read somewhere that Travis Knight (the director, and CEO of Laika; the animation house that produced this movie) wanted to challenge his team and himself to see how far they can push the technology of this medium. As a result, not only it looks visually gorgeous but the medium of stop motion just gives it a very organic and human feel that pure CGI may not be able to pull off.

The voice cast is fitting especially McConaughey, who is surprising very goofy. The score is just perfect especially during the film's tender moments and there are some pleasant "hidden in plain sight" revelations throughout the course of Kubo's heroic journey that makes this a must-watch movie.

Rating: 9/10

SPECTRE (2015)

Genre: Action / Thriller
Running Length: 2:28
Cast: Daniel Craig, Christoph Waltz, Lea Seydoux, Ralph Fiennes, Monica Bellucci, Ben Whishaw, Naomie Harris, Dave Bautista, Andrew Scott
Director: Sam Mendes
Screenplay: John Logan and Neal Purvis & Robert Wade and Jez Butterworth

SPECTRE is one technically accomplished and sleek Bond film. However, the screenplay pales in comparison to Skyfall, its immediate predecessor (also directed by Sam Mendes). The screenwriters tried to tie-in all the previous Daniel Craig's Bond into this film and as a result, it felt forced and patchy. Also, it gave me the vibe that Sam Mendes and team were not terribly motivated to make this film. To be fair, perhaps my expectations of Spectre was so high because Skyfall was just too good.

It starts off big with an engaging tracking shot of Bond working his way through a Day of the Dead parade in Mexico City. But it goes downhill and bloated thereafter where Bond's agenda this round is to follow the cookie crumbs left behind by his former boss. It kinda picked up towards the end when the big baddie revealed his masterplan but unfortunately, it just didn't redeem the entire movie. And the last 20 minutes which involved M vs. C was unnecessary. (Side note: "C" played by Andrew Scott is extremely distracting here. Those who watched BBC's Sherlock will get what I mean).

To me, Daniel Craig's Bond has always been more gritty and real for eg. he uses more hand-to-hand and fist fights. In summary, he "bleeds". But this round, the filmmakers seem to go back to the classic Bond where he seems invincible, overly suave and can fly a plane (and two helicopters) without breaking a sweat. Yes, even the corny, "'So James, what should we do now?' whispers the girl seductively" is present in this movie. The dude sitting next to me in the cinema hall couldn't helped but chuckled when the obvious happened thereafter.

As the main villain, Christoph Waltz is criminally underused. He is menacing in a somewhat cool demeanour. But compared to Javier Bardem's Silva, Waltz's baddie seems tame. Thankfully, the action set pieces are very well executed and the cinematography is breathtaking. And the score is exhilarating (however, that can't be said of Sam Smith's theme song; it was only marginally improved when coupled with the credit sequence visual feast).

Although Spectre is flawed, it's still an above average 007-outing.

Rating: 6.5/10

THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL (2014)

Genre: Comedy/Adventure
Running Length: 1:39
Cast: Ralph Fiennes, Tony Revolori, Adrien Brody, Willem Dafoe, Edward Norton, Jeff Goldblum, Saoirse Ronan, F. Murray Abraham
Director: Wes Anderson

If only Stephen Chow continued the trajectory of making his brand of "nonsensical" movies, he would have created something like THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL as he matures in his profession; a much richer and denser experience but still possesses all his trademarks - a relatively easy to follow storyline set in a surreal world littered with exaggerated characters caught in quirky situations (and blood bleeding from their nose). But I digressed. Wes Anderson's Budapest Hotel is an engaging 90+ minutes of unconventional adventure and idiosyncratic humour all framed up in obsessively carefully composed and symmetrical shots (with beautiful bright striking colours). There are sudden burst of unexpectedness throughout the movie. My favourite was a particularly lengthy chase scene where the action becomes increasingly elaborated. Ralph Fiennes is our main protagonist, the concierge of the The Grand Budapest Hotel and he plays a caricature of himself - the impeccable gentleman (some of the film's most amusing moments occur when he gets angry, slips out of character and goes on a profanity laced rant). I could never imagined Ralph Fiennes being attached to a film like this but he owned it. A big shout out to Tony Revolori (the lobby boy, Fiennes' protege) for his debut as Fiennes supporting actor. I must say he held himself up very well among all the A-list supporting cast and cameos. Not everyone will enjoy this movie but if you're looking for a "matured Stephen Chow" fix, you will be pleasantly surprised.

Rating: 8.5/10