I had reasnnonably positive expectations about this flick and, of course, I was disappointed. The story's been told several times over and most of the action is utterly predictable - except for the one big question at the beginning, granted, for which we get a first answer, then a twist and yet another twist. The problem with this film is that it tries to be two things at the same time, in just 94 minutes. * SPOILERS!! * There's what happens inside, and what happens outside. So there's first a kind of a thriller, and then a kind of an action/SciFi film. The two parts just don't add up. The movie would have been much better if it had chosen to be either the first, or the second kind. Here, it's just insufficiently convincing in both attempts. Oh and we have about 15 minutes of action taking place completely in the dark in the second part so you actually have no clue about what's causing the shouting and screaming. In one word : disappointing.
Reviews
5 Reviews
Young and Dangerous 3
(1996)
My favourite in the series
24 April 2014
This is unquestionably my favourite in the YnD series - and I'm a huge YnD buff. You have all the "stars" of the franchise here, Chn Ho Nam, Chicken, Stammer, the priest, but also great support characters played by Anthony Wong Chau Sang and Karen Mok, probably the two best HK actors of their generation. You have a bad guy who's really really really bad, and you have that sense of a documentary film about a Hong Kong which does not exist anymore, already after the British colonial period, and still before the Chinese takeover (and there's quite a few humorous lines about that in the movie). A Hong Kong society that almost belonged to itself. OK, the storyline is in fact a direct copy of the first film in the series (they just changed the characters and locations), but you won't notice unless you're a real expert of the series. I miss those times.
Snowpiercer
(2013)
Metropolis of the new century
3 November 2013
No spoilers here !
Remember Metropolis, the great silent film by Fritz Lang, and probably the most revered science-fiction film of all times ? Well, if Snowpiercer is not such an absolute masterpiece, I do believe it's the best reiteration of the same concept that made Lang's film so unique : asking questions about the condition of mankind in a futuristic society, and how it does and does not evolve as compared with current times.
It's good that not all near-blockbuster scale sci-fi movies do not come out of Hollywood anymore. Snowpiercer is based on a long-forgotten 70's French graphic novel. The Korean director got his hands on a bootleg translation in a Seoul bookshop while filming The Host and got totally hooked. The end product is a French-Korean production, in the making of which one of the authors of the original graphic novel got directly involved.
The plot is simple : ecologist freaks have pushed governments to unleash a gas in the atmosphere to control global warming, this proved so effective that the world is now a standalone, snow-covered giant ice cap. The only survivors are all aboard a revolutionary train that goes on and on making loops around the world. It's like Noah's Ark, but including the politics that come with it : first class, second class, workers, fraudsters, the ticket is your fate - for generations. And the consequences are extreme, to such and extent that you can't conceive. Prepare to be shocked at times. Imagine the vertical multistoreyed humanity of Lang's Metropolis, the horizontal way. Some of the tail section fraudsters decide to rebel against their condition and progress to the head car of the train regardless of the risks. Every car they go through bears its grotesque and mind-bending surprises. And tells us more about how this society actually works and what it relies on.
This film has style. Even though it reminds of Gilliam (see 12 monkeys) and Matsumoto (Galaxy Express), there is real personality and originality. CGI is limited to a few breathtaking scenes that really add up to the storyline. Acting is mostly excellent, especially by Ed Harris and John Hurt. But most importantly, this film triggers reflection, soul-searching and debate like true Sci-Fi gems should. Unlike most Hollywood movies, it is not Manichaean : the story and morals are complex and debatable. You heart keeps swinging for scene to scene as you learn more. The ending asks a lot of questions.
All in all, when the end credits start rolling, it's a film you want to rewatch, not because you haven't understood, but because you want to understand more, and experience more.
Remember Metropolis, the great silent film by Fritz Lang, and probably the most revered science-fiction film of all times ? Well, if Snowpiercer is not such an absolute masterpiece, I do believe it's the best reiteration of the same concept that made Lang's film so unique : asking questions about the condition of mankind in a futuristic society, and how it does and does not evolve as compared with current times.
It's good that not all near-blockbuster scale sci-fi movies do not come out of Hollywood anymore. Snowpiercer is based on a long-forgotten 70's French graphic novel. The Korean director got his hands on a bootleg translation in a Seoul bookshop while filming The Host and got totally hooked. The end product is a French-Korean production, in the making of which one of the authors of the original graphic novel got directly involved.
The plot is simple : ecologist freaks have pushed governments to unleash a gas in the atmosphere to control global warming, this proved so effective that the world is now a standalone, snow-covered giant ice cap. The only survivors are all aboard a revolutionary train that goes on and on making loops around the world. It's like Noah's Ark, but including the politics that come with it : first class, second class, workers, fraudsters, the ticket is your fate - for generations. And the consequences are extreme, to such and extent that you can't conceive. Prepare to be shocked at times. Imagine the vertical multistoreyed humanity of Lang's Metropolis, the horizontal way. Some of the tail section fraudsters decide to rebel against their condition and progress to the head car of the train regardless of the risks. Every car they go through bears its grotesque and mind-bending surprises. And tells us more about how this society actually works and what it relies on.
This film has style. Even though it reminds of Gilliam (see 12 monkeys) and Matsumoto (Galaxy Express), there is real personality and originality. CGI is limited to a few breathtaking scenes that really add up to the storyline. Acting is mostly excellent, especially by Ed Harris and John Hurt. But most importantly, this film triggers reflection, soul-searching and debate like true Sci-Fi gems should. Unlike most Hollywood movies, it is not Manichaean : the story and morals are complex and debatable. You heart keeps swinging for scene to scene as you learn more. The ending asks a lot of questions.
All in all, when the end credits start rolling, it's a film you want to rewatch, not because you haven't understood, but because you want to understand more, and experience more.
The Butterfly Effect
(2004)
Mindf@ck film just like they should be
27 July 2012
I seldom come out and write movie reviews in IMDb but I felt this one deserved some effort from me. I don't recall any movie which made me shiver thinking about what was gonna come next when I hit pause to go for a pee or any other reason. This one is really something. There is a "Lost Highway" feel to it and the themes are closely related but...The Butterfly effect is in fact more complex.It is a really disturbing movie, not so much for what it shows, but for what it keeps you guessing - like all true thriller masterpieces - , about events that take or might take place, and above all, about human sanity and the subtle twist there is between the average Joe's walk of life and outright perversion. Requires multiple - rewarding - viewings.
When outsourcing gets you closer/and further/ than you think
28 February 2011
Is it still possible to create something in a comedy about call centers after the multiple award-winning, and hugely likable Slumdog Millionaire ?
The answer brought by 118318 is yes. First by centering the story on the call center itself, whereas it was just an episode in Slumdog. True, you could also mention "The Other End of The Line" which is more extensively about call centers. But this film is no romance.
So then comes the second idea : locating the outsourced call center in a much closer, although not less exotic location than India. The call center in 118318 (the 118XXX numbers are used in France by phone-directory services, notorious for their far-less-than-professional quality due to the outsourcing of the call centers in terrible countries) is not in India, in the Philippines, nor in their equivalents for the French customer in northern Africa, the call center is here located in rural France - although other world locations will be seen as the story unfolds, but I won't spoil it. And even in rural France, the reps can be slackers. Maybe even more so.
Such slackers that the call center will need a full-scale, last-hope mission to be saved. The local MP who needs the jobs to stay there so he can be re-elected will therefore ask his good friend working for the top, national level government offices to come and rescue the business. Needless to say, this exquisitely trained intellectual (Polivennes) know nuts about call centers, the countryside, and even human relations. He will therefore need time before he can consider the ideas of the low-ranking but inventive and much more down-to-earth rank-and-file within the company. Idea number three : the social satire. Which is the aspect that made me personally laugh the most.
This film without using jargon or getting too technical reveals more, much more than you would initially imagine about the call center business, but also about human relations within a beleaguered company. Although some situations and gags are not new, although the lack of budget is sometimes obvious, the film kept me interested and smiling all along. Acting is definitely decent, and everybody in this film seems to be having a good time making it : the viewer can feel it.
For all its interesting ideas, I believe an American remake of the film would be a success, not only in theaters, but also in management training sessions.
The answer brought by 118318 is yes. First by centering the story on the call center itself, whereas it was just an episode in Slumdog. True, you could also mention "The Other End of The Line" which is more extensively about call centers. But this film is no romance.
So then comes the second idea : locating the outsourced call center in a much closer, although not less exotic location than India. The call center in 118318 (the 118XXX numbers are used in France by phone-directory services, notorious for their far-less-than-professional quality due to the outsourcing of the call centers in terrible countries) is not in India, in the Philippines, nor in their equivalents for the French customer in northern Africa, the call center is here located in rural France - although other world locations will be seen as the story unfolds, but I won't spoil it. And even in rural France, the reps can be slackers. Maybe even more so.
Such slackers that the call center will need a full-scale, last-hope mission to be saved. The local MP who needs the jobs to stay there so he can be re-elected will therefore ask his good friend working for the top, national level government offices to come and rescue the business. Needless to say, this exquisitely trained intellectual (Polivennes) know nuts about call centers, the countryside, and even human relations. He will therefore need time before he can consider the ideas of the low-ranking but inventive and much more down-to-earth rank-and-file within the company. Idea number three : the social satire. Which is the aspect that made me personally laugh the most.
This film without using jargon or getting too technical reveals more, much more than you would initially imagine about the call center business, but also about human relations within a beleaguered company. Although some situations and gags are not new, although the lack of budget is sometimes obvious, the film kept me interested and smiling all along. Acting is definitely decent, and everybody in this film seems to be having a good time making it : the viewer can feel it.
For all its interesting ideas, I believe an American remake of the film would be a success, not only in theaters, but also in management training sessions.
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