Category Archives: Movies

The Dark Knight Rises – Review

Opening 8 years after the events of The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises opens with an optimistic Gotham city enacting the Harvey Dent act that has made the city more secure. Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) and Batman haven’t been seen in those 8 years. There was no need for them. It is then that a masked man named Bane (Tom Hardy) kidnaps a Russian scientist from a CIA extraction operation and kills everyone on board of the plane so the wheels of his plans start spinning. Bane wants to bring Gotham its reckoning. He wants to break the city that has sunk so low in decadence.

In the meantime, Wayne enterprises is no longer making profit because of a very ambitious and expensive environmental-friendly project. There’s also a new player in town: Selina Kyle (Ann Hathaway), a very cunning jewel thief, who’s seeking a way to absolve her past. And as events progress, Gotham and its people sink into despair as a false sense of justice is set in. And as Bane rises, the necessity for the Batman rises as well. But will he be able to match Bane? Or will the Bat break, taking with him any hope Gotham city might have?

Simply put, The Dark Knight Rises is a very slow movie to start. And at an almost three hours running time, that’s a lot of time for it to get going. The sad part is when it gets going, it doesn’t capture the epic feel of its predecessor. It doesn’t come close to the sense of urgency that The Dark Knight entailed. It doesn’t come close to the sense of dread, fear and danger that the Joker was able to put in us – even though Bane’s plan was more dangerous.

Tom Hardy does a good job at portraying the masked villain. He is ruthless, powerful, dominating and frightening. Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne and the Batman does his best portrayal of the character in all three movies of the trilogy. His characters are weakened, losing hope, wanting to feel strong again and wanting to save the city they love. He manages to convey all those opposing emotions very well.

Marion Cotillard, as Melinda Tate, a board member of Wayne Enterprise, manages to hold her own but her character is so underdeveloped that her entire presence feels underwhelming. She doesn’t manage to do what she does best and that is steal the show whenever she’s on screen. On the other hand, Michael Cain as Alfred, Bruce Wayne’s butler, and despite the little screen time that he gets is great as the man who wants to keep the boy he raised safe, out of harm’s way, and most importantly alive.

However, the most interesting cast choice was actually Ann Hathaway. She was absolutely brilliant as Selina Kyle and was probably the most fun to watch. She is terrifying, fun, quirky, powerful, afraid, vulnerable, strong…. And she manages to bring forth empathy in the viewer despite her many flaws. She’s fits into the tone Nolan set for the movie perfectly and betters it.

Gary Oldman returns as commissioner Gordon. Joseph Gordon-Levitt stars as John Blake, with an interesting middle name, a new addition to the police squad and a firm believer in the Batman. Morgan Freeman returns as Fox, the genius behind all the Bat techs. There are also many other characters from the previous Batman movies that will make an appearance as well. The purpose of The Dark Knight Rises is to bring things full circle.

However, instead of bringing things to a closure with a bang, The Dark Knight Rises fizzles away and ends the epic trilogy with a thud. Perhaps I expected more from the movie. Perhaps its only purpose was to bring the Bruce Wayne story arc to its emotional end. But with the long running time and the employment of so many different story lines that don’t go at odds with each other, the stage was set for The Dark Knight Rises to be much more.

The movie boasts brilliant special effects to the backdrop of a masterful score by Hans Zimmer, the best of which is Rise which plays at the movie’s last scene. But even with all of those epic components, The Dark Knight Rises falls short. It is definitely a good movie by all measures – perhaps even better than good. But the standards set forth by both of its predecessors and by Nolan’s previous works as well set the bar way too high and it seems Nolan has faltered and fallen short.

Should you watch it? Definitely. You will more than enjoy it. You will get goosebumps and you will get emotional. But you won’t go out of the movie theatre shocked like you were with The Dark Knight and you won’t go out of the theatre raving about the brilliant movie you just watched. One thing to be grateful for, however, is Nolan breaking the boundaries of comic book-based movies and delivering an Oscar-worthy trilogy that will never see any golden statuettes.

Rise, Nolan. Rise.

7/10

The Amazing Spider-Man – Review

Forget dreary Tobey Maguire. Forget melodramatic Kirsten Dunst. Forget depressing spidey. The world’s most popular superhero is back.

The Amazing Spider-Man is more or less the same story of the first Spider-Man movie that saw light in 2002. Peter Parker, a 17 year old high school student who lost both of his parents years before, gets bitten by a spider while visiting a high-tech lab and develops spider-related abilities such as cunning senses and extra sticky digits. He is the victim of radical biological experiments involving cross species hybridization, which his father had started before his death. Soon enough, this research takes a bad turn when its power begins to be used for purposes other than the one it was intended for.

Andrew Garfield, at 28, is far more convincing as a teenager than Maguire, who was even younger when he acted in the first Spider-Man movie. You’d think Garfield just had his growth spurt and is still getting accustomed to his new self. He’s extra shy around the girl he likes: Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone), he’s awkward and agitated. He’s also great to watch on screen.

Emma Stone is great as well as Spidey’s love interest in this movie. What’s interesting about her character is that it doesn’t melt in the whole love-aspect of things but stands alone as a credible female character that can surprise you, entertain you and stand up for herself when needed.

Garfield and Stone have stunning chemistry together on screen. They work so well together you can’t but wonder at times where this combo had been hiding for years. Of course, they are helped by a terrific supporting cast in the form of Sally Field and Martin Sheen as Peter’s aunt May and uncle Ben, respectively.

Director Mark Webb, yes that is his real name fitting as it is, does a great job in breathing new life into a story we all know and giving it another dimension we hadn’t been exposed to before. His previous work is the very entertaining 500 Days of Summer, an indie comedy. He pulls off the blockbuster aspect of things in a great way and even adds a little touch of the humanitarian aspect present in copious amounts in indie movies to his reboot of Spider-Man.

The story may be familiar. The last Spider-Man movie, horrible as it may have been, was only five years ago. But The Amazing Spider-Man is a more than welcome restart of a franchise I had thought is long gone by now. The movie exceeded my expectations. I never thought I’d be this entertained by it. I never thought I’d be taken in from the first frame that poped on screen and never let go until the credits started rolling. I never thought it would be this well-casted. The Amazing Spider-Man advances with great pace, works well with its buildup and even has a few tricks up its sleeve so freshen the story up. The special effects are more than well done but in an age where this is becoming easier and easier to accomplish, where The Amazing Spider-Man rises is in it having substantial amounts of heart.

Some parts of the story are left open as the movie ends, to be resolved in subsequent installments. Even the characters’ personalities are not developed until they’ve been turned dull, which makes The Amazing Spider-Man even more interesting to watch and to predict what might come next. It sure doesn’t hurt that the screenwriters are some of the best in the business such as Steve Kloves, the man who brought you Harry Potter. But this is what the original Spider-Man should have been about.

The Amazing Spider-Man is amazing, indeed. Welcome back spidey. You’ve been missed.

9/10

His Name Is A Long Story – A Short Lebanese Movie by Christy Whaibe

I recently went to the Outbox Film Festival which took place in Downtown Beirut at the Roman Baths from June 14th till June 17th. The festival was showing three categories of movies: foreign, animated and Lebanese short films, all participating in a competition where the winners would go on to Los Angeles and be advised by cinephilia productions there on writing scripts and making movies.

Among the Lebanese short movies that were screened there, the most interesting one, in my opinion, was Christy Whaibe’s His Name is a Long Story (Esmo Essa Tawile). The movie tells the story of a little boy whose name is so long that when the other students finish their homework and leave class, he’d still be writing his name. We all know someone like him. My brother was one. Christy tells the story of how his name came to be: how his mother wanted to name him something because of her own reasons, how his father had other intentions and ultimately how all the different options merged to give the boy a name that’s proving trouble in his every day life.

His Name is a Long Story merges comedy with subtle references about Lebanese society, paralleling the style of Nadine Labaki. Be it by taking jabs at nuns, teachers, schools, etc., the movie is about those in our society who hide behind a crust believing others wouldn’t approve of, not knowing that there are some people who are very similar, sharing the woes they believe are unique to them.

The script took Christy over a year and a half to write. The ideas of the movie are inspired from everyday life. When you watch it, you’ll be surprised as to how exactly this movie parallels certain aspects of Lebanese society and does so in only 13 minutes without preaching or coming off as patronizing. The movie took 7 days to be shot and over 2 months in post production. The fact that preparation took such a long time shows in the results delivered.

The main actor, a young boy named Karim el Chemali, was “awesome” according to Christy. And even though it may be difficult to work with little kids, his attitude and acting skills made things much easier and smoother, she said.

His Name is a Long Story won the competition at Outbox by winning the popular vote and deservedly so. With guidance from Hollywood professionals, I’m actually very excited to see what Christy can come up with in the long run. Lebanese cinematic talent is much more promising than we give it credit and His Name is a Long Story is proof for that.

Where Do We Go Now is Banned in Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia may not have cinemas but it allows some DVDs to be sold in its shops. Where Do We Go Now won’t be one of those DVDs because the Saudi government has deemed the movie offensive and unsuitable for a Home Video release. Therefore, the movie was banned entirely.

In retrospect, this is very much expected. A movie whose ultimate message is about religious tolerance will be allowed in Saudi Arabia how?

In simple terms, Saudi Arabia is here and the concept of religious tolerance has escaped them so much that it’s flown all the way to Pluto and settled there.

The way I see it, in this day and age, banning any movie, book or TV show is irrelevant. The only entity that will get hurt here is some wallets.

There’s simply  a little bay for pirates where everything can be found. If Nadine Labaki’s aim is to deliver a message first and foremost instead of filling up her treasury, I’m sure she wouldn’t mind audiences in Saudi Arabia making a slight detour to that bay.

Or the Saudis, whose government still allows them to come over to Lebanon for the summer, can purchase the super-overpriced DVD here. You know they can afford it.

Prometheus – Movie Review

Because every great director needs to make a comeback. Because that comeback cannot but be with a prequel these days or a reboot of a series. And because that remake or reboot has to be in 3D.

This is how Ridley Scott’s Prometheus came to be.

Set in 2094, a group of scientists are put in cryo, some form of deep sleep, as the Greek god-inspired spaceship, Prometheus, takes them to a planet where they believe they’ll find the creators of Man. Once they land and start to discover the nearby tunnels of the Earth-like planet, they will be surprised with what they find: humanoid-like species that are apparently extinct. Along with the humanoids, however, they will uncover other things that shouldn’t be uncovered leading them to realize that the place they’re at is not what it promised to be.

When it comes to Prometheus, the discussion takes two directions. On one hand, you have exquisite visuals that will immerse you in the movie’s world. On the other hand, you have one of the weakest plots of movies released this year. Why so? Because too many things are happening in Promotheus to be resolved. Too many questions are asked and none are answered. Too many issues are raised and none are sought out.

In fact, I remember reading about the shroud of secrecy surrounding Prometheus’ plot in order not to let anything leak. Well, that shroud of secrecy has extended well into the movie because it doesn’t reveal anything as well. None at all, actually. When you’re watching Prometheus and things start happening and you start thinking that you’ll understand why in a few, simply don’t. You won’t. Because they won’t tell you.

On the other hand, the visual effects and the imagery of the movie are so great that you won’t notice the basic and most fundamental flaw about the storytelling until you’re at least an hour in. Ridley Scott outdoes himself by giving the viewers a world where you can sink in your senses and don’t feel guilty.

And then, as it nears its conclusion, Prometheus starts to attempt going into the realms of existentialism – but the build up isn’t there, which is another inherent flaw in its storytelling. So instead of ending with a big bang, it ends with with a solar flare. This leaves everything that might be answered to a subsequent sequel. But I’m not holding my breath for answers in that one as well.

All in all, Prometheus is definitely watchable. But don’t go in with high expectations because you will be disappointed. The movie falters more than once. The acting performances by Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender and Charlize Theron are not strong enough to mask out the lack of substance. And a time when making visually appealing movies is becoming easier and easier, shouldn’t Hollywood at least try to redraft the movies that obviously need reworking?

6.5/10