Jay Lagare

I was curious about Charlie and the Chocolate Factory because Billie likes the original Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory very much. As expected from a kiddie and family movie, it was bright, wondrous, and feel goody. Several [mostly annoying] kids won trips to a tour of The Chocolate Factory. Somewhere in the middle of the movie there was a shade of darkness as they encountered the singing burning dolls (creepy), and meet the mysterious Willy Wonka who seemed to be hiding something (creepier). Then the kids started disappearing one by one, hinting of something sinister going on. If I didn’t know any better I’d have thought that the Oompa Loompa’s are cannibals (Wonka mentioned something about cannibalism before the first kid disappeared) or that the secret ingredients for Wonka’s yummy chocolates were kids (shades of Soylent Green). But then those dark twisted thoughts of mine would have come to naught as this is a kiddie and family movie after all. As expected, in the end the missing kids turned up more or less fine and things got brighter and happier. Great for a family outing.

Rating: 3/5

In The Machinist, Christian Bale plays Trevor Reznik, a machinist who hasn’t slept in a year. As a result he is gaunt and emaciated and prone to memory lapses and paranoia. Through the movie, he slowly unravels the mystery of his condition and, although at times a bit confusing, lets you experience his bewilderment and provides a reasonably satisfying realization phase. In the end, you sort of share his sense of final relief. The movie reminded me of Fight Club (chronic insomnia) and Memento (writing down information except Reznik writes his reminders on Post-Its). Aside from that, there is no other comparison with the aforementioned movies as this movie is darker, more morbid, and more gory. Pretty good if you’re into that kind of movie.

Rating: 4/5

I was just looking for something to help me chill out from a pretty stressful week at work and school and The Island was it. It starts off in a 1984-like utopian world where Lincoln (Ewan McGregor) goes about his daily life, usually working. However, he also has this penchant to lurking around restricted areas. Then, on one of his explorations, he got a jarring reality check when he discovers the truth about “The Island”. He immediately sets out to rescue Jordan (Scarlett Johansson) who is about to go to “The Island”. This is when the action began in spades and shovels. The action is entertaining enough though they can sometimes be too loud and noisy (including a car chase reminiscent of the looon car chase in Bad Boys 2). The story was essentially just a foundation for these action sequences. Which is too bad since it could have been as nice as that of Equilibrium or The Matrix. Still, as an action fix, it delivered (though not as well as the two aforementioned movies).

One last thing. I know movies are commercialized but can’t they tone commercialization down a bit?!? The movies is peppered with 2-second brand exposures and it got kind of annoying. It even includes ones of MSN Search and XBox. M$!!! Maybe that’s why I was annoyed :P

Rating: 3/5

I’ve heard about H.G. Wells’ books of the same title though I haven’t actually read it. War of the Worlds is based on the events in the book but focuses on an average man (Tom Cruise?!? How can he be average?) doing his best to keep his family of two kids in one piece (literally and figuratively) amidst the ongoing chaos of war. Too much drama for my taste but it actually kind of works. Dakota Fanning played the horrified innocent girl pretty well and Tom Cruise is not too shabby either. But the setting of this human drama could have been any war, it definitely didn’t have to be H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds which I expected to be this epic battle between Mars and Earth. Sure, the aliens and their retro juggernauts were awesome especially when they kill people one at time time, making it so much more horrific (although the efficiency of the method is a bit questionable) and US Army’s relatively puny firepower did add some pretty nice fireworks but as a whole, the war bit ended up a letdown and definitely not the reason to watch this movie. But if you miss Tom Cruise’s Jerry Maguire emoting, you just might want to.

Rating: 3/5