Tag / 2009

by Jaime Rebanal

Up – Review

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Looking at many of Pixar’s films now I can’t seem to let go of the nostalgia that they have left upon me. I’ve noted that Pixar was responsible for many of my own happiest childhood memories with every film of theirs that I saw in theaters at the end of every school year, but Up in particular seems to linger in a way that I’ve found a number of their others haven’t. I’ve hung onto many of the rest on the count that they did make childhood better for myself but something about Up still feels important now, and it only took the many eventual rewatches as an adult to realize what makes this one so special: perhaps all starting with the fact that it is led by Pixar’s second oldest protagonist, but for audiences who have grown up with them over the years it almost feels like a nice testament towards where they are set to go later on in their own lives.

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by Jaime Rebanal

The Loved Ones – Review

✯✯✯½

I don’t find torture porn entertaining to watch. The most that ever seems to come out from watching such films for me is a showcase only of gory violence without any sort of purpose coming forth. These films aren’t especially scary, but when they get around to the violence, the only thing that I can think of is how disgusting these films are. Which is a part of why I find The Loved Ones to be an interesting case scenario. What we see isn’t just a film that makes the torture of its protagonist the sole spectacle, but something far more entertaining. What Sean Byrne had created with The Loved Ones puts torture in the other side in order to form a haunting piece of work, one whose intelligence has made itself even clearer amidst all the relentlessness and the gore.

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by Jaime Rebanal

Black Dynamite – Review

✯✯✯½

My history with blaxploitation films is not particularly the best, yet nevertheless I found Black Dynamite funny enough. In the age where parody almost seems like a dying form of comedy at the hands of the Scary Movie franchise or Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer, Black Dynamite rises above the modern day standards even if it doesn’t reach heights that have been set afoot by the films of Mel Brooks among many classics, there’s still an entertaining ride to be found and for those who love blaxploitation films, maybe it would be easier to find the sort of enjoyment that such a movie is set to provide. And for those who aren’t familiar enough with the sort, there’s a chance the ride will still provide the laughs it meant to bring to begin with.

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by Jaime Rebanal

Inglourious Basterds – Review

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Quentin Tarantino’s movies always have had a delightful knack when it comes to their writing and callings towards older films but if Pulp Fiction were not proof enough that both can add perfectly to create something that feels so fresh, there comes Inglourious Basterds jumping at greater reach. Of the many films that Quentin Tarantino has made over the years, two films remain to be the ones that contain everything that show his own cinematic fascinations at their very most: Pulp Fiction and Inglourious Basterds. A certain power under Tarantino’s eyes is exhibited at some of its fullest in Inglourious Basterds – the very most he’s managed to achieve since his sophomore feature.

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by Jaime Rebanal

Cafe Noir – Review

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Jung Sung-il’s Cafe Noir is one of the most remarkable experiences that I have ever been lucky enough to catch all year and the obscurity of such a beautiful film is only something truly saddening to hear. At a length going a little above three hours there’s never a dull moment within this slice of life for instead in all the slow moments some of the most beautifully touching pieces of cinema to have come out from this century. Something so simple and so tender, but so bizarre – it would be easy to say Cafe Noir has everything and maybe that is perhaps what it is.

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by Jaime Rebanal

The Princess and the Frog – Review

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Disney’s The Princess and the Frog is amongst their last hand-drawn animated features and what’s all the more saddening about such is how amongst their most recent fare it feels so rarely heard about even with what recognition it received upon release. But knowing what the studio was best at during their Renaissance era when it came to what they have turned well-known tales into for the screen, it was only all the more of a pleasure to see what Ron Clements and John Musker of The Little Mermaid fame have brought to the screen for not only is it their most underrated work but it also happens to be my favourite film of theirs since the end of the Renaissance era.

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by Jaime Rebanal

Where the Wild Things Are – Review

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When I was much younger, Maurice Sendak’s book Where the Wild Things Are was a story I held so dear to my heart and I always wanted my parents reading it to me before heading into bed. In 2009, the time finally came when I was seeing something that defined my childhood coming to the screen. It’s hard enough translating a beloved piece of what helped me growing up onto the big screen in this manner but somehow, what Spike Jonze managed to provide had triumphed and brought back so many fond memories for myself. For not only was it those memories that came back to me which struck me in awe at Where the Wild Things Are, but Spike Jonze’s incredible understanding of childhood that only strike for more imagination.

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by Jaime Rebanal

Drag Me to Hell – Review

✯✯✯✯½

In the spirit that defined him during his earlier years, Drag Me to Hell serves as a return to form for Sam Raimi to what he was known for when he was at the peak of his career. Reveling in the glory of the camp that defined the Evil Dead films, what Sam Raimi does with Drag Me to Hell is create something that exposes himself at his fullest to a new audience – to extremely satisfying results. There is no denying that Drag Me to Hell certainly is ridiculous with how events unfold, but there’s a reason such ridiculousness adds up to greater effect. Drag Me to Hell embraces such a factor and exploits it to its core, but at the same time what it presents is so morbid and in turn it creates this wonderful blend of comedy and horror – resulting in one of the best films to blend such in recent years. Continue reading →

by Jaime Rebanal

The Lovely Bones – Review

½

The afterlife is one of many things but I’m not even sure Peter Jackson had the slightest idea of what he could do with the concept at hand. Yes, it’s visually very nice but that’s only what adds more in part about what I absolutely despise about The Lovely Bones. Sure, it’s visually attractive but under that veil is what I find to be one of the most abhorrent messages to be attached onto film in such a manner for it simply made me feel unclean in the very end for even having watched it. To think, how does Peter Jackson go from The Lord of the Rings all the way down to something as utterly despicable as this? Continue reading →