pinkpink_1217 Reviews

Death Note (I) (2017)

An utterly flat and empty adaptation of the much loved Japanese comic series

[4/10 · 26 August 2017]

As another endeavor from the Hollywood to create a movie out of an iconic, much loved and cherished Japanese animation / comic series with an enthusiastic, loyal fan base, Death note has bathed in skepticism and pessimism before it becomes available to the world. With the western setting and the emphasis from the production that the movie would be loosely based on the animation / comic series, it is bound to spark disapproval, especially among those who have enjoyed and loved the original. Fortunately, without having previously watched the original series, I consider myself a blank page that is good to go to enjoy the movie without the risk of bias. Unfortunately, Death Note turns out to be yet another proof of the skepticism surrounding Hollywood adaptations being absolutely correct.

The problem with these Hollywood adaptations is that, they cannot just simply pick up whichever pieces they find interesting and useful from the original, throwing away the rest of the complicated and difficult bundle, and call it a day. No. In order to produce a triumphant 'loosely based' adaptation, there must be some elements of originality added to create an exciting and refreshing take of the original story line. Death note is, however, anything but exciting and refreshing, leaving the audience frustrated by its lack of sincerity. The movie seems like a sloppy version which tries its hardest in avoiding any direction that requires originality or creativity.

But even if not judged as an adaptation but as a movie alone, Death Note has a fatal problem of not producing any, yes, ANY likable and colorful character. The movie never takes its time to introduce the characters, giving the audience only a few scarce pieces of information that make them struggle to feel any connection with them. The only character the audience can sympathize with, is perhaps Light Turner, the death-note-owning protagonist, as we learn his upsetting reasons for his strong desire for justice and his struggles between choosing the right and wrong as the story unfolds. However, the other characters in the movie are, if not unlikable, at least uninteresting and confusing. Even L, supposedly the mysterious, intriguing and extremely intelligent detective, falls as the victim of character underdevelopment and unconvincing dialogue, and loses his charm. Misa, as Light's girlfriend / partner in crime, is probably the number one unlikable character in the whole movie, as she swifts from the endearing sweetheart to the mindless and manipulative murderer caught in her obsession with maintaining the reputation and popularity of the Kira (the pseudo name Light uses to kill people using his death note).

After all, Death Note definitely fails to deliver an enjoyable and memorable adaptation of the acclaimed animation / comic series.

Bugs (2016)

An important and delightful documentary to devour

[8/10 · 18 August 2016]

Normally I do not have the habit of writing movie reviews since I consider myself a bad writer (and just plain lazy), yet I do feel a strong need to write one for Bugs (obviously I'm going to be the first user who writes a review on it, where are the other viewers??)

BUGS is a documentary that follows the research team of Nordic Food Lab's Edible Insects Project as they explore different insect cuisine cultures around the globe and discuss the problems and possibilities existing in the food systems. Before going to the movie, I made the extra effort of repeatedly reminding my friend not to buy any snack. After all, this documentary is all about people shovelling down giant larvas, worms, ants and bees etc... So it didn't seem like a very sensible thing to do if we were gonna eat during the movie without carrying any vomit bag. But I couldn't be more wrong. Not only were the insects eating scenes nowhere near disgusting, but we even found some of them very intriguing and even to the extent of being appetizing. The satisfaction and the joy that present themselves on the smiles and laughter of the local people when they discover and enjoy the insects are just amazing to watch. And the way they treat insects as real food and cook them with such enthusiasm and dedication is an equal amazement. I also absolutely love how the main characters make really vivid and unexpectedly interesting descriptions of the flavours of the different insects they have tasted along their global exploration. Some of them sound so magical that my friend and I wished we were there to verify the magic with our own taste buds.

I was not only wrong about the insects eating scenes, but I was wrong about the whole movie. It turns out that the movie goes a lot deeper than just watching people digging some insects out deep from the earth and then eating them cooked or alive. There are a lot of discussion about the possible good and harm of the rapidly attention grabbing insect eating culture. This is also another thing that makes me appreciate this movie so much. It is very honest about the limitations and the controversy of what they (the research team) want to achieve. They don't just blindly advocate insect eating; instead they take into consideration the possible outcome of a profitable insect protein industry and reflect on the necessity of insect eating.

My only complaint for this documentary is that it is way too short. There are a lot more insect cooking and eating footages that are not shown in the movie. I would have loved to sit for another hour or so to watch more of them if it wasn't for the murdering air conditioning and my carelessness of never remembering to bring a jacket to the cinema.

Contracted (2013)

A lot of wasted potentials

[7/10 · 6 April 2015]

Having read tons and tons of very negative reviews on this movie, I prepared myself, as well we warned my dad who was going to watch it with me, that we probably should not expect something great from it. As it turned out, I was right. This movie isn't great; it was ALMOST great.

The first half of the movie is quite fast paced. The movie cuts straight into the core of the events and both my usually impatient dad and I were quickly drawn to the story line. The plots are very predictable, as the main character, Samantha has one night stand with a mysterious and suspicious man, and afterward finds herself starting to have unexplainable physical changes that keep getting worse and worse.

A lot of people may be annoyed by the way Samantha reacts to her terrible body changes and think that it just "doesn't make sense". That is exactly what my dad kept saying during the whole movie: "how can she let it be?" "why doesn't she go to the hospital?" "a normal person wouldn't even ignore that!". While I understand why people make similar remarks, I totally disagree with them.

What is most enjoyable about this movie is that we are seeing a girl being totally powerless and desperate as she faces the changes of her body. As the story develops and her situation gets worse, we can see that Samantha is partly in denial of what is happening to her, partly trying to play normal, partly being obviously lost and scared, and partly desperate to solve the "problems". To me, the horror that this movie tries to deliver, is not through any gore or violence, but through the desperation of the main character. And I think the movie has done a pretty damn good job in portraying that.

However the ending of the movie is absurd and feels incomplete. A lot of things were left unexplained, and both my dad and I felt like what could have turned out to be the most interesting part of the movie was somehow missed. All in all, this movie really just isn't excellent, but it isn't totally tasteless or as bad as deserving such a low rating. The movie starts out strong but it keeps going down until it hits the bottom at the end. Despite all the flaws it has, dad and I had a lot of fun watching this movie together. With some more thorough development and imagination, this movie could have been GREAT.

Texas Chainsaw (2013)

Another cliché slasher movie? Not really.

[8/10 · 17 May 2013]

So here comes another Texas Chainsaw movie, and it's in 3D. It's hard not to think of it as another cliché slasher movie, and that's exactly what my dad and I expected before we watched it.

The first half of the movie, as expected, is just as predictable as any other psycho-chasing-killing-teenagers movies. The plots are unclear, weak and full of mistakes. A lot of things don't make sense in the movie. However, in the second half of the movie, things started to get interesting and different. My dad and I actually enjoyed it a lot. I love how the movie has put a more humane twist on the serial killer. And we were actually rooting for him.

I'm actually surprised and not so surprised that this movie gets a low rating score. I'm surprised because I think it at least deserves a 6 or above. I'm not so surprised because it's normal that people would be pulled off by all the plot holes.

I would say that if you are not very critical, then you would most probably enjoy this slasher movie with a pleasant surprise. This movie does have a whole lotta flaws, but it is not really that cliché after all.