Burn After Reading

George Clooney is back! A must see!! Ini yang pertama kali terbesit di kepala setelah baca sinopsisnya di Cinemags. Apalagi bareng Brad Pitt. Their chemistry udah gak perlu dipertanyakan lagi deh. Nunggu di bioskop bakalan gak jelas kapan, secara butleg ori udah mendarat di rumah. So excited!

Inti cerita beneran kurang penting. Sekeping CD yang ditemukan di sebuah gym dijadikan Linda dan Chad untuk memeras mantan analis CIA. Hanya karena ambisi mau dapat uang yang gak seberapa dan obsesi untuk plastic surgery, semuanya jadi kacau.

BURN AFTER WATCHING??

Hmmm… hampir sih. Mungkin film ini diperuntukkan untuk menjadi lucu. Tapi gak berhasil bikin saya tertawa. Cuma bangkunya Harry Pfarer (George Clooney) aja yang bikin saya kaget dan ketawa.

Ide cerita sih lumayan kreatif. Model film dengan banyak plot dan akhirnya nyambung di penghabisan. Peristiwa demi peristiwa sangat wajar dan beneran bisa kejadian dalam kehidupan sehari-hari. Tapi kenapa, IMHO, agak boring ya?

Castingnya memang yang paling menarik. George Clooney, Brad Pitt, John Malkovich, Richard Jenkins, Frances McDormand, dan Tilda Swinton. Semua aktingnya standar. Yang paling menghibur adalah Brad Pitt, gayanya agak lebay dan norak.

Satu yang patut saya puji adalah endingnya. Cukup mengejutkan.

Satisfaction rate: 65%

Traitor

Bukan tipe film favorit saya. Bahkan ketika ada beberapa teman bilang, The Kingdom adalah film yang cukup bagus, saya masih belum bisa setuju. Temanya sensitif, not my style. Terlalu penindasan agama Islam dan pembenaran semua aksinya Amerika.

Awalnya hanya tertarik sama Don Cheadle. Jadilah saya nonton…

Tema film masih kurang lebih sama dengan film-film sejenisnya. Teroris, FBI, bom bunuh diri, dll. Yang membedakan, di sini memperlihatkan kedua sisi, tidak hanya Amerika, tapi juga sisi para so-called teroris ini. Bagaimana terjadinya, apa motivasi dan seperti apa gerakan mereka. Tidak hanya tembak-tembakan dan bom sana sini.

A very smart story for a very sensitive theme. Saya hanya bisa bengong ketika baca nama Steve Martin di deretan credit title as writer. Is it really that Steve Martin? Awesome!!

Don Cheadle, seperti biasa, bermain dengan baik. Guy Pearce juga lumayan (saya lebih suka lihat dia di sini daripada di Death Defying Acts). Tapi yang paling menarik adalah Said Taghmaoui sebagai Omar. He’s good.

WHO’S THE TRAITOR, REALLY?

Ini yang paling bagus dari film Traitor menurut saya. Dipaparkan di akhir cerita, siapa sebenarnya yang pantas disebut sebagai Traitor.

A really good explanation for the world about what Islam truly is.

Satisfaction rate: 80%

Flashbacks of A Fool

Penasaran mau nonton film ini dari bulan lalu. Secara saya juga masih dalam rangka euphoria sama Daniel Craig. Jadilah beli dvd-nya. Jadi senyum-senyum sendiri kalau ingat saya tau film ini dari E! News yang heboh dengan menayangkan adegan bugil Craig, sampai seorang teman katanya spontan berteriak, “Woooooiiii..aurat!” (hahaha… emang pengaruh ya buat dia?)

FLASHBACKS OF…

Joe Scott, aktor asal Inggris, sedang mengalami penurunan yang sebagian besar disebabkan oleh kelakuannya yang kurang menyenangkan. Frustrasi karena “dipecat” oleh agennya sendiri plus berita kematian sahabat masa kecilnya membuat Joe mengingat kembali ke masa lalunya, masa remajanya, sampai sebuah konflik yang menyebabkan ia meninggalkan kampung halamannya.

Belum pernah baca sinopsisnya, murni hanya karena penasaran sama aktornya, saya sama sekali tidak menyangka kalau film ini punya kualitas cerita yang cukup tinggi. Walaupun jalan cerita memang termasuk lamban, tapi semua berhasil dikemas dengan cukup rapi dan menarik untuk diikuti. Seingat saya tidak ada satupun scene yang membosankan. Penggambaran hubungan Joe dengan sahabat, teman dan keluarga terasa jelas, tidak ada yang timpang. Konflik yang diangkat sederhana sekaligus tragis. Peristiwa yang menjadi penyebab Joe minggat dari kampung halamannya sempat membuat saya ternganga. Wow!

Film ini memang terbilang full drama, humor hanya disisipkan sedikit saja. Sikap menyebalkan Joe Scott dewasa juga cukup menghibur. Craig plays it well.

NOT A FOOL…

Setelah menetapkan hati kalau Mr. Craig lekat dengan image James Bond, saya jadi dibuat penasaran, bagaimana dia setelah Bond movies, terlebih lagi di genre drama seperti ini. Ternyata! Daniel Craig berhasil membawakan sosok Joe Scott dengan baik. Ada sih, sedikit gaya “terlalu cool-nya” James Bond, tapi mungkin itu memang gaya bawaannya, atau memang karena tuntutan peran dia sebagai aktor. Walaupun muncul hanya sekitar 25% di sini, tapi overall, he’s good. I can somehow feel his emotion.

Flashbacks of A Fool bagi saya merupakan salah satu dari sangat sedikit film drama humanis tahun ini. Namun bagi yang berharap melihat sosok Daniel Craig di sepanjang film pasti akan kecewa, karena film ini dimonopoli dengan setting-an flashbacks –nya Joe. Kalau saya sih, gak terlalu kecewa, karena walaupun tidak banyak, Daniel Craig tetap tampil sexy with those suit, shirts, and nothing.. (huehehehe..)

A well recommended movie this year.

Satisfaction rate: 80%

quotes: Joe Scott

"I thought being brave meant that you had to take action. That to have a dream or get forward in life, you needed courage. But the only thing you need courage for is for standing still"

- joe scott (flashbacks of a fool) -

kisah tante kikir

Seperti biasa, mikrolet di sore hari memang rata-rata selalu penuh. Sore itu saya kebetuan dapat tumpangan mikrolet baru, bukan Kijang, tapi Daihatsu Grand Max. Jauh lebih luas.

Duduk di deretan bangku 4 orang yang memang hanya tinggal untuk 1 orang, saya terpaksa berdempetan. Setelah saya lihat lagi, ternyata ‘tante’ di sebelah saya menolak untuk bergeser dan merapat ke mas-mas di sebalahnya.

Duh..

Well, berkat U2 dan Robbie Williams yang selalu menemani di HP Walkman saya, jadi gak terlalu saya hiraukan si ‘tante’ itu. Tapi gak lama saya duduk, saya perhatikan…

Di depan saya. Ada ‘tante’ lain. Rambut panjang coklat pirang, agak gemuk lengkap dengan expresi jutek. Duduk di pojok belakang. Ketika ada mba’-mba’ baru masuk dan mencoba duduk, si ‘tante’ ini sama sekali gak mau bergeser! (what’s up with those ‘tante-tante’ by the way?!).

Dia duduk seenaknya, dengan posisi agak miring dan, kalau menurut saya, masih bisa muat untuk 1 orang lagi. Ketika diminta bergeser, dengan jelas dia bilang, “Sempit!! Gasar-geser!!” (ngedumel). Keukeuh, dia tetap gak mau geser.

Wow!! I mean, wow!!! Sombongnyaaa….

Fasilitas umum aja manusia gak mau berbagi, apalagi milik pribadi.

Manusia.. suka lupa. Kalau harta dan kuasa bukanlah miliknya.

Sexiest Man Alive 2008

He's a triple threat: a star who can sing, dance, and wield a weapon.

At 6 ft. 2 in., all scruff and biceps, Hugh Jackman looms large in the epic "Australia", which he says kept him "dirty 95 percent of the time" and left people stammering, "Oh ... my ... God," according to costar Nicole Kidman, who adds, "Women's jaws drop when Hugh walks into a room."

Jackman's wife of 12 years, Deborra-Lee Furness, calls his perfect form "the Body of Doom -- but I like what's inside": a romantic who sings ballads at home and makes pancakes for Oscar, 8, and Ava, 3. A hard body with a soft center -- 2008's Sexiest Man Alive sat down with PEOPLE to reveal most of his secrets.

(source: OMGNews)

One more great news this year. I mean, this is really the best year. I think I could cry!

cerdas/pintar

Percakapan sore hari:

“Gue heran deh dua orang itu, sama banget! Kenapa sih kalo dikasih masukan or dibilangin malah ngeyel terus. Kaya’ yang tau semuanya aja. Belom apa-apa udah jawab duluan”

“Ya elah, kaya’ baru kenal aje!”

“Iya sih, tapi kenapa sih begitu? Kan cape’ bedebat terus. Ato menghindar terus. Dibilang cerewetlah, bawel. Emang ngebilangin dia tiap hari? Sering juga kaga!”

“Yah..emang begitu pada”

“Maksud gue, kalo dikasih masukan sama orang, mau itu dinasihatin, dikasih saran ato bahkan diomelin, ya udah.. diem aja gitu. Diem.. iya aja. Kan beres tuh! Gak perlu cape’-cape’ bedebat. Diem aja. Kan kita gak perlu jalanin or terima semuanya. Ambil aja yang kira-kira cocok sama kita, yang gak…ya buang aja.”

“Iya.. pernah denger kan lo, istilah jangan liat siapa yang ngomong, tapi liat apa yang diomongin?”

“Iya.. bener. Walopun kadang sih emang masih susah buat jadi objektif..hehehe.. Kalo gue sih cape’ banget ngelawan sama argument, kecuali kalo emang omongan dia plek-plek salah. Tapi begitu juga paling gue tinggal aja orangnya”

“Ya itulah.. orang kaya’ mereka tuh yang dibilang orang pinter. Tau gak lo, orang pinter akademis. Kebanyakan ilmu pengetahuan di kepalanya. Jadi berasa tau semuanya”

“Iya, bener banget lo”

“Beda sama orang cerdas. Kalo cerdas, dia gak bakal langsung meng-argumentasikan apa yang diterima. Bakal diserap dulu”

“Iya, bener! Cerdas itu lebih bisa menghadapi macem-macem karakter orang. Ambil apa yang bagus, buang apa yang jelek. Bukan mutlak nolak apa yang masuk.”

“Nah, ya itulah… makanya gue pikir, mendingan jadi orang cerdas, daripada orang pinter”

(ada benernya juga pemikiran adik saya itu)

robbie's other update

British pop singer Robbie Williams is working on a new album, his manager said.

Tim Clark earlier this year was quoted as saying the singer wouldn't deliver a new CD to his record label EMI because he was uncertain how the company's new owners would market the album.

However, Clark has since told the BBC a new CD could be released as early as next year.

It will be Williams' first since "Rudebox" dropped in 2006.

"I would certainly hope that a new album will be coming next year. There are never any guarantees but that's what we would hope," Clark told the BBC. "He's been writing and we heard some wonderful stuff. I was with Robbie last week. He was at home and he was writing songs and he played some of them to us. He's in very fine spirits, in very fine form and I think what he's doing sounds really wonderful."

(source: upi.com)

This is like the best news I heard all year long!! (well, besides the the Downey news..)

robbie's update

33-year-old, Robbie Williams, has admitted himself in to a US rehab clinic. A brief statement was released reporting that, "Robbie Williams has...been admitted into a treatment centre in America for his dependency on prescription drugs."

The singer of such hits as Angels, Rudebox and Come Undone has reportedley developed an addiction to anti-depressants since giving up drinking and cocaine over five years ago.

(source: webwombat)

Wow! He really needs to go back to sing and perform and entertain! 'Cos I think that's what his soul is fulfilled with.. get well, rob!

entertainer of the year 2008 - part 5

It's a testament to Iron Man's success that Holmes is not being played by somebody like Daniel Radcliffe or Shia LaBeouf or even Michael Cera (although Jonah Hill would have made a pretty good Watson). When director Guy Ritchie first came aboard, right after finishing RocknRolla, he was thinking of a much younger Holmes. ''Guy wanted to do more of an origin story, which would have made me age-inappropriate,'' says Downey. But Iron Man's box office demonstrated with inescapable Holmesian logic that a middle-aged movie star could indeed fill theater seats. Well, this middle-aged one anyway.

Not that there won't be plenty of other reasons to see Sherlock Holmes when it opens in November 2009 — Jude Law's turn as Dr. Watson, Rachel McAdams as Holmes' feisty love interest — but Downey will undoubtedly be the main draw for most moviegoers. It's an even safer bet that they'll line up for Iron Man 2, which the actor starts shooting this March for an April 2010 release. After that, he'll play Stark again, this time in The Avengers, a synergistic superhero ensemble project Marvel Comics has in the pipeline for summer 2011. At one point, Downey was even thinking of squeezing in a memoir — ''I banged out a couple of things, which I found cathartic'' — but ultimately he decided not to go there, or anywhere else that might be deemed self-indulgent. ''Beware the passion project,'' he says, talking about the peculiar movies stars often make when they get a little clout. ''It's so predictable: 'Now that I have a hit, I can tell that story about the transsexual horse whisperer!'''

At the rate he's racking them up, Downey could probably get away with a transsexual-horse-whisperer trilogy. Just now, though, he's got his hands full with Mr. Holmes. ''We still haven't figured out what sort of hat he should wear,'' he says. ''Guy Ritchie was hell-bent on me wearing a bowler, but it was more Chaplin than Sherlock Holmes.'' Downey is still teasing out the character, feeling for his shape, and perfecting the accent. ''There's a lot of pressure because of the kudos I got for my voice in Tropic Thunder,'' he says (indeed, there's even talk of a possible long-shot Oscar nomination for his supporting role). He also had to whip himself into shape for the part — Holmes needed to be ripped and buff for today's topless boxing exhibition — while keeping up with his regular holistic regimen of natural tonics and potions. Even here, on the set of Sherlock Holmes, he manages a constant dosage. An assistant holding a black box full of bottles and baggies is always hovering nearby, like a Secret Service agent with the nuclear-code briefcase.

''Oh, they work,'' Downey insists, popping another supplement. ''They definitely work. I'm alive, aren't I? What more proof could you want?''

(source: Entertainment Weekly, by Benjamin Svetkey)

entertainer of the year 2008 - part 4

Downey, though, saw Tropic Thunder as a blissful getaway. ''Ben Stiller saved me from the ghastly fate of a crash after shooting Iron Man,'' he says. ''The waiting around, the expectations, the not knowing how it was going to come out.'' There were other distractions as well. While shooting in Hawaii, Downey got a visit from British filmmaker Joe Wright, who pitched him the part of Steve Lopez, the newspaper columnist who tries to help a homeless Juilliard dropout. ''Joe shows up in Kauai, in the middle of the jungle, wearing a trilby hat,'' Downey recalls, ''and he tells me this story about friendship and faith. All of a sudden I start feeling all my old theater heartstrings being pulled. Before Joe left the island, I knew I'd be doing The Soloist.'' Downey started work on the film in early 2008, after he returned from making Tropic Thunderin Hawaii.

As it turned out, Downey didn't have to worry about Iron Man at all. Its $98.6 million May 2 opening weekend made it the biggest superhero franchise launch since Spider-Man. Downey grins when he remembers the night his numbers came in. ''It's Friday evening, and we're all in a side room at a restaurant in Santa Monica,'' he says. ''And every few minutes the estimates go up. 'The estimate is now 77! The estimate is now 87! The estimate is now 100!' And I'm going crazy because I've had 25 Cokes and three cappuccinos. I'm like, 'Come on, give me another lucky seven! Give me money!''' The euphoria didn't end there. ''About 10 days later, Jon Favreau and I were invited to this dinner with [Paramount CEO] Brad Grey and all these assorted heavyweights,'' Downey continues. ''Jon and I give each other a look, like we were made men or something. Iron Man hadput us in the game.''

IT'S A NIPPY SUNDAY morning at an old shipyard-turned-museum about an hour outside London. An ancient torch-lit tavern has been outfitted with a 19th-century boxing ring, where Downey has been shooting a scene in which he shows off Sherlock Holmes' pugilistic expertise. Judging from the footage playing on the monitor — the shirtless star trading slo-mo blows with a hulking brute twice his size — Downey's version of the detective won't be spending much time puffing a pipe or examining stuff with a magnifying glass. No, this Sherlock has kung fu moves. ''In Arthur Conan Doyle's stories, there are references to the fact that Holmes practiced martial arts,'' notes Downey, wincing while watching the action on the monitor. ''In the books, there's a physical side to the character. So we're just extrapolating from the original material.''

entertainer of the year 2008 - part 3

Sitting down for a conversation with Downey is a little like that scene in Iron Man when Tony Stark slips into his jet-powered boots for the first time. It zooms wildly all over the place, veering from a discussion about whether he should have grown a mustache for Sherlock HolmesIron Man comic books (''If you ask me, Tony Stark looked like Schneider from One Day at a Time''). It can be a bumpy, if thrilling, ride. (''I tried, but everyone thought I looked like Super Mario'') to his first impressions of the Iron Man comic books (''If you ask me, Tony Stark looked like Schneider from One Day at a Time''). It can be a bumpy, if thrilling, ride.

When the talk lands on his career, he reveals that he had hoped for an earlier comeback, with Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang, a savvy, twisty 2005 crime caper costarring Val Kilmer that never found an audience. ''It was going to be my coming-out party, my emergence into 21st-century cinema,'' Downey says, laughing. ''When it tanked, I was heartbroken.'' On the bright side, it did get noticed by director Jon Favreau, who happened to be looking for an actor to play a certain weapons-manufacturing magnate with a thing for Black Sabbath. Downey wanted Iron Man so badly he spent three weeks compulsively rehearsing every conceivable line reading for his audition. ''I had amendments and ancillaries and pop-ups for every part of the scene — if it went off in one direction I could add A, B, or C. It was madness,'' he says, ''but also the most positively reinforced ritual I've ever performed. If Aleister Crowley had a younger brother — it was that type of s---.''

Nabbing the part of the heavy metal fellow was only the beginning of Downey's karmic turnaround. Just before he started shooting Iron Man in March 2007, Stiller — who says he was looking for a ''real actor'' for the part, not a ''comedy guy'' — offered him the role in Tropic Thunder of Kirk Lazarus, an Australian Method actor who undergoes pigment alteration so that he can play an African-American soldier in a big Hollywood blockbuster about Vietnam (''I'm the dude playing the dude disguised as another dude,'' Downey says, quoting a line from the film). The part was so loopy and potentially tasteless — blackface remains the third rail of American comedy — he couldn't resist; he flew to Hawaii to start shooting it in July 2007, two weeks after finishing production on Iron Man. ''It took a lot of courage,'' Stiller says of Downey's dedication to the role. ''I mean, think about it. He had to come to the set every day in full black makeup and play this over-the-top character. Most of the crew hadn't read the script. Nobody knew what was going on. And here comes this white guy in blackface doing the Jeffersons theme song.''

entertainer of the year 2008 - part 2

Let's just say the '90s weren't Robert Downey Jr.'s decade. He drove naked down Sunset Boulevard, throwing imaginary rats out his car window. He got arrested for trespassing when he mistakenly wandered into a neighbor's house and passed out in the kid's bedroom. He served nearly a year in a California state prison for drug possession, and then did eight months on Ally McBeal, until he got booted from the show after he got busted a couple more times, once in a hotel room in Palm Springs with cocaine and a Wonder Woman costume.

Yet here he is today, on this drizzly October afternoon, padding around a Mayfair mansion so fancy it's got a swimming pool — no joke — in the kitchen. ''Nice, huh?'' Downey says, pausing at the architectural oddity during a tour of his digs. ''I could put a couple of folding cots in here and I'd be all set. That's all I'd need. I could live in the kitchen.'' He's lived in worse. But since court-ordered drug treatment in 2001 — and his marriage to producer Susan Levin in 2005 — Downey has kept ''the bad dog,'' as he refers to his darker side, on a short leash. ''It's not about placating the bad dog — it's about feeding the good dog,'' he says of the struggle. ''You still have to feed the bad dog, but only enough so that the ASPCA doesn't bring you up on charges.''

These days, Downey's drug use is limited to nicotine, along with the brain boosters and other macrobiotic concoctions cluttering his coffee table. But you can still see Downey unleash all his canine energy — not to mention puppy-dog charm — on the screen, even when playing the sorts of roles that don't normally require more from an actor than looking fine in a crime-fighting costume. ''Why did people go see Iron Man?'' asks Downey's Soloist costar Jamie Foxx. ''They went to see Iron Man because Robert Downey Jr. was in it. That's why I went. I saw it at a screening in Beverly Hills. I was sitting next to Warren Beatty, and Warren leaned over and said, 'I've known Downey since he was a kid.' People in this town are really rooting for this guy. Not just because they like him, but because he's great as an actor.''

entertainer of the year 2008 - part 1

There are enough organic potions and natural remedies on Robert Downey Jr.'s coffee table to stock an aisle at Whole Foods. Shriveled, rooty-looking things in Ziploc bags. Jars filled with herbal pills as big as bullets. He's sitting cross-legged on the floor next to all of these unusual items in the living room of the London townhouse he's been renting while shooting his latest movie, an elementary detective story called Sherlock Holmes. It's 2 o'clock in the afternoon, but with his hair in full bedhead bloom, Downey looks like he could use a pick-me-up. He reaches for a bottle and shakes a dozen gelcaps into his palm, then stuffs them into his mouth. ''Brain formula,'' he mumbles as he gulps them down.

They must be working. This year, thanks to a series of clever choices, Downey has pulled off one of the smartest second acts in recent showbiz history. After doing just about everything humanly possible to destroy a once-promising career — including spending the better part of a decade in courtrooms and even jail cells — he's finally fulfilling his potential. He's become a movie star. At 43. For starters, he's at the red-hot center of a humongous new action franchise, Iron Man, which has grossed more than half a billion dollars worldwide since opening last May. He followed that in August by doing something few actors have dared since Jolson — blackface — in the Ben Stiller comedy Tropic Thunder, which grossed $110 million. Next spring, he'll be costarring with Jamie Foxx in The Soloist, Atonement director Joe Wright's drama about a journalist who befriends a homeless musical genius he finds pushing a shopping cart around L.A. (Downey's performance was starting to generate Oscar buzz — the most since his nomination for Chaplin in 1993 — but then The Soloist was moved from its November release date to next April.) And now, here in London, there's Warner Bros.' latest franchise launch Sherlock Holmes Guy getting divorced from Madonna — which Downey just started shooting two weeks ago. — directed by that

''Why am I having this year?'' he ponders, chasing down the formula with a swig of mineral water. ''To tell you the truth, I haven't fully digested what's happened to me before, during, and after Iron Man. Tropic Thunder seems like it happened 25 minutes ago. Time is not entirely linear. It's all so associative. If Ben Stiller called me today and said we needed to shoot more scenes, I'd get my jacket and go. But I do know that I don't want to waste any more time. That's why I'm putting my nose to the grindstone. That's why I'm cranking them out.''

The Quantum continuous

After the re-watch of Quantum of Solace, I’ve learned that:

- This is the coolest action movie of 2008
- The original soundtrack “another way to die” is also cool
- Is that bald old man with newspaper in the hotel really Sean Connery??
- The coolest part is the Quantum meeting in the Tosca Opera
- Daniel Craig’s tailor, Tom Ford, should definitely get an award!!
- No spoiler picture after credit title, only a direct sentence: “James Bond Will Return" (well, that's obvious)

Beverly Hills Chihuahua

Bela-belain pagi-pagi cabut ke Senci untuk memenuhi undangan nonton. Gak biasanya saya mau nonton film dengan model seperti ini. Hanya karena penasaran, it’s Andy Garcia as a… dog.

CHIHUAHUA!!

Chloe adalah seekor anjing Chihuahua produksi Beverly Hills (baca: lahir di sana, diadopsi oleh orang kaya di sana, selalu dilengkapi dengan fashion style). Selama kepergian pemiliknya, Vivian, Chloe dititipkan ke Rachel, keponakan Vivian, yang kemudian memboyong Chloe ke Mexico dalam rangka berlibur. Di Negara inilah Chloe menghilang dan sempat diculik oleh sebuah komplotan yang bertujuan untuk mengadu anjing. Dibantu oleh Delgado, Chloe melarikan diri dan mengalami berbagai petualangan di Mexico.

WOOF!!

Bukan pertama kalinya Disney memproduksi film dengan tema binatang yang bisa berbicara. Kali ini Disney mengagkat tema anjing Chihuahua, yang memang sangat booming di Hollywood nun jauh di sana. Hollywood stars carrying their small dogs, it’s so typical, right? Remind us of Paris Hilton dan kawan-kawannya yang sejenis gak sih?

Dari segi humor, bolehlah.. Saya sempat terbahak di beberapa scene. Lucu juga, karena saya membayangkan si Andy Garcia-nya sendiri, yang biasanya sok-sok jadi mafia or gangster or apalah yang cool, sekarang diminta menyuarai Delgado, seekor German Shepherd senior mantan K9 yang udah mulai ogah-ogahan.

George Lopez juga berhasil mebawakan sosok Papi, seekor anjing jantan Chihuahua yang cinta mati sama Chloe. Drew Barrymore as Chloe, biasa aja.. suara-suara sok manja gitu deh.

Cerita standar, nothing special. Memang tujuan utama adalah nilai persahabatan, dan yang penting happy ending. Well, it’s Disney.

Satisfaction Rate: 60%

Ps: nonton di Senci theatre 4, GAK OK! Gambar gak focus kadang bikin pusing..!
Juga thanks buat Mr. Palus Liem.

Quantum of Solace

Sebagai penggemar baru James Bond, thanks to Mr. Craig, bela-belain saya usahain beli tiket sehari sebelum jadwal rilis. Sempat ragu, apakah sequel ini akan memburuk seperti kebanyakan sequel-sequel film lainnya. And it turned out to be…

So Cool!!

Masih dalam rangka dendam atas kematian Vesper, penyelidikan M16 mengarah ke Mr. White yang berlanjut ke Dominic Greene, yang ternyata sedang dalam rangka berbisnis dengan Jendral Medrano untuk menguasai Bolivia. Greene bertujuan untuk memonopoli seluruh utilitas di Bolivia. Di tengah investigasi, Bond bertemu dengan Camille, yang ternyata punya dendam dengan Medrano. Jadilah Camille sebagai “partner” Bond kali ini.

Rough Bond!

Dari awal saja udah dimanja sama full action kejar-kejaran mobil. Pertama saya pikir, ah.. biasa nih, tapi ternyata, beberapa adegan tabrakan beneran gak nanggung-nanggung! Baru kelar sedikit, muncul lagi adegan kejar-kejaran, kali ini on foot!

The adrenalin pumped harder…

Seperti tidak terlalu peduli dengan jalan cerita, penonton dicekokin dengan banyak action. Istilahnya mau action apa aja ada. Mau darat, laut or udara? Semua ada!! Mostly memang konsepnya chasing scene, pakai mobil, on foot, boat, bahkan pesawat! (sempet ada celetukan dari Novi, wah.. ntar ada pake kereta lagi?!).

But still..

Bagi saya, teknik fightnya juga gak norak dan sama sekali gak maksa’. Walopun adegan bakar-bakaran di hotel yang terakhir agak sedikit overrated, tapi tetap seru-seru aja. Apalagi waktu Bond memeluk Camille di tengah kebakaran, damn! Mengingatkan saya akan shower scene di Casino Royale…(hold your breath women!).

Ada beberapa moment yang mampu bikin saya ber-ovation ria dan berteriak (literally ya..) “woohoooow!!!”, yaitu adegan fight sambil gelantungan di tali temali, that’s hot!! Adegan kejar-kejaran di atap, I thought, aaahh… ini sih pasti si Bond gak berhasil loncat dan gelantungan di pinggir atap, tapi ternyata..! They made it very cool! Juga sewaktu Bond men-jungkirbalik-kan motor. Damn fine, baby!

This one is pure raw action of the new Bond.

Mathieu Amalric as villain memang terlihat kurang garang, tapi justru di situ keunikannya, he's seemed so.. psychotic! Karakter Bond sendiri di sini, sudah lebih membaik dibanding di Casino Royale. He’s so much cooler, namun di samping itu masih bisa terasa emosinya, terlebih ketika diungkit masalah Vesper. Played fine by Mr. Craig.

But then again…

Dari segi cerita, memang QOS ini di bawah Casino Royale. Penyelesaian di akhir cerita juga dibikin gantung, ciri khas film jaman sekarang, agak uncreative. Juga bagi yang berharap gadget yang berlimpah or even Aston Martin yang mulus dan kinclong pasti bakal kecewa. Juga satu yang hilang, the catchphrase, “my name’s Bond, James Bond” (sangat disayangkan).

BTW, untuk OST, memang lagu si Alicia Keys ini terdengar unik, namun kalau dilihat lagi dari film yang sekarang dibanding dengan Casino Royale, saya kok lebih prefer lagu You Know My Name-nya Chris Cornell untuk QOS ya..?

Satisfaction Rate: 90%
(it’s the coolest movie of the year)

it's Barack time! we'll see...

It’s official. Barrack Obama wins the election, and he’s gonna rule the world (??). Banyak yang cheering for this. Including di sini, Indonesia. Helloooowww?? Is he even gonna be our president???! (dengan pronounce gaya Chandler-nya Friends)

Saya ngerti, memang banyak yang optimis dengan terpilihnya Obama. Tapi saya rasa, masyarakat dunia ikut bersorak sorai gembira ria hanya karena sudah kepalang ENEG sama si W. Bush itu. Pastinya orang sedunia menanti-nanti datangnya angin segar.

Then.. came along this Obama guy..

Buat orang Indonesia, pasti banyak yang punya rasa bangga (this is funny), karena Obama punya orang tua tiri yang berasal dari Indonesia, dan dia pernah tinggal di Indonesia untuk beberapa saat lamanya. Jadi pasti banyak juga yang berharap supaya Indonesia setidaknya agak lebih didahulukan kepentingannya. Well, it’s normal, wajar.. keep the spirit guys!

Saya sendiri, tidak terlalu peduli dengan election ini. Udah tau sih, so obvious that he would win. But for me, so what?? Pertama dan terakhir kali saya memantau kampanye kepresidenan Amerika Serikat adalah di era Bill Clinton. Benar kata seorang teman saya si Bandit Bali itu, memang layaknya nonton reality show!

Namun seiring perjalanan waktu dan silih berganti dengan presiden lainnya, saya belajar bahwa ada satu yang tidak berubah dari si negara so-called adidaya ini, allies-nya itu loh… satu negara kecil yang bisa ‘megang’ US dengan mudah. I found it as the main weakness of the US. Selama masih seperti ini, saya ragu kaum muslim akan bebas dari penindasan. (hahaha…jadi ingat idealisme satu teman saya).

But then again.. manusia tidak dibilang hidup kalau tidak punya harapan. Jadi saya harus tetap optimis, Obama akan membawa perubahan ke arah yang lebih baik. Terutama untuk budaya rasialis di US, dan pastinya semoga bisa memperbaiki krisis global sekarang ini.

So W. Bush.. just, get lost!

battle at Kruger

One of a few best videos I've ever seen. Clearly, the nature speaks of itself.

(taken in Kruger National Park, Africa, by a Safari tourist)

Tropic Thunder

Jadwal tayang diundur terus, dvd butleg ori gak kunjung tiba. It was like forever waiting for this movie!

Akhirnya Sabtu lalu mendarat juga butleg ori-nya di rumah.

TROPIC BLUNDER!!!

Shooting film perang Tropic Thunder sempat ditunda dan pindah lokasi karena Tugg Speedman, lead actor di film ini, agak bermasalah dalam mengeluarkan emosinya. Tapi kemudian jadi kacau beneran karena ternyata para aktor terjebak di suatu wilayah yang dikuasai oleh gank setempat yang juga memproduksi heroin.

…and the movie itself?

Tropic Thunder adalah project Ben Stiller yang udah tahunan direncanain. Cerita dibuat memang dengan tujuan mengolok-olok Hollywood beserta seisinya (baca: actors, production companies, producers, directors, sampai ke agents juga tidak dilupakan di sini). Dari mulai aktor yang malas ikutan boot camp training untuk kepentingan film perang, produser yang serba menuntut and would do anything for money, sampai agent yang akan menghalalkan segala cara demi kliennya.

..and my opinon?

Ide cerita lumayan unik. Apalagi dikombinasi menjadi sebuah smart comedy seperti ini. Perekrutan Robert Downey Jr. dan Jack Black benar-benar bisa bikin jadi daya tarik utama film ini, secara Kung Fu Panda dan Iron Man adalah dua film yang booming banget tahun ini.

Saya suka openingnya, sedikit penjabaran mengenai para aktornya. Alpa Chino, rapper Hollywood (yang memang sekarang menjamur banget rapper ikutan maen film). Tugg Speedman, aktor laga blockbuster yang terus menerus dengan sequels-nya (hampir nyerempet Sylvester Stallone with his Rocky sequels??). Jeff Portnoy, aktor komedi slapstick with his love in drugs. Terakhir, Kirk Lazarus, aktor Australia, a 5-time Oscar winner yang punya masalah kelakuan (reminds me of Russell Crowe, hihihi…)

Tapi apa beneran lucu’ jadinya?

Well, dialog-dialog memang ditujukan untuk lucu’. Komedi ciri khas Stiller dipadu dengan sedikit slapstick khas Jack Black bagi saya kebanyakan hanya mampu bikin saya tersenyum. Memang ada beberapa adegan yang bikin saya ternganga dan terbahak, tapi itu tidak terlalu banyak padahal mengingat ini adalah sebuah film komedi.

IMHO, maaf juga karena mungkin agak terlalu personal, tapi bagi saya, kalau gak ada Downey, saya akan kasih nilai hanya sedikit di atas rata-rata untuk film ini. Downey’s the man! Hilariously funny! He’s the only funny guy in the movie. He’s so smart “playin’ the dude and disguise as another dude”. I could easily capture that he’s the star in the movie. Gimana gak paling kinclong sendiri?? Dia harus act as an Australian, lengkap dengan aksen kentalnya, ditambah harus ‘menyamar’ sebagai afro, of course with the accent, lengkap dengan ekspresi sok cool dan agak kaku (damn smart!).

…the point is…

Message dari film ini tidak sulit untuk ditangkap. Namun untuk sebuah film komedi saya hanya bisa dibuat tersenyum oleh Stiller dan Black. Sekali lagi.. yang bikin film ini hidup adalah Downey.

O ya, cameo yang saya tangkap dengan mudah di sini adalah Tobey Maguire (sumpah kocak banget di adegan awal film bareng Downey!) , Jon Voight dan Lance N’synch di akhir film. Sedangkan rumor Tom Cruise dan Matthew McConaughey jadi cameo gak benar, yang bahkan ternyata mereka beneran punya role banyak di film ini.

Ada 2 quote yang bikin saya ngakak, lengkap dengan expresi yang kocak dari Kirk Lazarus: “Everyone’s gay once in a while. It’s Hollywood!”, dan 1 lagi, “I don’t read the scripts, the script reads me!” (huahahahahahah!!)

…in the end, TiVO saves the day…

Satisfaction Rate: 78%
(angka sesungguhnya adalah 75%, tapi karena nilai Downey di sini, saya tambahin 3%..:p)