2016 movies

Movie Review: 13 HOURS: THE SECRET SOLDIERS OF BENGHAZI (2016)

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13_hours13 HOURS: THE SECRET SOLDIERS OF BENGHAZI (USA 2015) ***
Directed by Michael Bay

Review by Gilbert Seah

There is one scene in the middle of Michel Bay’s 13 HOURS that accurately describes his political stance of the movie. As the American ambassador Chris Stevens (Matt Letscher) delivers his speech on American involvement in Libya, one of the secret soldiers, Paronto (Pablo Schreiber) dozes off.

Michael Bay, director of Hollywood action packed blockbusters such as the TRANSFORMER films, PEARL HARBOR, ARMAGEDDON, THE ISLAND (his best movie) and others, is not interested in polities but in the action that takes place. In this case, the action involves the 6 secret soldiers that heroically served their country way above and beyond their call of duty.

To Bay, politics is a nod to sleep. Those in politics that fear that the film will have an adverse effect for Hilary Clinton who was the Secretary of State at that time or to the Obama Administration need not be worried. The only political notes in the film appear at the beginning of the film with the titles that America got involved after the Gadaffi was overthrown and at the end of the film with a note of the gratitude of the Libyan people. But certain facts are true – the main one being that the secret soldiers were not supported effectively by the U.S. and security was far from sufficient.

The story, as the film stresses a few times is a true one. Libya, one of the most politically troubled countries in the world has no American embassy but has what is called a low security diplomatic outpost. Here the CIA, who has in their employ, the 6 secret soldiers mentioned has to escape with whatever Americans or American sympathizers are left as they are attacked by unknown hostile forces. Among the escapees is the American Ambassador. It is a continual battle for survival.

13 HOURS is pure Michael Bay. There are lots of explosions, pyrotechnics and special effects with the help of Lucas Light and Sound Company. It is a man’s world. All the 6 actors/soldiers are buffed, bearded and tough or at least talk tough.

At the promo screening, actor Schreiber who was present mentioned that Bay’s intention was to give an account of what happened on the ground. This he has done while emphasizing the camaraderie of the men under fire. 13 HOURS is not the first film depicting the behaviour of men under combat stress. THE HURT LOCKER, KILO TWO BRAVO and AMERICAN SNIPER are a few films that have done just that. Bay uses the same tactics as these films. The soldiers are observed skyping their wives and talking to their kids, the wives are shown freaking out and flashbacks are used to emphasize better family times. The soldiers also refer to what is happening as a horror film. And like in a horror film, Bay also introduces false alarms, like shocking the audience when a lady trips breaking the glasses of tea during a high profile political meeting. Besides action, Bay a few solid suspense segments like the one Jack (John Kravnski) gets out of, lying about drones at the start of the film.

One fault of the film is the relatively simple story that Bay stretches into a 140-minute action film. Boredom sets in quite soon as the audience observes the senseless fighting reflecting the senseless action in the movie.

At only $50 million, Bay is an efficient director delivering a high demand product at a low cost using little known actors, except for John Kravinski who plays the lead character. The film was shot 3 months in Malta and 4 days in Morocco. Like AMERICAN SNIPER and LONE SURVIVOR, this film will likely make lots of money.

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Movie Review: NORM OF THE NORTH (2016) Animation, Family

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norm_of_the_north_poster.jpgNORM OF THE NORTH (Normand du Nord) (USA 2015) ***
Directed by Trevor Wall

Review by Gilbert Seah

The first family film of 2016 proves to be not too bad a family outing but lacks the innovativeness of many primed animated features. Director Wall and his scriptwriters (five no less) play it safe. The result is a safe film – but nothing out of the ordinary.

Many of the characters in NORM OF THE NORTH is derived from other animated films. Norm, himself is a polar bear (Rob Schneider) who does not fit in the North pole. He is too kind to hunt and eat his fellow Arctic animals. But he has a gift. He can understand the human language (English to be particular). No reason is offered why. So when trouble arrives in the north in the form of Mr. Greene (Ken Jeong of THE HANGOVER films) who wants to destroy nature and build condos, it is up up to Norm to save the day. He travels to NYC with his troupe. His troupe consists of three lemmings, who utter gibberish, very similar to the minions of DESPICABLE ME.

The voice characterizations are again competent at most. Rob Schneider is sufficiently amicable as Norm. Of the recognizable talents, Bill Night as Socrate, the bird, Colm Meaney as the grandfather and Jeong as the villain stand out. But the villain is more goofy than mean, who eventually gets his comeuppance as deserved.

The film contains a few songs and a few dance numbers. Norm looks cute jiggling his polar white furred bum. Again, the dance is a milder form of HAPPY FEET, just as Norm is a very mild version of a clumsy SHREK. The human beings that meet Norm are females, which should delight the fairer sex of the audience. There is no violence at all and no foul language, though with just a little hint. These come mainly from the villain, Mr. Greene. There is also a noticeable lack of romantic interest in the film. But that would tend to slow an already slow-paced animated movie.

The sight of animals in a big city has also been done before in the MADAGASCAR films. The scene of Norm and the lemmings travelling by boat to America is too familiar and similar the sight of the ship sailing by the penguins in MADAGASCAR.
The message of saving the world (THE LEGO MOVIE, DESPICABLE ME) and its natural environment is also a well-worn one, though well intentioned.

The animation is competent enough. I cannot comment about the 3D effects, as the screening I attended was a 2-D version.

Overall, NORM OF THE NORTH is an ok piece. The sight of a fuzzy giant dancing around should surely amuse the kids in the audience. If only the humour was goofier and the script was more inventive to entertain the adults. But the film should attract the same audience that made ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS a hit at Christmas.

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Movie Review: BOY & THE WORLD (2015) Directed by Alê Abreu

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boy_and_the_worldBOY AND THE WORLD (O Menino e o Mundo) (Brazil 2013) ***1/2
Directed by Alê Abreu

Review by Gilbert Seah

As in last year’s SHAUN THE SHEEP MOVIE, BOY AND THE WORLD is a wordless animated feature though gibberish Portuguese can be heard occasionally in the film’s soundtrack. Thus, this Brazilian import, has a more universal appeal, as it can be understood by people in countries speaking different languages.

The story is also a universal one. Being wordless, one must concentrate a bit more to put together the film’s narrative. The story concerns the boy of the film’s title, one who journeys to the big city, to see what is both fascinating and frightening. All this is captured by the film’s colourful visuals.

The film begins with the boy (animated as a stick figure with huge round Charlie Brown head with black slit eyes and no mouth) looking at a coloured rock. The patterns turn out to be inside other patterns as the camera weaves in and put different colours and patterns. All this is very mesmerizing and captivating. The boy then jumps onto a cloud and after jumps into the waters of a stream and runs into the woods.

The story involves the boy leaving for the city (that looks like Rio de Janeiro) in search of his father. He has various adventures including getting a dog, meeting mechanized workers (looking like THE WALL) and facing police oppression. The film also has abstract moments like the symbolic fight between good and evil as seen by the fight between a black bird and colourful phoenix.

The film contains beautiful moments such as the one emphasizing the importance of family, in which the boy eats bread with a melon dip with his mother and father. But the film has an overall bleak look as director Abreu lays his views on world pollution of lumber and oil, as well as the slow destruction of natural resources.

The visuals are amazing – simple and colourful being the two words best used to describe it – just like the kaleidoscope toy the boy looks and plays with. The segment of the tankers carrying colourful containers, all rectangular in shape filling the screen makes one of the more memorable moments. But just as amazing as the visuals is the film’s soundtrack that is made up of instruments like the flute, and Brazilian music like the samba and hip-hop.

The film has the feel of METROPOLIS and is at times, just as intense. To Abreu’s credit, the film is without dialogue and thus has to be more cinematic. Though the film is animated and about a boy, children might find the film difficult to understand. But the film has a total Brazilian feel about it – from the characters to the background.

BOY AND THE WORLD is welcome, very original adult animation so different from what other studios like Disney, Ghibli and Aardman provide. The film is unique and has won over 40 film festival awards so far.

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Movie Review: THE FOREST (2016) Horror

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the_forest_posterTHE FOREST (USA 2015) ***
Directed by Jason Zada

Review by Gilbert Seah

The beginning of January usually sees new low budget films make number one at the box-office. Universal’s little horror flick , THE FOREST aims to do just that, and hopefully keep their fantastic 2015 year of box-office hits carried over to 2016.

Twins have always been a favourite pick in the horror genre. Films like Brian De Palma’s SISTERS, David Cronenberg’s DEAD RINGERS and others like THE OTHER and last year’s German GOODNIGHT MOMMY are prime examples. THE FOREST combines the twins story to a haunted forest plot in a relatively scary film about a young woman Sara (Natalie Dormer) who travels to Japan’s forest below Mount Fuji to search for her missing twin, Jesse (also played by Dormer but with black hair).

For a ghost story, there is little gore except a stabbing and a few imagined maggots. Director Zada is fond of false alarms to scare the audience out of the seats. These include a homeless man suddenly banging Sara’s taxi window in Japan, her dream of little Jesse in the tent screeching at her and scares from a Japanese teenager in school uniform among others.

At its best, the film has genuine cinematic scares. The dark of a forest is already creepy in itself. THE BLAIR WITCH PRJECT was scary enough with its camping segment shot mainly in the dark. Zada utilizes the segment in which Sara sits in the tent in the forest to stay the night waiting for her sister to return, to maximum effect. The use of light and shadows from the burning fire adds to the creepiness. Sara’s fall into a huge hole and exploring an underground cave also adds to the film’s best moments.

Story-wise, the plot is simple enough. It is a sister’s search for her twin in a Japanese forest known as a place where people go to die. A few loose ends could be easily explained. One immediate point that is questionable is character Rob (Eoin Macken), who meets Sara. He is supposed to be an Australian journalist in Japan. But he speaks with an American accent. But from the dialogue that specifies Rob as a traveller, it could be assumed that Rob is American with an Australian posting. One scene has the Japanese guide tell Sara that in the forest bad things can happen, but they are not real and are all in the head. This is an excuse for other non-explanations in the plot such as Jesse’s photos on Rob’s cellphone or Rob’s answer to Sara that Jesse has been dead for 5 days. These could be dismissed as imaginations in Sara’s head.
Still, this relatively slow moving horror movie is well scripted by no less than 3 writers. Zada’s direction is apt enough and there are sufficient scares – false alarms or real ones.

Do not expect scenic shots of Mt. Fuji or its forests below. The film was actually shot in a National Park in Serbia with an entire crew of Serbians, as can be seen in the end credits. But the cinematography is excellent for a horror flick and the Serbian National Park looks like quite the place to visit.

THE FOREST will definitely make one think twice when camping at night.

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