MOVIE REVIEW: LIFE OR SOMETHING LIKE IT (2002)

Life or Something Like It is a movie that feels like it is going for Oscar Bait. Instead, by the end of the movie, it manages to undermine its own message while playing into every bad romantic movie cliche that is know. Some spoilers ahead.

Angelina Jolie stars as a hotshot reported. She seems to have the perfect life- dating a famous baseball player and being successful in her own career. However, the plot kicks off with a fortune teller telling her she would die in a week and then predicting some other stuff correctly to make her believe him.

This leads her on a journey of self-discovery. She predictably goes through the motions of realising her relationship is shallow when her boyfriend tries to help her out. I'm still not sure why. She then gets together with a guy she had a one night stand with years ago. She then gets drunk and makes a fool of herself on television, which (of course) gets allot of exposure and a promotion for her.

At the end of the day, the movie just plods along with a generic plot. Even at the end, the whole message is undermined when she interviews a celebrity. Then, for some reason, the celebrity has a break down on air when she is reminded she isn't married. 

This undermines the message the film is trying and failing to send with being happy with yourself. The final message is that, if you aren't in a relationship, you can't be happy. Which makes her even more hypocritical as she is literally getting together with her two-night stand guy.

1 out of 5 waffles or something like them.

TV SHOW REVIEW: BOYS OVER FLOWERS

Boys Over Flowers is a Korean television drama series. It follows the story of a young Korean high-school student and the cool clique of school, of which the coolest and richest is trying to be her boyfriend. It also has things such as lost memories, kidnappings and the like.

The show isn't good. It has allot of problems stemming from the main characters and how she is written to interact with everyone around her. For a start, she is presented as the only person in the school willing to speak her mind and stand up to the traditions and stereotypes of the school.

And then of course, this means that most the men in the show like her. Well, not most of them. Just the richest, popular and handsome of them. They do things such as close a whole mall just to give her a shopping trip. And when she goes to a new city with no plans, she instantly makes friends with the richest woman there. Of course all their wealth is inheritance as well, otherwise they may have to take a break from fawning over her to actually work.

And that is about it. A clear author-avatar character is sitting there going through life. Every challenge that comes up for her feels contrived and multiple characters have to take the idiot ball to keep the plot going. This is definitely one to skip.

1 out of 5 Flowering Waffles.

MOVIE REVIEW: THE IMITATION GAME (2015)

Kicking off 2015 with a bang, The Imitation Game seems to be getting things off to a good start. A pseudo-documentary about World War 2 and The Enigma Code, this movie sees Benedict Cumberbatch starring as a troubled mathematician who delights in solving puzzles, including the most complicated puzzles of the time.

Benedict Cumberbatch stars as Alan Turing, a gifted cryptographer and mathematician who is tasked by the Allied Governments to solve the "puzzle" of Enigma, the German code language. Set in three time periods (his childhood, during the war and post war), this movie sets Alan up as a tragic figure, not able to understand much of the world around him and always unintentionally insulting everyone around him.

The movie then follows Alan through his trials of trying to work with his team to solve Enigma by making a computer. This includes his charismatic former boss, generals who are beholden to the chain of command (who Alan uses against them) and being a homosexual in a time that they were persecuted. Benedict Cumberbatch puts in his normal solid performance into this role. The only criticism is in some scenes he seems to overact his part.

This may be a product of the screenplay, however. As the movie moves towards its tragic final note, the writers seem to want to make more speeches and actions by Alan monumental speeches or actions. Where the movie could have used a scene or two more in between of Alan being a bit more laid back to contrast against the rising intensity, instead the next speech by Alan seems to try to outdo the previous one in terms of showing his detachment from the world or being suitable "quotable". This is a very minor quibble and, for the most part, the movie is well paced until its endings.

The endings are where the tragedy of Alan's life plays out. This movie goes the Lord of the Rings route of having about 4-5 different end points. Every ending, however, continues to be more tragic and depressing than the previous one. This movie definitely decided to not end on an uplifting note celebrating post-war Brittain, but the rest of the movie set the foundations well for this depressing ending.

4 out of 5 Mysteries Trapped Within Enigmatic Waffles.

SUMMER WARS

Summer Wars is an oddball mix of science fiction, cyberpunk, teen romance and family comedy/drama, all rolled up into one beautiful, lavish-looking Anime. Also manages to throw in a chilling end-of-the-world scenario and some awkward Japanese teenage romance, just to cover all the bases. Somehow with all these threads scattered around the place it creates a well woven story that’s less confusing than the new transformer movie.


Like most gen y, I love the Internet.How else can I immediately download movies or get in touch with friends in other parts of the world. Having grown up with creepy msn chat friends and spam bots. I now have an irrational fear that the Internet could create the next apocalypse, like the one in Summer Wars. An animated feature from Japan directed by Mamoru Hosoda, whose other effort include The Girl Who Leapt Through Time and Wolf Children. Both of which you should watch.


The movie start of innocently enough, when high schooler Kenji Koiso a maths genius who like most high school geniuses, is shy, uncoordinated, and inarticulate in the area of girls and love. Things become even more complicated for him when Natsuki Shinohara "hires" him to be her fake fiancé to please her ailing great-grandmother at an upcoming family reunion. Because pretty and confident Natsuki doesn’t want her cantankerous great-granddaughter to believe she couldn't find a boyfriend. There, Kenji the meek math nerd is confronted by an overwhelming group of relatives, including a tai-chi-devoted computer genius; a hotheaded uncle with a penchant for revenge fantasies; and the prodigal if unapologetic son, who returns after 10 years in the United States to swill Sapporo and prove he's still a rebel.Cue the family dramatics.

 On one sleepless night, Kenji solves a digit riddle sent to his phone. In doing so, he inadvertently compromises Oz, a virtual world chock-full of rainbows and cutesy avatars. That’s protected by two whale guardians called John and Yoko.

It's also a treasure trove of information. Imagine if Facebook were also a destination for gift-buying, GPS usage, e-mailing, online banking, tax filing, top secret government information. Thus putting millions of people around the world and japan into casual chaos. Seriously felt like people were more annoyed that they could use the internet, then the possible of mass destruction. Probably because this all happens in the background for the first 45 mins. The movie was more keen on retelling The Proposal. But this is anime, so eventually there would be over the top fight scenes.

 The story waivers between a family drama, a romance and an action movie. Found the balance of cheesiness some what endearing. Yet at times ventures too much into the melodramatic and corny. Surprisingly Natsuki family members are alive and brimming with over the top personality, poise and humor, a rarity in most films these days. Especially given how many family member Natsuki has. Really you wait to be transported to Oz. This is where the film shine. Oz is a visual carnival, a brilliant world that spins in midair with all manner of swirly things.The enemy avatar, who goes by Love Machine, also proves to be an entertainingly worthy adversary, with a face like Donnie Darko's rabbit friend and a body like an extra from "300." The humdrum reality of the real world often takes precedence over the nail-biting possibility of imminent apocalypse. Least the time spent with Natsuki crazy family is enjoyable due to their ability to conjure up crazy items, its wacky yet grounded. All come together in the last 30mins and delivers a golden cheese pizza of computer game kung-fu power ups. They even put a magical girl transformation sequence.


I enjoyed Summer Wars it was like a kaleidoscope stuck in a gumball machine. Its pretty yet confusing but you’ll enjoy the time you spending trying to get the fancy toy.


3 out of 5 shiny rainbow waffle warrior

UTOPIA

 Wow? Where did this come from? And why aren't more people watching it?

Utopia it's one of those series that lodges itself into the dark corner of your mind, and it sits there gnawing away at you to watch another episode. Before long its 3am and you have watched the whole thing. Now all you can think about is telling everyone you know about the show so you can debate and converse on the moral ideas and consequence the show brings up.

Utopia centers around a  group of Internet geeks, who are heavily invested in a cult graphic novel called The Utopia Experiments. This novel has gained notoriety for having predicted past global disasters and possible future ones. Beyond the internet forums, a hunt for the cult manuscript is transpiring. Five of its fans then meet in real life to read the fabled, unreleased sequel, and this seamlessly casual meeting puts them in grave danger from a shadowy organization called The Network. 

 The Network operatives are a pair of hit men, overweight Arby and sharp-dressed Lee, who are leaving a trail of dead people in their wake in the pursuit of a  signature question: "Where's Jessica Hyde?" No one seems able to answer this question, but it isn’t like it would save their lives if they did. From there you’re lead down a rabbit hole of Machiavellian plot twists with dire worldwide implications. 

Utopia has such a unique visual style using slightly over saturated colours and many different views, vantage points, colors and contrasts. Almost Kubrick-esque with one-point perspective shots, that give this bleak yet sharp tone its unsettling nature. The series has this constant feeling of menace, isolation and paranoia. It is almost uncomfortable to watch but for the way the plot is revealed in a steady flow.

The characters are wonderfully portrayed and utterly believable. Special credit has to be given to Neil Maskell's portrayal of the overweight 'Arby.’ He plays this darkly comical sad sack and  brings hidden depth to this character that makes you actually start to sympathise with him even though he does some of the worst things you will ever see on screen.

The plot is revealed throughout the six episodes, in true 'Lost' style, with more and more is revealed each time building on what has gone before. Without having to drag you through several season of backstory. Utopia is an amazing show that hit all the right button: Dodgy looking hitman, a secret organisation, political conspiracy theories, some flu outbreak, and a mad scientist to boot.

The 'plot' is revealed in episode 5 and it is as shocking as it is thought provoking. You will find yourself having debates as to its merits with friends and family. I'll say no more about it, but it is brilliant !

5 out of 5 secret cult waffles.