Frost/Nixon - Released 26 December 2009

Feature films centred on political themes are usually interesting for those interested in intellectual thoughts, however, no films of such genre has ever been entertaining enough for the average thinkers. You could be forgiven for having no knowledge of the interviews between David Frost and Richard Nixon prior to the release of this movie. Director Ron Howard and screenwriter Peter Morgan wanted all of us to think that it was a point of importance to the world in terms of politics and journalism combined. No true story can be told 100% truthful to the audience using film, but Howard and Morgan manages to stay loyal to the true events that served as inspiration.

Being an average political viewer, and not so much of a political film fan, the Frost/Nixon interviews are quite fascinating to me. Maybe not all of the questions or answers, particularly when Nixon rambles on trying to avoid questions by offering anecdotes in place of answers. Regardless, they are still an invaluable source of history. Viewing the movie allows us the opportunity of seeing a key politician as a normal human being.

The movie was presented in a funny yet intelligent way, very well-paced, Morgan’s expert in structuring the entire movie perfectly and a hint of cleverness. Frost/Nixon was well directed and this is the sort of writing we do not see enough of nowadays.

The cast was certainly good enough for this flickt. Frank Langella and Michael Sheen were superb. They both managed to accurately portray their characters while still adding their own personalities. I would bet that Langella will probably take the Oscars at the end of the month. However, it is Michael Sheen who quietly steals the film away from Langella. Sheen brought the much needed grief to a film. If it was not for him, the movie could have just been a movie about two guys talking head to head. Oliver Platt, Kevin Bacon, Rebecca Hall and Toby Jones needs to be acknowledge here as they were giving out solid performances doing a lot with so little. However, I have to give an ovation to Sam Rockwell as he was the one that really stood out among the supporting cast members. Rockwell to me is not known for giving a solid performance, but in this one, he manages to sink into the role rather effortlessly. The only other movie that I have seen him acting at his best was in Confessions Of A Dangerous Mind.

There are just so much production values in this movie that I don’t even think I can cover in this review. In summary, you will not find those political messages, rather it is just a fun movie with a very clever script. The great cast was just an added bonus and I think after Apollo 13 Ron Howard has delivered his other best work in this one. A film I greatly recommend anyone to watch.

4/5 Stars for this great piece of work...

FROST/NIXON TRAILER

Underworld: RIse of the Lycans - Released 23rd January 2009

At last, 2009 has come and the movie world just gets better and better. 2009 is the year of sequels and origin storylines. Rise of the Lycans is not a sequel and very much , and I really mean it, very much an origins flick. Other origin type of movies includes X-Men: Wolverine and Star Trek. Hmmm...2009 year or origins...sounds nice..Anyways, this movie is about the origins of how the Lycans started to fight back against the Vampires. It sets during the time of medieval and focuses on Viktor (one of the vampires' elder played by Bill Nighy) and Lucian (Lycans' leader played by Michael Sheen). It potrays the love story between a Lycan and a Vamp, the hatred between Vamps and Wolves as well as the quest to stand up against the Vamps by the Lycans.

The first movie was excellent and the second just wasn't the same without Nighy and Sheen. Lucian is the character you love to sympathize for whereas Viktor is the character you love to hate. This movie was seriously brilliant. Everything made sense which is a must for a perfect movie. I had watched the previous two so it kinda hit my intellectual mind softly with all the information potrayed in this one. Didn't really had to think hard on each scene. This time, it was really packed with action scenes and I just love the 80s style blood splat after a blade slash.

The movie stayed the same and resembled the previous two movies and although Beckinsale and her husband Les Wiseman, who directed the first two did not played any part in this movie, Patrick Tatopoulos did a perfect job in handling this one. Did I mention that Rise of the Lycans was his was feature film as a director? Well its true. He's a special effects professional prior to taking on this job. Boy, the guy can direct. Just by looking at the wolves, he was destined to take on this huge role.

The characters were engaging. Rhona Mitra who plays Sonja, didn't have to do much apart from reading her lines perfectly, showing her looks and figure and acted like the great actor she really is. She manages to show the audience how she is still a much more sympathetic character than Selene ever was. She really played the tough but tender role brilliantly. I didn't even miss Beckinsale for a minute.

Nighy and Sheen held this movie together so strongly and they are both so gifted. Watching the movie, your eyes will be glued so much to these two actors turning away the generic plot and the continuous darkness in the movie. The chemistry was just great and I wouldn't change a thing in them. Ok, maybe the contact lenses which was one of the only two issues I have with the whole movie. The other being that the wholel movie length was just too short. I needed more stunts and plots...but that's asking for too much.

4.5/5 Excellent movie!