The Final Take with Parker Mott

“If we make it through this, I’ll follow you anywhere.”

Love is preserved and united in the teen turkey epic "Breaking Dawn Part 2".

There is a key shot at the climax of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2, the final fake-epic of the Stephenie Meyer series, that defines this abysmal movie franchise. The Cullens, including a resolute Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart), Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson), and third-wheel Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner) line up in a snowy flatland preparing to battle the Volturi, comprising the cloaks of Aro (Michael Sheen), Jane (Dakota Fanning), and Irina (Maggie Grace). We then cut to a birds-eye view shot of the two regiments and, boy, do they look puny and scantily numbered. (continue reading…)

Rating: 14A – Sexual Content, Substance Abuse
Run Time: 117 minutes
Now playing in limited release (at the Varsity Theatre in Toronto, ON).

The crestfallen face of Trishna (Freida Pinto).

Michael Winterbottom’s Trishna encompasses tragedy from west to east India, all in the spirit of a dispassionate romance. This is a predictable love story, yes, but different in a way that it is not so neatly about a triumph in love. A severe, lingering sadness pervades the screen as a wealthy young businessman named Jay (Riz Ahmed) comes to neglect his affections for the 19 year-old Trishna (Slumdog Millionaire‘s Freida Pinto), an Indian maiden from a poor rural district in Rajasthan. (continue reading…)

3 Stars out of 4
(146 minutes)

A firm bond between man and horse in "War Horse".

War Horse is a film that seems to have bypassed its story for the spectacle. But this is okay when in the nifty hands of Steven Spielberg. His new film is a proficient work of filmmaking passion, but not necessarily narrative. Based on the 1982 book by Michael Morpurgo and the 2007 stage play by Nick Stafford, War Horse is a faithful, perhaps overly earnest homage to classic Hollywood craft that pays every tribute to John Ford except the lasso. (continue reading…)

3 Stars out of 4
(117 minutes)

A medical film without the science is Pedro Almodovar's The Skin I Live In.

The Skin I Live In is a mighty fetish that twists and turns (and, at times, creaks) through to the finish. It’s one of Almodovar’s darkest atnd perturbed melodramas that thrusts from the past and present in a glorious mess. It’s about the obsession with identity and perfecting the flesh covering our bones, the mere decor of our bodies.

The film is grounded in a character’s peculiar passion in something very complicated called transgenesis, which – I have researched – involves transferring an organism’s gene to another in order to alter its bodily functions. (continue reading…)

3 Stars out of 4
(191 minutes)

The skies flare red with passion in Titanic.

April 15, 1912 was a shocking day of ironic tragedy. The great RMS Titanic – the unsinkable ship – perished at the hands of an iceberg. A structure of modernity fallen to one of nature. It resulted in 1500 casualties with a survival rate of near thirty percent. I wonder if people were more in shock than sadness to see such a vessel of strength collapse on its maiden journey over how many people fell victim to this mishap. Regardless, the sinking of the Titanic is a fascinating but tragic landmark in history teaching us that advanced machinery does not always prevail in the face of nature. (continue reading…)

2 Stars out of 4
(122 minutes)

The chemistry is questionable between these two.

Old-fashioned nostalgia trips like Water For Elephants should not be this dull. It’s a tale that covers emotions from several poles: happiness to sadness, joy to fear, and love to hate. It’s a story of recollection, painted with a quaint texture of the old days.

It takes place during the early part of the Depression. Men are out of jobs, the pay is low, and people are in search of entertainment. The story is an anecdote told by Jacob Jankowski who, at an old age, tells a young employer about his past. Robert Pattinson is the young Jankowski who escaped to the circus when he lost his family in a car crash. He was a veterinarian student and when his parents died he did not achieve his degree. He joins a circus troupe called Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth, run by August (Christoph Waltz). August’s wife Marlena (Reese Witherspoon) is the equestrian star of the show. As you’d expect, a love triangle flairs. (continue reading…)

3.5 Stars out of 4
(101 minutes)

All About My Mother

It flatters me to see a director Pedro Almodóvar appreciate his audience so much. His film All About My Mother is so close to parody yet it deals with characters who take matters very seriously. The film lacks all sobriety by putting us into a world that’s sadness is dissolved through the flashy art decor and extremely elegant-colorful shot display. Yet this is a tragedy, perhaps that is why the film is so intriguing. The fact that it fantasizes about tragedy while comedically hinting at the passion of cinema’s effect assures Almodóvar’s direction is aplomb. (continue reading…)

1.5 Stars out of 4
(108 minutes)

Dear John.

The first lines of Dear John whither off the screen like dried fruit: “So there’s something else I wanna tell you. Right before everything went black, you wanna know the very last thing that entered my mind? You.” From then on, insert the flashbacks as Dear John recounts on love’s past, its present, and well, what will become of its future. This is a Nicolas Sparks adaptation, therefore every line reads as if it is from Hallmark. (continue reading…)

3 Stars out of 4
(139 minutes)

Not so innocent in The Age of Innocence.

I was asked for a high school project, before reading Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights, what I thought love was. I, originally, apathetically dismissed the inquiry by using a Robert Frost line. Now, after seeing The Age of Innocence, the film compels a very Victorian, tragic notion on the definition of love. I would say love is a fortress that is conquered by the most superficial assailants. (continue reading…)

3.5 Stars out of 4
(112 minutes)

Communicating in their dreams in Talk To Her.

What makes Pedro Almodóvar’s films so effective is that he explores melodrama but he does not makes his films about melodrama. He gives freedom to his actors. They act and he directs. It creates a passionate story. A director with true confidence. In his 2002 work Talk To Her, Almodóvar finds this deep compassion in his characters. They’re chemistry pulses and it seems like they have known each other forever and they carry some fond and some harsh memories of each other. Talk To Her is nostalgic and very important. It paints a different art form of the surreal. What goes on in the minds of the comatose? But Talk To Her does not bury itself in first-hand subconscious clichés, it provides itself with the space to craft its characters and their relationships. That makes Talk To Her brilliant. There are just so many angles to approach it. (continue reading…)