Review: True Detective Season 1, or My New Favourite Show, or HBO, You Rarely Disappoint

HBO

The show True Detective seems to have come out of nowhere. There wasn’t too much hype to promote it. I think its success was due mostly to word of mouth.

HBO

And, quite possibly, this man's Academy Award nomination (now win).

Well actually, True Detective’s success can also be attributed to these five things:

Due Date

From the title itself, you know this is about a pregnancy. But from the poster, you know that this stars Robert Downey, Jr. and Zach Galifianakis. So who's giving birth?

Certainly not the alpha male of this flick.

It's actually Robert Downey, Jr.'s wife who's pregnant. And she's played by Michelle Monaghan. Who I don't really fancy. Not my type. But she sure is Jamie Foxx's type. Wait, so how does this play again? RDJ and Jamie Foxx have been friends for like twenty years. Foxx and Monaghan used to date. And Monaghan is now married to RDJ. Yet Foxx and Monaghan still keep in touch. The situation is so absurd that everyone was half-expecting Monaghan's baby to be black.

Not really his baby. Got you there.

Wait, so how does Zach Galifianakis come into the picture? As an unwanted asshole, that's how. Funny how Galifianakis's roles are always assholes. It's not because of the beard, is it? I mean, beards don't make assholes, right?

Does that not look like an asshole to you?

Finally, speaking of beards, I don't think Galifianakis can do proper comedy without his beard. I'll bet that if you shave his beard off, he loses his comedic powers. Kind of like Samson. That's why in The Hangover Part II, he shaved his head, but not his beard. So I'm betting that in his next flick, he still has the beard.

Speaking of which, the director Todd Phillips also directed both Hangover films. Which is probably why Galifianakis gets to be just as annoying in this film.


Due Date. USA. 2010.


Rating: Six and a half out of ten.
Danny McBride's cameo: Plus point three.
Final rating: Six point eight out of ten.



*some info from IMDb
pics from VLC

Source Code

For this review of Source Code, I will attempt to explain it.

What is the Source Code? 
It's a computer program.

What does it do? 
It can insert a consciousness into the last eight minutes of another person's life.

Is Jake Gyllenhaal the consciousness that was inserted into the last eight minutes of another person?
You bet he is.

What kind of facial expression is that supposed to be?

What was the Source Code invented for?
I'm not sure, but I think it's to be able to prevent terrorist attacks.

So the Source Code can only relive a reality, and not change it?
That's what everyone thought at first.

If Jake Gyllenhaal's character can only relive the same eight minutes over and over again, why did the last reality continue on beyond eight minutes?
Because it ended differently. It should only last for eight minutes because the train blows up after eight minutes and everybody dies. But in the last reality, everybody lived. So their lives went on. This changed ending created a separate alternate reality where there was no train crash.

So how was Gyllenhaal able to send an e-mail to Vera Farmiga? 
Because like I said, Gyllenhaal created a new reality, and he wanted to tell Farmiga that the Source Code works even better than they thought. Screw it, here's Gyllenhaal's entire e-mail:

Lily awoke in an evening dress and an opera cloak. In her hand were 5 playing cards. At some point today, you're gonna hear about a failed terrorist attack on a commuter train near Chicago. You and I kept that bomb from going off. If you're reading this e-mail, then Source Code works even better than you and Dr. Rutledge imagined. You thought you were creating 8 minutes of a past event, but you're not. You've created a whole new world. Goodwin, if I'm right, somewhere at the Source Code facility, you have a Capt. Colter Stevens waiting to send on a mission. Promise me you'll help him. And when you do, do me a favor: tell him everything is gonna be okay.

Was Dr. Rutledge played by the actor who played Jean Michel Basquiat?
Yes, that's Jeffrey Wright from Basquiat. I love that film. Especially David Bowie playing Andy Warhol.

Priceless.

Do you think Michelle Monaghan is cute?
She's not really my type.

Do you think Vera Farmiga is hot? 
Oh yes.

Definitely.

Source Code. USA/France. 2011.


Rating: Seven out of ten.



*some info from IMDb
pics from Desk of Brian, Shagdora, and The Guardian

Eagle Eye

Hooray for Steven Spielberg's new poster boy.

Shia LaBeouf stretches his acting muscles, and he does in fact give a great performance. Of course Steven Spielberg wouldn't waste time with LaBeouf if he wasn't good enough.

Story-wise, Eagle Eye is just another one of those movies about the dark side of technology, the centuries-old conflict between man and machine. In fact, during the first part of the film, I couldn't help but notice the similarities with The Matrix, and was half expecting someone to offer Shia LaBeouf to choose between the red pill and the blue pill.

This film isn't a whodunit; in a whodunit, the storyteller lays out a list of suspects, and you try to figure out which one is guilty, based on the clues laid out. So it in fact becomes character-driven, as the characters are fleshed out in the hope that the viewer might put two and two together. This story is actually plot-driven, as from the start, the antagonist is already established, so everybody knows whodunit; the question now becomes howhedunit (okay, that sounded forced).

Director D.J. Caruso does a great job behind the helm, especially with the car chase sequences, which was the most tension-filled car chase I've seen so far. It's actually an interplay of great storyboarding, precise pacing, and excellent editing. Plus, Caruso didn't yield to the temptation of exploiting the sexual tension between LaBeouf and Michelle Monaghan.

Notable performances from Michael Chiklis as the Secretary of Defense, who plays it subtle, Rosario Dawson as the fiery government agent, and of course Billy Bob Thornton, as Thomas Morgan, head of homeland security, who is probably the most colorful character in the film. Michelle Monaghan's acting, so-so. Mr. LaBeouf's acting---excellent. And we all thought he'd always be like Even Steven.


Original rating: Three and a half stars.


*ADDITIONAL COMMENTS*
I had been itching since last week for a good Hollywood movie, owing to the slump in foreign movies after the summer season until Thanksgiving weekend, and apparently, Eagle Eye was shown first in Cebu before it was shown in Manila. And it opened on a Friday, which is not usual. And it wasn't showing in Megamall. Now how the hell did that happen?