Many thought director Danny Boyle wouldn’t be able to top his Academy Award-winning Slumdog Millionaire (actually I did, after a second viewing, it wasn’t as great), but he definitely proved the strength and diversity of his filmmaking palette in 127 Hours. Based on the true story of avid canyoneer and climber Aron Ralston, this film displayed more than anything the resilience of a man who willed himself to live on and stay alive to tell this tale of perseverance.

WARNING: The following review may contain spoilers to Danny Boyle’s 127 Hours.

What seemed on the surface as just a one man performance powering the film of an acclaimed director, became a telling of a story that entranced the audience to see, feel, and experience beyond just one person. Although the majority of the film situated itself within the confined and claustrophobic space of Aron Ralston played by James Franco, what the audience saw and learnt from it was so much more than a singular realization. Through the performance of James Franco and the unyielding direction of Danny Boyle, we were able to see one man’s brightest and darkest hours, 127 of them. The basis of the movie revolves around Alston’s adventure into a Utah canyon range which was stopped abruptly by a loose boulder between a large earthly crevice, where he was trapped for the better part of 5 days.

The combination of a narrative or third-person camera and a digital camcorder belonging to Alston, told his story from a very personal and raw perspective. His realizations became our realizations and projected us into the spiritual, mental and astral experiences that he went through so vividly. It is true that it is a story that happened to one person, but what came out of it was a connection beyond that for Alston and the audience, from reality to hallucinatory. Being the second screening in the word for 127 Hours, both Danny Boyle and James Franco were present as well as Aron Ralston himself at the Toronto International Film Festival. Seeing him and hearing his thoughts after the film during the Q&A session made the film more amazing than it already was on its own. The first question he was asked was simple, “what did you think of the film’s portrayal of you and your experiences?”. But this simple question was enough to bring tears to Alston’s eyes saying that it was definitely hard to watch, but what was even more emotional was to look to his left and right where his wife and sister and family were sitting.

I have seen 5 films at the TIFF and this one was by far the most eye-opening and captivating of all. Most of the films you watch won’t have you guaranteeing major award nominations for, but this certainly was. This was James Franco’s best performance yet and one of Danny Boyle’s best film if not the best. The sound design and editing enhanced the film to have the audience physically feel the movement, pain and overall sensory experience. In March of 2011, if I don’t see Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Director, Actor, Editing, Screenwriting and Sound for this film, I will pick up hiking myself.

Banana Rating:

/10

-phibz.

Next up, TIFF review on Kin Ji-woon’s I Saw The Devil!

I’m proud to be part of a creative group of people who are brilliant enough to create great works of awesomeoness (and otakuness), shown in the Central Squares Saga. In the name of loving martial arts, anime, and all things nerdy, Central Squares is a true testament to the power of popular youth media, both Eastern and Western.

In 2006, the first installment of the Central Squares Saga garnered over 18,000 views on YouTube with its intended slapstick cheesiness and low-budget appearance. Above all, its ridiculous humour caught the unexpected waves of the Internet. Unknown to many, the title “Central Squares” has no direct connection to the narrative (or lack thereof) of the video series, but is simply the name of the area of York University in which it was filmed.

A surprise to most, four years later, a sequel was born. With a better set of hands provided by the Heroic Melon Collective and a departure from the beloved handycam look, Central Squares II was bigger, better, flashier, and more nerdy, with a plethora of references to popular video games, anime and television shows:

Dragonball, Star Wars, Naruto, you name it, and Central Squares II pays homage to it in some way. If my nerdiness serves me right, I counted at least 9 references to popular youth media. As I mentioned on our Twitter page, “It has references up the BUTT!”, which makes it all the more epic.

It took four years before a sequel was released, do we have to wait until 2014 before we see Central Squares III? I highly doubt that. Considering the diverse body of work the HMC have created, they are more than capable (not including myself, of course) of doing one, if not two, more installments to this great fanboy saga. With that said, RJ Tumanguil (Perfect Destiny Pictures) has sacrificed blood, sweat, tears, and many nights of sleep to polish the grand display of special effects in CS2. For now, we’ll let the trooper rest. For now (:

-phibz.

Jun Ji-Hyun (My Sassy Girl) is set to star in the upcoming vampire action flick, Blood: The Last Vampire, a live-action adaptation of an anime movie of the same name, from the creators of Hero. It was also adapted into an anime television series called Blood+, which you should all stay far away from. Its pretty bad. It had so much potential. The characters were well written but the story drove the series into the ground.

But who am I to talk, apparently it was named “recommended as an excellent work” by the Japanese Media Arts Festival in 2005. But seriously, do not watch it. The Banana Rating speaks for itself:

out of 10

As great as My Sassy Girl was, I still have serious doubts about Blood. I think its less credible if they abandon the World War II context of the original animated film, which worries me since the trailer did not show any hints of the time period. The way they designed Saya’s (the protagonist) school girl outfit is also not very appealing. Why are they not using the sex appeal of Jun Ji-Hyun!? Chris Nohan, c’mon. AH! Just watch the clip!

Shorten the skirt or something! Lose some buttons? Have the chiropterans (that’s what they call their excuses for vampires) rip off her clothing? NOTHING!

Anyway, here are the latest clips from the live-action Blood: The Last Vampire:

Anyone see that up-skirt flash?

-phibz.