Movie Reviews – Part VI

Dedicated to all of you that want to watch a good movie but haven’t got a clue what to watch. In the spirit of the other movie reviews I’ve posted these will also be very short.

I’m Not There. The film has a very strange format; it’s like they couldn’t decide on what kind of a movie to make so it’s a mishmash of little of this and little of that. The best way I can describe this film is like this: I’m Not There is a fictional fake-documentary. It takes a little while before you get it, but once you do it’s an amazing journey. Six different actors play Bob Dylan in different times of his life, six different actors playing six different Bob’s. Two of the best, in my opinion, are Christian Bale and Cate Blanchett. And may I be so bold as to say that this is definitely by far Cate Blanchett’s best performance this far in her career? Just look at this picture I stole from my brother’s blog, and then imagine her capturing everything that is Bob Dylan so spot on you actually believe she is him… and she did just that! Amazing film. 4 stars out of 5.

Pan’s Labyrinth. A little girl’s mother has remarried, and they have to move far away. The man her mother married is a brutal military man, and he forces them to live in horrible conditions. The girl is somewhat of a book nerd, and she escapes into a fantasy world full of exciting creatures. She meets Pan, the keeper of the labyrinth, and Pan gives her three assignments for her to do in order for her to come and live in her real father’s kingdom. Good film. Watch it. 4 stars!

The U.S. vs. John Lennon. How can the biggest, baddest, wealthiest, most powerful nation be afraid of one British musician? In many ways the US and its leaders are, to be brutally honest once again, pathetic. I guess the only thing “power” is afraid of, is losing it. And when a challenger comes along, in this case John Lennon, all measures are allowed to get rid of that challenge. This is a very interesting documentary that very well captures the spirit of days long gone; the Vietnam War, the anti-war movement, and John Lennon as a private person, the peace loving family man as well as the anti-war spokesman. 4 stars. Watch it! It is available online.

Speed Racer. Forget the story, forget the acting (or the lack of it in this case), forget the action (which is pretty cool, but so unrealistic). The only reason for you to watch this film is the eye candy. This film is literally like stepping inside a candy store. 2 stars.

The Road To Guantanamo. Three British youngsters on vacation in Afghanistan and Pakistan gets captured by the US military, and even though they are innocent they are sent to, and kept at Guantanamo for two years. They are eventually released without a trial. Drama documentary based on true events. Excellent film. One the best, and the most moving, and infuriating films I’ve seen lately. 4 stars! It is available online, so click here and watch it.

Technorati Tags: Documentary, Film, Movie Reviews

This Film Is Not Yet Rated

This is a very interesting documentary which takes a critical look at the MPAA, how movies are rated (in America) and raises questions about America’s puritanical culture.

OH MY GOD! WE CAN SEE A WOMAN’S PUBIC HAIR FOR HALF A SECOND! WE HAVE TO RATE THIS MOVIE NC-17. You Americans sure are strange.

I suggest you watch this film and find out for yourself.

To view this film in its original size, or in full screen click here.

Technorati Tags: America, Documentary, Film, This Film Is Not Yet Rated

Movie Reviews – Part V

I’ve been arguing with myself ever since part IV of this blog series whether or not I should continue doing these short movie reviews. Then I figured; why the hell not?

I love movies. It’s not only an interest, it’s a full blown passion. Among my friends I’m known as “the movie guy” and they never ask me movie questions when we play Trivial Pursuit because I’m almost always right. So, if you don’t dig these, don’t read. I’ll continue with these and I decided I will not care what people think. For this fifth post in the series I will give you five short reviews on five excellent films, and then you will have to watch them too. OK?

House of Sand And Fog

I remember years ago when I first saw the previews for this one on a movie show on TV. I didn’t think much of it, but for whatever reason I never forgot about it. So, last night when this was on TV I decided I should watch it. I turned the TV on and had one eye on the TV and the other on the computer screen. But more and more I started following what happened in the story of this film and ended up turning my computer off and watching the entire film. I really got into it.

Basic plot: a woman is evicted from her house because of unpaid taxes. The city decides to auction off her belongings, and later sells the house. The woman, now homeless, lives in her car. While she is pursuing legal action, unknown to her, an Iranian family has bought the house, moved in, and with the law on their side they refuse to move even though they are being pressured to do so by this woman, her lawyer and a local sheriff. There is of course more to this story than this, but I do not want to reveal too much. The acting is great, Ben Kingsley as the Iranian family man does such a great job that you really feel for this guy (I almost cried, that’s a good sign) and Jennifer Connelly as the evicted woman is very, very good as well, and she is very pretty too which doesn’t hurt at all (I almost cried for her too, by the way). This is a very touching, emotional and tragic story about a few innocent people that get mixed up in bureaucratic shit. Watch this one, folks! My rating: 4,5 stars out of 5!

Felon

“Prison desensitize you.” This is by far one of the best prison movies I’ve ever seen. Basic plot: a family man accidentally kills a burglar that enters his house. He is sentenced to prison and has to deal with living life in a place where no societal rules apply. It shows you how you devolve into a less of a human being into more of an animal-like creature. And it’s just not the prisoners that go through this transformation, it also very much affects the prison guards as they, too, in this horrible environment becomes less human-like.  The story is good, the acting is great. Val Kilmer does a really good job as a bad ass “lifer”, and Stephen Dorff is pretty good, too. I highly recommend this one, folks. 4 stars out of 5.

American Gangster

The 1970’s. Drug trafficking. Bad guys vs. good guys. Really good music. Visually interesting. Even though I didn’t understand many of the casting choices they made for this movie the overall acting was great, and especially so by Denzel Washington, Russell Crowe and Ruby Dee. This is a really good movie, I was positively surprised. Watch it! 4 stars out of 5!

Million Dollar Baby

My brother Christian said years ago that I have to watch this movie. He said it was great, and had an unexpected ending, and “if it doesn’t move you there is something seriously wrong with you”. Well, Christian has an excellent taste in movies, so of course I trust his judgment and when this movie was on TV a few weeks back I just knew I had to watch it. Basic plot: a down-on-her-luck young woman, played by Hilary Swank, is working as a waitress during the day and works out at a boxing club at nights, and she’s dreaming of becoming the number one female boxer. The owner of this dirty little boxing club, played by Clint Eastwood, is a legendary boxing trainer. He refuses to train women, but eventually he comes around and sees this woman’s talent and starts training her. I will say no more. Watch this fantastic movie! Rating: A full fiver!

Kill Bill

Yeah, I know, there are two parts. But it’s the same story so I will make an exception here and count this as one continuous film.

A short back story first; When Kill Bill Vol.1 first came out on DVD I watched a bit of it and absolutely hated it. I must have been too tired and too drunk to really get into it. A few weeks ago both Kill Bill movies were on TV and I thought I should give them another chance. What can I say… I was so wrong, and I love both these movies! Good revenge saga, full of action (more so in Vol. 1 than in Vol. 2), beautifully shot, creative use of colours, sounds and music. I love both these movies and can’t wait til I can get them both on DVD and add them to my movie collection. 4,5 out of 5. Watch these!

Technorati Tags: Movies, Movie Reviews

W

I was looking forward to it being over, and not hearing about him so much after he leaves his current job. When he got the job I couldn’t care less. Then somebody put some airplanes in some towers and shit started going down and it was all a huge mess. This guy got a lot of attention, of course, it was inevitable.

Peoples attitudes about America and the American people have changed dramatically over just the past few years, all because of this guy’s -  and his administration’s -  politics.

People have been bashing him personally, and America generally, for a number of reasons. Some of the reasons are, in my opinion valid and other are not. Personally my attitudes when it comes to America and its people have changed too… for the worse I’m afraid.

It was all just so incredibly intense. People said stuff about America, America said stuff about the rest of the world. Then there were rumours of war and America started acting like they were the masters of the universe and wanted to, and actually tried to police the entire world. Still today people are treated as criminals just because they want to travel to the States and see the place. It’s just so dumb, and so sad.

I was really looking forward to seeing what America’s next president does, to see his politics in action and if and how the attitudes of the rest of the world changes…. and hopefully it will change for the better. I really do hope so. Someday I want to realize my dream and drive across the country from NYC to LA and have a blast. But as long as I would be treated with suspicion just because I am not one of you I don’t really feel invited or welcome to go there.

So, as I said, I was ready for this guy’s “reign of terror” to be over and done with (because honestly I don’t agree with him, his politics, or anything he has done for the past few years and I’m tired of it all). But then I found out about this film and I just wanted to go dig a hole and lay in there for a while. Oliver Stone, a brilliant film director has made a film about George “Dubya” Bush.

It is simply called; “W”. Here’s the trailer.

I am in no hurry to see this film. I will certainly not see it in the  movie theatre. Maybe, just maybe, I will rent it some day in the future.

Technorati Tags: America, Dubya, George W Bush, Movies, Trailer, W

A Three Hour Suckfest!

Oh holy fried tomatoes, I’m so pissed off. Read this entry and consider yourself warned.

I’m a big fan of the Jason Bourne movies, I think they are some of the best and most exciting movies made in the last few years. There was a TV-movie version made in the 1980’s also called The Bourne Identity which I have wanted to watch for many years just to compare. Now, I have not read Ludlum’s books and I’m not going to because I hate spy/crime novels. I am simply comparing the movies.

The new one(s). Matt Damon is a great actor and brings a lot to this character Jason Bourne. He convinces us he has lost his memory, that despite not knowing who and what he is he has some amazing abilities and he also shows us them and we are convinced he is the super spy he is. No questions here.

The old one. Richard Chamberlain. Holy mother of all grieving sacks of shit, what were they thinking when they hired this guy. He’s fucking old, and based on this movie alone he can’t act whatsoever. He is boring to watch and the only thing he does for the character Jason Bourne is make him seem like a fucking emotionally disturbed five year old child.

The fights. In the new one they are amazing. Jason Bourne even uses a pen for a weapon which is to show us that anything, even a simple ordinary object can become a lethal weapon in the hands of this super spy. In the old film the fights suck donkey balls. A spy that can’t fight… what the hell is up with that?

The story. As I said I haven’t read the book so I won’t judge these films based on that. But, in my brutally honest opinion I prefer the story in the new films over the one in the old films. The stories are completely different even though the basic things are the same. The one thing that made me furious, I honestly screamed at my screen as I was watching the old film, is that it’s so fucking slow! And everything takes so much time, even walking up a set of stairs takes forever.

The other characters and their acting. The new one; they do a good job. The old one; they suck.

The editing. The only thing I have to complain about the new Bourne films is in regards to the editing. I don’t like all that shaky camera business and how they cut together. Often you feel like you missed something important because you were not able to see exaclty what happened in the scene. The old one. Well, old, standard, slow and boring editing. Also, the sound mix and sound editing is really bad which made the experience of watching this one even worse.

OK, you get it already. The new Bourne movies rule, and the old one is horrible. Here are two examples on how disturbingly much the old one sucks!

Bourne Identity (1988): Jason Bourne Learns More in Paris

The Bourne Identity (1988): Treadstone 71