Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Plastic Skull
Well, I don't want to spoil it for all of you who's going to see it, but it's nice to see that good, old Harrison still fits the fedora. Shame about the story, the finale and the props, but when the action scenes work, they work. Cate Blanchett is super hot - she can interrogate me any time.
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Indiana Jones was one of the heroes of my childhood and it's good to see he's back. The movie made me feel like a little boy again. And it has everything that an adventure movie should have: Great action, exotic settings, dry one liners and a story that's not even worth mentioning...
Just one thing (and as a german I'm allowed to say this): Nazis are better foes!!!
Batman - the Dark Knight
This is the best movie I've seen all year, and I don't even like Hollywood. Holy bologney, Batman! I could have done with just the Joker, but on the other hand, I didn't want the movie to end, so it was ok that there was more. The script was so dark and even had unforeseen twists (rare out of Hollywood), and I must mention Heath Ledger as the Joker again.
Kung Fu Panda
Ok, I had to see this, and I was not disappointed. Predictable, but who cares? For the kung fu kid in all of us.
A brilliant documentary about an israeli filmmaker who after twenty year suddenly realizes that he lost all his memories about the first Lebanon war in which he took part as a soldier. So he starts to question old friends and comrades who were there with him to find out what happened. In the end he has to deal with his personal guilt and the guilt of his country. Nothing is left but the madness of war.
Special thing about this documentary is that it was made as an animated movie. The animated flashback scenes have a denseness and intensity that you could hardly create with real actors or the existing news pictures from that time.
Milk. Hollywoodish b*llsh#t full of cliches, obvious scenes and moralizing. Bad movie with shallow characters and Sean Penn becoming more and more leftist and unbelievable.
Gomorra. Actually a good one. Never read the book, but I like the movie with it's loose plot (see: Robert Altman), original settings and showing the life of ordinary people who without commiting any serious crimes are all linked to mafia just because of place of birth.
Sicko. Which I never watched for mysterious reasons and now did it thanks to youtube. Propaganda at its best with final scenes in Havana hospital worth a Lenin Prize if it were still awarded. Ditto to what critics of MM say: he points out issues perfectly, but fails to illustrate them with proper scenes. Here he outdid himself.
"As you have noticed over the years, we are not angry people." (itebygur)
Letters from Iwo Jima. Perfectly Hollywoodish and unwatchable for someone who seeks true stories or emotions in movies. I expected much from this movie after hearing and reading recommendations, but was strongly disappointed. Eastwood decided to become a true blockbuster star in his old age, but awards and money earned dont work for me. It's not that this movie is bad, it's great if you want some obvious scenes, flat comic book characters and pathetic speeches, but I hate this. Goes to the middle-bottom parts of my private list.
True Romance. A friend from work told me about this. Screenplay wrote by Tarantino he said. You should watch it he said. I expected the worse since I hate Tarantino. Well, it wasnt what I expected. It was moderately bad, but "depth" of this movie would touch me more if I were 14 years old and never watched the movie in this style. Everything's so shallow and expectable here. Perfectly predictable scenes. Perfectly "witty" and wannabe-funny talk between Dennis Hopper and Christopher Walken. Tarantino is a master of independent-looking sh!t, but for those aware he's a simple juggler. He mastered to almost perfection use of motifs that will apppeal to mass audience. Mass audience loves Tarantino, because he's oh so witty and independent. Gotta admit, you're good Quenty, point for you. Earn your money, pal.
All or Nothing. I havent watched many Mike Leigh's movies and I dont even remeber the titles. This somehow i liked, but it isnt great. One can expect really realistic movie, but soon it becomes more a theater play - too much bad things happen at once. But it's still good. It tries to capture real-life struggle of lower middle class citizen (not only British) and has some great moments. i liked it, even if it werent entirely believable. Spall plays a bit too deep imo and his clumsy, sometimes booby character is more a caricature than reallife person. Points for effort from Leigh.
Expect review of Control, biomovie of Ian Curtis, in nearby future.
"As you have noticed over the years, we are not angry people." (itebygur)
The Battle of Red Cliff
Speaking of John Woo (in another thread), I just saw his Romance of the Three Kingdoms epic Chinese historical war piece. A thing of beauty. Fantastic cast for those in the know. Awe inspiring battle scenes. Truly made me want to play those old Koei strategy games again. Shame the cinema didn't do it justice, but I guess it's not a movie with a big audience in Denmark.
Ok. I discovered (since my financial situation has left me with no money to buy movies) that my local library carries some of last years great movies, that I never got to watch. All you have to do is accept that you might need to skip past half a chapter at one point as the DVD might be scratched by the many users.
Had me a single night last night where Tanja was out, and as such decided to dig into these:
Transformers:
Somewhat good movie, but never really had me going. Actionpacked and confusing, to a point where I lost interest in wether something looked good or might have been tensed out by the sheer adrenaline, and simply sat back and watched the movie actionscene by actionscene....
I never was that big of a Transformer-buff, so I didn't feel the excitement of re-seeing my old toys in action. I just watched this a sort of superhero movie with a plot I didn't like that much...
I can see how others might like it though, but it wasn't for me.
Spiderman 3:
Well somebody wrote earlier about this movie that it was too packed with storylines, and I agree. Sandman and Venom could stand-alone, but the whole Harry Osborne story, and MJ storyline could have been moved out of the way. Tobey Maguire was the wrong guy to play this part in my oppinion as he plays it looking like a drooling kid with no sense of reality. I need someone who grows with the task like the comic Peter Parker.
I also watched the newest Superman movie recently... That was about what I had to say about that... Blah....
I am anxiously waiting for it to be my turn to get my hands on The Dark Knight. I am in line as number 4 or something so that might mean up to 2 months from now... I might have rented it by then...
Currently testing Life version 2.9 (With added second child)
(Beta testing in progress)
@Chroelle, it's too bad you didn't get into Transformers all that much. But then again I have a biased opinion, the day it was released in theatres, my coworker and I went to see it.
I remember looking over at him at about the 2 hour mark and saying, "if you want to go back to work let me know..."
About 10 minutes passed, and he finally said, "No. I don't even want to blink."
Then we had to sneak back into work after our unscheduled 3-hour lunch...I left my jacket on someone else's desk, and had to crawl below the cubicle walls so my boss didn't see me.
I personally thought that added to the excitement of the movie.
In the valley of Elah...
A somewhat longwinded movie which turned out to be more documentary than thriller. I think some people might relate a lot more to this than I did, but having spoken to my neighbour who was in Iraq, none of this came as a shock to me. The ending didn't really get to me, and I had a somewhat annoying feeling of a plot not completed correctly afterwards. You can't put a finger on Tommy Lee Jones' performance though! Very well played, and also by Charlize Theron and Susan Surandon. The militairy friends played ok too, but became somewhat annonymous.
BTW: I just saw that the 9 year old girl who played Latika in Slumdog Millionaire was put up for sale by her father since he claims the movie-company did not keep their promise of buying the family a house and getting them out of the slums... Adds to the heartbreaking feeling of the movie to hear that.
Currently testing Life version 2.9 (With added second child)
(Beta testing in progress)
The film festival is well underway. I don't have a packed schedule this year, but some movies get seen obviously.
The Chaser
South Korean movies are all the rage. The creative spirit seems to have shifted from Japan and China, which are getting more and more recycled movies, to Korea. This very disturbing thriller/slasher is so full of unexpected turns and twists, and so adept at leading you down false paths that it's hard not to be impressed, once you get past the creepiness. You have your psycho killer, your jaded cop and your kidnapped victim, everything familiar, which is all part of the great setup to lure you into false expectations. Clever and cruel movie.
Ashes of Time Redux
I wanted to see Wong Kar-wai's so-called epic for a long time, and now he has this newly cut and approved version out. Maybe if he'd taken the expense to restore it digitally, at least the imagery of the Australian desert might have been impressive. I was left wondering what all the fuss was about. Jaded swordsman yearning for his lost love getting embroiled in other love stories. Unfortunately, massive boredom ensues.
Plastic City
Brasilian/Chinese/Japanese mess of a gangster film. Anthony Wong never disappoints in his acting, of course, shame about the pretentious story that ends on a painfully obscure and surrealistic note.
The Days
Singapore is not the best known movie nation, but if they want to get established internationally, this standard teen gang drama might be the right way, with its generic mass appeal. That is, if you don't come looking for any hint of originality. This may be the most predictable movie I've seen this decade. Sort of artsy in places, which might be slightly redeeming.
The Good, The Bad, The Weird
This year's western is from South Korea. Again, creativity abounds in action packed scenes that are not only entertaining, but damn fun. Everybody is, of course, over the top stylish in dispatching bad guys in this treasure hunt romp featuring the one man army bounty hunter, the implacably evil assassin, his gang, the rival gang, the impossibly goofy lucky thief and the Japanese army.
Gran Torino
Ok, this wasn't part of the film festival, just something we squeezed in there. Clint Eastwood is just so damn endearing with his bad ass, cranky old man routine. I was laughing for most of the movie. Shouldn't need much of an introduction. Vastly entertaining tale with a somewhat surprising twist (some would say letdown).
I already called the guys to hear about having a guys-night-out to see Gran torino. I saw the trailler a couple of days ago, and I was sold! It looks like the Clint is doing it again. Gotta love that.
Currently testing Life version 2.9 (With added second child)
(Beta testing in progress)
I've seen a coupleof movies since last I posted, but the best of them all of course being The Dark Knight - I finally got to see it, and I am thrilled I did. An amazing performance by Heath Ledger.
I watched Pirates of the Caribean 2 as well, but I wasn't as thrilled about that one. Did end on a strong note, but it had a dull moment in the middle which made me fall asleep and so I had to break the movie in halfs.
I am however going to get the last installment so I can see that one, and finish off the series. Did anyone watch all three? And what did you think about them...?
Also I watched 20 minutes of a Danish movie that got a lot of praise called De unge år - The young years. It's about the Danish film school in the 70's. And it was really boring, so I turned it off which is something I NEVER do. I always try to watch a movie to the end, and not judge it until after that, but this was simply too boring.
Currently testing Life version 2.9 (With added second child)
(Beta testing in progress)
After watching Pirates 2 I didn't really want to see the last one...what a freakin' let down, I have never felt so ripped off after seeing the second one...
I saw Dark Rising the other day...it is by far the worst movie I have seen in a long time. I now have the base point movie for whenever someone says they saw the worst movie of all time, I can trump it with this one.
