Living Proof is the made for TV-movie about 'Dr. Denny Slamon', who gave so much of his time trying to create a cure for breast cancer. Fighting small budgets and a pharmacy corporation scared to commit research funds to his work on Her-2, this tells of his journey and the journey of several of breast cancer patients. This is also the final movie in my Amanda Bynes-marathon, and once again, like in Hairspray, she's taking the quiet backseat to allow the story and the lead shine.
The movie itself is well acted, and along Bynes as his assistant and Harry Connick Jr. in the lead as 'Dr. Slamon', actresses like Regina King, Angie Harmon, Jennifer Coolidge, Bernadette Peters and Tammy Blanchard appears, to mention a few. Being a tribute to an important research helping hundreds of thousands of woman so far, no-one should be surprised so many have taken the time to lend their hand to get this story told even if it's "only" a made for TV-movie.
With such good acting and a story worth being told, I'm happy I took the time to watch it. Loving women and enjoying breasts, I do as well salute Dr. Slamon and his work, the people helping him, and his family and friends supporting his fight.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Hairspray (2007)
Hairspray is the remake of John Waters 1988-movie, telling a tale from Baltimore in the 60's. Amanda Bynes are for once going back to the supporting role, as her character is 'Penny', the best friend of lead character 'Tracy Turnblad' played by Nikki Blonsky. 'Tracy' is a big girl, and big girls doesn't get to dance on TV like she dreams of doing on the local hot show.
Hairspray is a musical journey, a tale about an unlikely heroine and a movie with a lot of charm. It's still nothing original or inspiring, but quite enjoyable as it's. Blonsky does well in the lead, Michelle Pfeiffer, John Travolta, Christopher Walken, Queen Latifah, Chris Marsden, Zac Efron, Jerry Stiller, Brittany Snow and Allison Janney is among the rest of the supporting characters along Bynes, and the star struck cast obviously helps this story a lot.
It still shouldn't come as a surprise I again enjoyed Bynes mostly, as she did very well in the best friend role without stealing away scenes from Blonsky. All in all Hairspray often shows proof of the potential I feel lays in the story. Sadly its not focused enough in the delivery, it's too much of a morale tale and some of the supports do a little to much as stars like Travolta, Walken and the rest probably wouldn't have been there if they didn't get the screen time. Still it ruins the story, and to me it stays another "what if.."-movie.
Hairspray is a musical journey, a tale about an unlikely heroine and a movie with a lot of charm. It's still nothing original or inspiring, but quite enjoyable as it's. Blonsky does well in the lead, Michelle Pfeiffer, John Travolta, Christopher Walken, Queen Latifah, Chris Marsden, Zac Efron, Jerry Stiller, Brittany Snow and Allison Janney is among the rest of the supporting characters along Bynes, and the star struck cast obviously helps this story a lot.
It still shouldn't come as a surprise I again enjoyed Bynes mostly, as she did very well in the best friend role without stealing away scenes from Blonsky. All in all Hairspray often shows proof of the potential I feel lays in the story. Sadly its not focused enough in the delivery, it's too much of a morale tale and some of the supports do a little to much as stars like Travolta, Walken and the rest probably wouldn't have been there if they didn't get the screen time. Still it ruins the story, and to me it stays another "what if.."-movie.
Sydney White (2007)
Sydney White is a modern retelling of 'Snow White', set against the Greek system at her new college. 'Sydney's grown up with her single father after her mother died when she was only nine, and is more familiar around building sites than the party zones. Amanda Bynes is 'Sydney', and does a usual charming job portraying her character. Other major parts include Sara Paxton, Matt Long and Crystal Hunt. 'Sydney' also get her own dwarfs, as portrayed by the geeks and outcasts of the college.
It's a predictable story, obviously, but it's got quite a lot of charming moments. It's easy to care for this pretty girl so different from the Greeks, who's as much of a geek as her companions at the Vortex house were the outsiders at school stays.
It's a predictable story, obviously, but it's got quite a lot of charming moments. It's easy to care for this pretty girl so different from the Greeks, who's as much of a geek as her companions at the Vortex house were the outsiders at school stays.
She's the Man (2006)
She's the Man tells the story of 'Viola', a tomboy played by Amanda Bynes, who doesn't get to play football (or soccer as you silly Americans says) on her school. A lot more interested in football than being a debutante, she's going to great lengths to play. Taking advantage of the fact her parents is divorced and her brother takes of from his new school going to London to play music, 'Viola' takes his place at that school pretending to be him. Each parent believing she's with the other, her new classmates believing she's a boy and romantic complications as a girl falls in love with her, and she falls in love with her roommate.
The story is predictable, but ever so often has charm and takes advantage of Bynes' comedic timing. Still. Less than interesting, filled with cliches and a feeling we've seen it all before. Very average for the genre, but there are moments here others aren't close to get as right as this does.
The story is predictable, but ever so often has charm and takes advantage of Bynes' comedic timing. Still. Less than interesting, filled with cliches and a feeling we've seen it all before. Very average for the genre, but there are moments here others aren't close to get as right as this does.
Love Wrecked (2005)
Love Wrecked is the story of a teenage girl, 'Jenny', meeting her rock star idol, 'Jason', on the Caribbean island where she has her summer-job with her best friend, 'Ryan'. Amanda Bynes play 'Jenny', and this is the fourth movie I'll rate in my Bynes-marathon. Chris Carmack is 'Jason', Jonathan Bennett is 'Ryan' and Jamie-Lynn Sigler plays 'Alexis', another teenage girl equally crazy about the rock star.
The story sucks. It's so bad, there's no way even Sigler and Bynes can rescue this by being charming or sexy. It's so bad I'm not even going to try explaining. This is such a predictable story, with so few funny moments, it's unbearable.
The story sucks. It's so bad, there's no way even Sigler and Bynes can rescue this by being charming or sexy. It's so bad I'm not even going to try explaining. This is such a predictable story, with so few funny moments, it's unbearable.
Robots (2005)
Robots is the third Bynes movie I'll review in her marathon her at Motion Pictures on the fly. I didn't watch her voice work at Charlotte's Web 2 from 2003, so this was my first experience of her giving voice to an animated movie. Robots tell the story of the aspiring inventor, 'Rodney', in a land of robots, going to the big city to meet his idol and show off his recent invention.
The big city turns out to be nothing like he expected, he doesn't get to meet his idol who's mysteriously missing and we follow 'Rodney' on the adventures that follows when he tries to help out other robots he meets, when he tries to find his idol and so on. The story is thinner than soup, the humor is mostly non-excisting and to me most of this movie's entertainment came from the small part of Bynes, 'Piper'. A part I think they should have made more important, as her comedic timing shines through even in this animated movie. All in all this is easily one of the least interesting animated movies I've seen in the last decade.
The big city turns out to be nothing like he expected, he doesn't get to meet his idol who's mysteriously missing and we follow 'Rodney' on the adventures that follows when he tries to help out other robots he meets, when he tries to find his idol and so on. The story is thinner than soup, the humor is mostly non-excisting and to me most of this movie's entertainment came from the small part of Bynes, 'Piper'. A part I think they should have made more important, as her comedic timing shines through even in this animated movie. All in all this is easily one of the least interesting animated movies I've seen in the last decade.
What a Girl Wants (2003)
Writer: Screenplay: Elizabeth Chandler, Jenny Bicks Based on: William Douglas-Home (Play "The Reluctant Debutante" and original 58-screenplay)
Cast: Amanda Bynes, Colin Firth, Kelly Preston, Aileen Atkins, Ian Wallace
Genre: Teen, Comedy, Drama, Romance
Colin Firth plays 'Lord Dashwood', and does a great job at that. Bynes also get to showcase her comedic talent throughout, but most of all this movie is filled with charm and warmth. It's in no way very original or unpredictable, but doing the predictable you can't do much better than this. What a Girl Wants is about as good as the genre can get, and is a throughout enjoyable movie which probably is the best the recently retired Amanda Bynes ever participated in.
Big Fat Liar (2002)
Big Fat Liar kicks off my Amanda Bynes marathon, and was her first movie role after gaining a name through her TV-shows at Nickelodeon. Here she stars as Frankie Muniz' sidekick in this Family Comedy about the lying boy, for once telling the truth as about the origin of a Hollywood story. Muniz' and Bynes' character heads for Hollywood to make the sleazy big shot producer admit he stole the idea for next summers big Hollywood hit Big Fat Liar.
It's a tale about morale, friendship and adventure, and despite not being Muniz' greatest fan this movie works quite well. Both leads get to show off comedic talent, Paul Giamatti is a great villain and there's a lot of fun revenge creativity in the mold of the humor from the Home Alone-franchise. There's also quite a lot of pop cultural references baked into the movie, making it worth while for the adults watching. Still. This is a family movie made for kids, and I imagine they'll enjoy it.
It's a tale about morale, friendship and adventure, and despite not being Muniz' greatest fan this movie works quite well. Both leads get to show off comedic talent, Paul Giamatti is a great villain and there's a lot of fun revenge creativity in the mold of the humor from the Home Alone-franchise. There's also quite a lot of pop cultural references baked into the movie, making it worth while for the adults watching. Still. This is a family movie made for kids, and I imagine they'll enjoy it.
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Hung: Amanda Bynes
So. I was in the middle of my cheerleader hang-up when a twitter message caught the headlights of the entertainment industry. No, this time it wasn't another celebrity topless TwitPic, a scandal or a blogger getting attention by posting TwitPics of a panties-less seventeen year old wanna-be pop-stars.
This time the buzz came from a twenty-four year old actress announcing her retirement from the acting industry all together. So what? A twenty-four year old can't be much missed. It's not like Emma Watson or Kristen Stewart are more than twenty yet, and it's not them we're talking about. It's "just" a long time TV/teen-movie actress who's never done much to gain any Oscar interest or anything else worth mentioning, or is it? Well, I'm nothing but partial as she will become one of the actresses featured in my soon-to-come new "There's something about..." section arriving here, but I think there's a lot of good reasons to imagine she could have become a large Hollywood A-star if she still was motivated.
Anyhoo. I'm not going to say to much more about here, as that "There's something about..." section soon enough should be started. I'll rather mention the movies I've decided to take a look at during my Amanda Bynes hang-up. In short it's every movie I so far can get my hands on as Easy A still ain't released. The rest of her movie-ography will be watched and reviewed:
This time the buzz came from a twenty-four year old actress announcing her retirement from the acting industry all together. So what? A twenty-four year old can't be much missed. It's not like Emma Watson or Kristen Stewart are more than twenty yet, and it's not them we're talking about. It's "just" a long time TV/teen-movie actress who's never done much to gain any Oscar interest or anything else worth mentioning, or is it? Well, I'm nothing but partial as she will become one of the actresses featured in my soon-to-come new "There's something about..." section arriving here, but I think there's a lot of good reasons to imagine she could have become a large Hollywood A-star if she still was motivated.
Anyhoo. I'm not going to say to much more about here, as that "There's something about..." section soon enough should be started. I'll rather mention the movies I've decided to take a look at during my Amanda Bynes hang-up. In short it's every movie I so far can get my hands on as Easy A still ain't released. The rest of her movie-ography will be watched and reviewed:
Big Fat Liar (2002)
What a Girl Wants (2003)
Robots (2005)(voice)
Love Wrecked (2005)
She's the Man (2006)
Hairspray (2007)
Sidney White (2007)
Living Proof (2008)(TV)
Dazed and Confused (1993)
Richard Linklater's Dazed and Confused is a outstanding movie taking us along with a wide character gallery for the last day of school in 1976. Unlike so many other teen movies, this one doesn't focus on life-changing drama, an overshadowing plot or a lot of morale. This movie rather take us along for a joyride as school's out and everybody is looking forward to the end of school party, becoming seniors, or freshmen or whatever.
The beauty is in the lack of story, and along with a highly interesting cast Linklater can smugly look back at another high quality movie. Between the kids we find actors and actresses like Milla Jovovich, Joey Lauren Adams, Adam Goldberg, Ben Affleck, Matthew McConaughey and Jason London to mention those who should be most familiar to those keeping an eye on movie since this was made back in 93. The variety in both characters and cast is still its biggest strength, and the acting isn't what set this apart from the masses of teen movies.
What helps setting it apart though, is the soundtrack. there's a lot of great music and especially well chosen music to help make scenes complete. And then there's is the recognizable feel you get from following these kids, no matter when you graduated yourself. It's not narrowed down to the mid 70's. It's timeless, it captures the youth feel and it sure bring back memories. For the runtime of the movie I mostly found myself dreaming of being there as the 18 year old myself. Dazed and Confused is a diamond in the rough, but still most definitely a diamond.
The beauty is in the lack of story, and along with a highly interesting cast Linklater can smugly look back at another high quality movie. Between the kids we find actors and actresses like Milla Jovovich, Joey Lauren Adams, Adam Goldberg, Ben Affleck, Matthew McConaughey and Jason London to mention those who should be most familiar to those keeping an eye on movie since this was made back in 93. The variety in both characters and cast is still its biggest strength, and the acting isn't what set this apart from the masses of teen movies.
What helps setting it apart though, is the soundtrack. there's a lot of great music and especially well chosen music to help make scenes complete. And then there's is the recognizable feel you get from following these kids, no matter when you graduated yourself. It's not narrowed down to the mid 70's. It's timeless, it captures the youth feel and it sure bring back memories. For the runtime of the movie I mostly found myself dreaming of being there as the 18 year old myself. Dazed and Confused is a diamond in the rough, but still most definitely a diamond.
Under Siege (1992)
Under Siege is my favorite Steven Seagal movie, and I'm perfectly aware that doesn't say much. If you've ever seen one of his movies, you've seen them all. I recommend you chose this one then, at least if you're old enough to remember the early 90's, Baywatch and Erika Eleniak. She never got much of a career after Baywatch, but I still remember her Under Siege eye candy scene fondly from back in the days I first watched this movie.
The other thing about this Seagal movie is the fact there's actually some decent actors doing the other parts. Tommy Lee Jones, Gary Busey and Colm Meaney are names most should be familiar to in some degree. The plot sucks, the fighting scenes are typical Seagal and the humor is dry at best. It's still a decent enough entertainment all things considered.
The other thing about this Seagal movie is the fact there's actually some decent actors doing the other parts. Tommy Lee Jones, Gary Busey and Colm Meaney are names most should be familiar to in some degree. The plot sucks, the fighting scenes are typical Seagal and the humor is dry at best. It's still a decent enough entertainment all things considered.
Rushmore (1998)
Rushmore is one more of Wes Anderson's widely acclaimed movies, and as usual they don't hit home with me. At the end of the day I guess these kind of movies just ain't my cup of tea. It doesn't help I don't care much for Bill Murray either, and that Schwartzman kid tried his best to bore me to death in his new TV-show Bored to Death so it's no secret I'm not his biggest fan either.
I really can't say much more about this movie without turning to cliches, because it bored me. I've never claimed my sense of humor is great, and my reviews of movies like Mean Girls, World's Greatest Dad, Serious Moonlight and Youth in Revolt should by now have left you with the impression I couldn't possibly love this either. I hope I like The Royal Tenenbaums better, but it's fair to say I've lost any illusions of that happening.
I really can't say much more about this movie without turning to cliches, because it bored me. I've never claimed my sense of humor is great, and my reviews of movies like Mean Girls, World's Greatest Dad, Serious Moonlight and Youth in Revolt should by now have left you with the impression I couldn't possibly love this either. I hope I like The Royal Tenenbaums better, but it's fair to say I've lost any illusions of that happening.
Friday, June 25, 2010
Bring It On: Fight to the Finish (2009)
Bring It On: Fight to the Finish is the fifth and so far final installment of the Bring It On franchise. I'll not give away much by telling I still think the third installment is by far the best one. Behind that I hold the original ahead of this and then the fourth and finally the worst is by far the awful second.
This time our story is quite similar, but reversed, to the successful third. We follow a Latino head-cheerleader, 'Lina', from East L.A., moving to the wealthy parts of Malibu as her waitress mother marries a rich white man there. Our heroine, played by Christina Milian, gets a step-sister as well as part of the deal. Refreshingly enough the rich and white stepsister isn't portrayed as the opponent in this movie, but rather the opposite. Her part as 'Skylar' is played by Holland Roden, and Holland is a name I encourage you to learn. If this is in any way telling of her talent I think we'll be seeing a lot more from her in the years to come. Here she looks like a young Isla Fisher, with both pieces of attitude, charm and the ability to act on several layers. Her character lost her mother many years ago, have always wanted a sister and welcomes 'Lina' with open arms. 'Skylar' is also part of the less successful cheer-leading squad at the school, and obvious 'Lina' is recruited to make them good enough to beat the rival Jaguars.
In the usual manner of the entire franchise, this will stay within its set to-do-list. We get our cheer-duel, a romance story, some character-building and morale and so on and so forth. there's also as usual some more annoying choices made by writers and director, but we are getting way used to that by now in this series. Overall its very average for what we've come to expect from these movies, and so is the acting, the choice of lead, the story, the cheering and so on and so forth. In short most is worse than in the original and especially the third installment, while most is better than second and fourth. I take with me the inspiring performances and future of Holland Roden, the refreshing good stepsister and for the rest I'm happily unaware if there's a sixth installment in the cards.
This time our story is quite similar, but reversed, to the successful third. We follow a Latino head-cheerleader, 'Lina', from East L.A., moving to the wealthy parts of Malibu as her waitress mother marries a rich white man there. Our heroine, played by Christina Milian, gets a step-sister as well as part of the deal. Refreshingly enough the rich and white stepsister isn't portrayed as the opponent in this movie, but rather the opposite. Her part as 'Skylar' is played by Holland Roden, and Holland is a name I encourage you to learn. If this is in any way telling of her talent I think we'll be seeing a lot more from her in the years to come. Here she looks like a young Isla Fisher, with both pieces of attitude, charm and the ability to act on several layers. Her character lost her mother many years ago, have always wanted a sister and welcomes 'Lina' with open arms. 'Skylar' is also part of the less successful cheer-leading squad at the school, and obvious 'Lina' is recruited to make them good enough to beat the rival Jaguars.
In the usual manner of the entire franchise, this will stay within its set to-do-list. We get our cheer-duel, a romance story, some character-building and morale and so on and so forth. there's also as usual some more annoying choices made by writers and director, but we are getting way used to that by now in this series. Overall its very average for what we've come to expect from these movies, and so is the acting, the choice of lead, the story, the cheering and so on and so forth. In short most is worse than in the original and especially the third installment, while most is better than second and fourth. I take with me the inspiring performances and future of Holland Roden, the refreshing good stepsister and for the rest I'm happily unaware if there's a sixth installment in the cards.
Bring It On: In It To Win It (2007)
Bring It On: In It To Win It is the fourth installment in the franchise, and came only a year after the quite successful third installment where Hayden Panettiere lifted the spirit of more than those she cheered for in the movie.
This time it's all about cheer-camp, and we meet two rival squads within one of the two rival cheer-camps. As we follow the rivalry between the three year running winner team and their opponents, we get another lame and predictable love story, some decent music as it falls between the standard set by the original and the third, but is a lot better than in the second, some decent casting and acting, as its like the music in quality, and we get some refreshing pop-cultural references making sure they know they play with some satire in between the story delivered.
Still. This is third rate, at best. A sequel we could be without for all means and purposes, but if you got anything from the second installment of the franchise you'll probably get a bit more from this.
This time it's all about cheer-camp, and we meet two rival squads within one of the two rival cheer-camps. As we follow the rivalry between the three year running winner team and their opponents, we get another lame and predictable love story, some decent music as it falls between the standard set by the original and the third, but is a lot better than in the second, some decent casting and acting, as its like the music in quality, and we get some refreshing pop-cultural references making sure they know they play with some satire in between the story delivered.
Still. This is third rate, at best. A sequel we could be without for all means and purposes, but if you got anything from the second installment of the franchise you'll probably get a bit more from this.
The Cheerleaders (1973)
After watching a lot of the Bring It On series, The Cheerleaders quickly established itself as something completely else. I wasn't born back then, but I've learned this is a quite typical sex comedy as they were made in the 70's. It's in short soft-core porn, bad acting, bad story and a lot of nudity and sex without showing much more than breasts and some pubic hairs.
Unlike the typical cheerleader stories we are given these days, these girls are all about getting laid and losing the virginity of the rookie who's the sole virgin. It's also interesting how the lack of silicon can be so refreshing. Natural bodies and breasts in all shapes. Strange to watch and reflect on in the Nip/Tuck-ish and retouched-world of today in comparison.
Unlike the typical cheerleader stories we are given these days, these girls are all about getting laid and losing the virginity of the rookie who's the sole virgin. It's also interesting how the lack of silicon can be so refreshing. Natural bodies and breasts in all shapes. Strange to watch and reflect on in the Nip/Tuck-ish and retouched-world of today in comparison.
Bring It On Again (2004)
Bring It On Again doesn't have to much in common with the original or the highly recommended third installment of this franchise I recently reviewed. In this sequel we forget about high school and cheer-camps, and we follow a girl take on her freshman college year unable to keep up with the rules set by its successful cheerleaders. As a result we are invited to follow a highly unlikely, very predictable and sadly uninteresting outsider cheer-leading team constructed to take on the evil varsity girls.
This doesn't have the music the rest of the series is known for, it haven't done a good job with its casting or acting, the cheering is mostly mediocre and this is in short a movie the world would be better of about if it wasn't ever made. The story sucks, the acting sucks, the music sucks and it's all very, very, very predictable.
The only good thing about it as I recall is the possibility of watching Bethany Joy Galeotti do an evil second in command role. She shines as usual and it's fun to watch her in touch with her very un-'Haley' parts, but anyone half as charmed by her general acting would probably struggle to stay awake to catch it.
This doesn't have the music the rest of the series is known for, it haven't done a good job with its casting or acting, the cheering is mostly mediocre and this is in short a movie the world would be better of about if it wasn't ever made. The story sucks, the acting sucks, the music sucks and it's all very, very, very predictable.
The only good thing about it as I recall is the possibility of watching Bethany Joy Galeotti do an evil second in command role. She shines as usual and it's fun to watch her in touch with her very un-'Haley' parts, but anyone half as charmed by her general acting would probably struggle to stay awake to catch it.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Bring It On: All or Nothing (2006)
Writer: Alyson Fouse
Cast: Hayden Panettiere, Solange Knowles, Gus Carr, Francia Raisa, Marcy Rylan, Cindy Chiu, Giovonnie Samuels,
Genre: Teen, Comedy, Sport
In the third round for the franchise, they have brought in former cheerleader Hayden Panettiere in the lead as the rich girl head cheerleader moving to poor neighborhood losing contact with the world she once knew. No-one had yet to whisper the immortal "Save the cheerleader, save the world" in the huge TV success "Heroes" which should become Hayden's big break, but Hayden brings her A-game to this movie which launched the same year as her second persona cheerleader superhero would rocket her to the A-list in Hollywood.
Much like with Kristen Dunst in the original, I've never denied enjoying Hayden as well. Even weak ass movies like I Love You, Beth Cooper gets bearable with her sweet and charming persona involved, but this movie isn't anything close to that. Hayden's got indisputable talent, and she bring every bit of it into her 'Britney Allen' character. She comes across believable as everything from the rich girl without a clue, the head cheerleader with ambition for her squad, and as the girl with as much attitude as talent and skills. Especially her attitude is so important. She really capture the essence of what is needed to make 'Britney Allen' a girl we would bother to care about at all.
There's also the help she gets, much like the original as well, were the second movie in the franchise went wrong. Along Hayden, there's also great performances from several of the actresses on both cheer-leading squads involved in her life. None of them especially well known then, and still I guess the most known is Francia Raisa from the TV show now in its third season, The Secret Life of the American Teenager. Still, Danielle Savre, Solange Knowles, Jessica Nicole Fife and the rest brings chemistry and life to the characters in a way teenage movies often lack. We also get to have some cameos helping a lot, especially from superstar RnB artist Rihanna.
I have some minor points to deduct from the choices made by writers and director, so there's is still room for improvement. I think they should have spent a little more time showing off the cheering, especially as Hayden got game. The final cheering scene should have been a little longer, despite being a highlight as it was. There's also some scenes getting a little to cliched and color-focused. I know it's a major and important part of the movie, but it could still have been a little better polished. I mention these things because of what is to come, and announce there's room for improvement and perfection also in these kind of movies.
Because I'm about to state the fact I reward this with an eight. I think it's a superb teen movie, by far the best cheer-leading movie even being the third in the franchise that is Bring It On and it's got a superstar lead performance from a girl who's later become the superstar she showed proof of having the talent to become. It's a multilayer-ed lead-character learning about her self, about life, about friendship and love, and she evolves from the girl giving us cheap laughs in the beginning.
"Damn... vanilla latte's got skills."
Yes, she do and so does the writers of the script. they have come very close to deliver a knock-out of an youth movie. Even the music manage to step it up from the original, while still giving some time to the young punk-pop artist Avril Lavigne who also featured in the soundtrack back then in the beginning of her career. I could keep praising this movie, and somehow I feel like I got to because I rate it so high despite the genre, despite the cliches and despite every part of the movie we could predict three minutes into it. I laughed, I enjoyed the build ups, I complimented the story for myself and while I did noticed the flaws, I do believe I think this is one of the best youth movies ever made for light entertainment purposes.
Bring It On (2000)
After watching Fired up! I decided to go a decade back to when Kirsten Dunst was young and kick-started the cheer-leading franchise that now is the Bring It On series. I've never, and will never, make an excuse for being a Kirsten Dunst fan. She had already been around a decade when this movie was made, and there's no doubt she's not afraid to participate in some movies which stand no chance of being anything but easy entertainment. Still. She got some charisma qualities added to these movies others rarely manage to bring out. I can admire that, and that's also the case with this movie.
But she's not alone in this one. Rare for such a movie, they managed to bring quite a lot of young talent together. Eliza Dushku, Jesse Bradford and Gabrielle union are all important reasons for later success for the owner of the rights. Still. This is mostly Dunst's movie, and her charming ways are the main reason anybody could enjoy this.
The love story is simple and predictable, the cheer-leading story is simple and even more predicting and the cheer-leading parts are less impressive. Especially the latter is annoying. Still. The music is good. They've managed to integrate many songs fitting for the scenes. This movie was also the beginning of an era, and I've now at least seen it twice. I doubt there will be a third, for there's a limit to how often you can watch a movie on the leads charm alone. Anyway, I always got Wimbledon as a better excuse for my Dunst-fix when needed.
But she's not alone in this one. Rare for such a movie, they managed to bring quite a lot of young talent together. Eliza Dushku, Jesse Bradford and Gabrielle union are all important reasons for later success for the owner of the rights. Still. This is mostly Dunst's movie, and her charming ways are the main reason anybody could enjoy this.
The love story is simple and predictable, the cheer-leading story is simple and even more predicting and the cheer-leading parts are less impressive. Especially the latter is annoying. Still. The music is good. They've managed to integrate many songs fitting for the scenes. This movie was also the beginning of an era, and I've now at least seen it twice. I doubt there will be a third, for there's a limit to how often you can watch a movie on the leads charm alone. Anyway, I always got Wimbledon as a better excuse for my Dunst-fix when needed.
Fired Up! (2009)
Fired Up! is a great idea for a teen comedy plotted around cheerleaders, but fails quite often in execution. I loved the idea, but quickly I got several worries. Firstly I didn't quite buy the two leads as so popular, but hi; I've got no idea what high school girls chase these days. Then the smaller pieces of relations with coaches and such started to bug me.
Thankfully we soon enough got to cheer-camp, and the movie could pick up it's pace. Oh no. Obviously they aimed for adolescent humor, and I've timed and again told how that usually doesn't make me even smile. The chance of laughs even slimmer.
It began going like a roller coaster from there. The story is half headed in a direction I would have chosen, and half being busy ridicule the leads, the director and the quite unbelievable boyfriend of the head cheerleader.
You get no points for guessing every single direction the movie will chose, and it's more predictable than most in its genre even. Still in bits and pieces there's a potential sometimes shining through, there's some great acting chemistry, while somehow lacking in acting quality, between the leads and other smaller stuff at least making sure I got the craving for more cheerleader movies. I guess that's something as well.
Thankfully we soon enough got to cheer-camp, and the movie could pick up it's pace. Oh no. Obviously they aimed for adolescent humor, and I've timed and again told how that usually doesn't make me even smile. The chance of laughs even slimmer.
It began going like a roller coaster from there. The story is half headed in a direction I would have chosen, and half being busy ridicule the leads, the director and the quite unbelievable boyfriend of the head cheerleader.
You get no points for guessing every single direction the movie will chose, and it's more predictable than most in its genre even. Still in bits and pieces there's a potential sometimes shining through, there's some great acting chemistry, while somehow lacking in acting quality, between the leads and other smaller stuff at least making sure I got the craving for more cheerleader movies. I guess that's something as well.
Hung: Cheerleaders
I haven't written anything but reviews in a long time, so it's about time I begin to get it rolling more like I thought in the beginning. By now there should be more than enough movies reviewed to get a glimpse on my taste in movies, how I reward and deduct and so on. Still. A ten point rating can never divide enough to fairly judge movies. It's still probably the best scale to give you an idea of what I think, and in case of doubt whether or not to check it out you can also check out my score on Criticker.com to see if it's high or low on the given rating. This should be most useful on movies scoring 5-7, combined with knowledge on my taste. The rating I use at Criticker is like this: (Edited: August 15th, 2010 as I changed to the easier readable and logical below)
1 : 0-10
2 : 11-20
3 : 21-30
4 : 31-40
5 : 41-50
6 : 51-60
7 : 61-70
8 : 71-80
9 : 81-90
10: 91-100
I hand out very few 10's, but more 6's and 7's so it'll obviously be quite a difference between a 51 and a 60, so Criticker might be quite useful to check out my thoughts when in doubt.
About the headline. I'll from time to time get hang-up on what kind of movies I watch a week. Those paying attention earlier might have noticed such when I watched all Fast and Furious movies and the Transporter movies during very short time. Then I would have announced it by "Hung: Car Actions" if I had been doing what I intend to do now. Usually such a hang-up comes along after watching a movie inspiring me, reading news inspiring me or something like that. Often it doesn't even need to be a good movie getting the ball rolling. Quite the opposite. I often dislike how a movie played out, and chose a better movie with the same theme to lift my spirit. then I just might keep going.
So no I've recently had to hang-ups, and the first one was cheer-leading movies. I love the concept of cheer-leading: I mean: What's not to like? Pretty girls, little clothes and athleticism. There's a tripod made in heaven if I ever heard of one. Still, it's not easy to keep the right balance of comedy, teen angst, character building and love story to make these movies bearable.
My hang-up this time started after watching Fired Up!, and somewhat disappointed in ruining a perfectly good idea, I went on to familiar stories from the Bring It On-franchise. I also checked out an old title, but soon enough figured out that was something completely different. Anyhoo. The reviews from me cheer-leading rush will shortly follow.
By the way. I do manage to have two thoughts in my head at once. During my two latest hang-ups I've also squeezed in movies like the already reviewed ones like Shutter Island, Flyboys, The Girl Next Door and so on.
1 : 0-10
2 : 11-20
3 : 21-30
4 : 31-40
5 : 41-50
6 : 51-60
7 : 61-70
8 : 71-80
9 : 81-90
10: 91-100
I hand out very few 10's, but more 6's and 7's so it'll obviously be quite a difference between a 51 and a 60, so Criticker might be quite useful to check out my thoughts when in doubt.
Hung
About the headline. I'll from time to time get hang-up on what kind of movies I watch a week. Those paying attention earlier might have noticed such when I watched all Fast and Furious movies and the Transporter movies during very short time. Then I would have announced it by "Hung: Car Actions" if I had been doing what I intend to do now. Usually such a hang-up comes along after watching a movie inspiring me, reading news inspiring me or something like that. Often it doesn't even need to be a good movie getting the ball rolling. Quite the opposite. I often dislike how a movie played out, and chose a better movie with the same theme to lift my spirit. then I just might keep going.
So no I've recently had to hang-ups, and the first one was cheer-leading movies. I love the concept of cheer-leading: I mean: What's not to like? Pretty girls, little clothes and athleticism. There's a tripod made in heaven if I ever heard of one. Still, it's not easy to keep the right balance of comedy, teen angst, character building and love story to make these movies bearable.
My hang-up this time started after watching Fired Up!, and somewhat disappointed in ruining a perfectly good idea, I went on to familiar stories from the Bring It On-franchise. I also checked out an old title, but soon enough figured out that was something completely different. Anyhoo. The reviews from me cheer-leading rush will shortly follow.
By the way. I do manage to have two thoughts in my head at once. During my two latest hang-ups I've also squeezed in movies like the already reviewed ones like Shutter Island, Flyboys, The Girl Next Door and so on.
Edited 26th June: The cheerleader-movies reviews:
Done with cheerleaders for now.
Shutter Island (2010)
With Shutter Island Martin Scorsese knows very well what story he is delivering. Sadly so do we way to early, but they still manage to pull out quite the performance. No-one can dispute Scorsese's talent, and the same can be said about most of the cast. It's an ensemble, and they deliver like Scorsese usually gets his cast delivering. DiCaprio, Ruffalo, Mortimer, Williams, Kingsley, von Sydow and the rest makes the movie what it is.
Because there's a familiarity about the story. I might be getting a little too familiar with Hollywood, but I did at least know the entire movie less than a third into it. Not always a bad enough thing, but with this genre I usually prefer getting a bit sidetracked along the way. Still. Scorsese's directing, the great acting and the set of Shutter Island itself and the mood it creates is enough to make this movie well worth your time.
Because there's a familiarity about the story. I might be getting a little too familiar with Hollywood, but I did at least know the entire movie less than a third into it. Not always a bad enough thing, but with this genre I usually prefer getting a bit sidetracked along the way. Still. Scorsese's directing, the great acting and the set of Shutter Island itself and the mood it creates is enough to make this movie well worth your time.
The Girl Next Door (2004)
The Girl Next Door has an interesting idea for a plot, but as so often with these kind of movies it stumbles on the delivery. I enjoy Elisha Cuthbert almost as much as the next guy, but much like Beth Cooper, I Love You, She's Out of My League and another thirteen a dozen other movies having a hot girl as the focus of the plot, it needs more to stand out.
Obviously having the female lead being a porn star gives some room to create good story-lines for a fun movie, but the choices taken here just manage to drag it down to mediocrity. I did like Timothy Olyphant in his supporting role. Also Elisha did well as the next door porn babe, but I never quite believed in Emile Hirsch's character. Potential and some cheap laughs, but this movie never delivers as it could have.
Obviously having the female lead being a porn star gives some room to create good story-lines for a fun movie, but the choices taken here just manage to drag it down to mediocrity. I did like Timothy Olyphant in his supporting role. Also Elisha did well as the next door porn babe, but I never quite believed in Emile Hirsch's character. Potential and some cheap laughs, but this movie never delivers as it could have.
Flyboys (2006)
Flyboys reminds me in many ways of Pearl Harbor, but is worse in so many ways. That's actually quite an achievement, but that's the feeling I'm left with. The war story is mediocre. I'm not in any way undermining these war heroes portrayed, but it's not much of a story worth telling in a movie. All such stories are important enough for the growing generations to learn from, but as I often say; all stories worth telling ain't worth telling with a motion picture.
The love story told is also of the mediocre kind, and then the entire movie relay on fight sequences, character growth and such, and there's not much to get there either. I was early bored by this, and that feeling is still with me several days after watching it.
By the way. I did enjoy Jennifer Decker as 'Lucienne'. One of very few acting performances worth mentioning.
The love story told is also of the mediocre kind, and then the entire movie relay on fight sequences, character growth and such, and there's not much to get there either. I was early bored by this, and that feeling is still with me several days after watching it.
By the way. I did enjoy Jennifer Decker as 'Lucienne'. One of very few acting performances worth mentioning.
Monday, June 21, 2010
The Red Violin (1998)
The Red Violin suffers in many ways from the same as The Legend of 1900 did. It's got the potential to be an epic tale, but lose its way as it moves along. Telling a story from the point of view of an object isn't a new idea, but still using an instrument is clever. Everybody usually have some magical thoughts when it comes to music, and as violins come in many different qualities we can easily enjoy the concept.
Running our way through three centuries is still not very inspiring as we only barely touch on the stories these people got. In many ways they could actually spin this story as a TV-show, and get to spend a lot more time with each owner of the violin. As it's now I feel we only touch the surface of what could have been, especially as the time spent on an uninspired present is too large portion of the movie.
Much good acting and many good ideas, but in the end I keep thinking what if they rather did this or that. That's still never a good thing with any movie.
Running our way through three centuries is still not very inspiring as we only barely touch on the stories these people got. In many ways they could actually spin this story as a TV-show, and get to spend a lot more time with each owner of the violin. As it's now I feel we only touch the surface of what could have been, especially as the time spent on an uninspired present is too large portion of the movie.
Much good acting and many good ideas, but in the end I keep thinking what if they rather did this or that. That's still never a good thing with any movie.
Inkheart (2008)
Inkheart had a huge problem to defeat with me. I really don't like Brendan Fraser as an actor, and he has the lead. Still. I'm not a huge fan of David Bowie's acting either, but I hoped Inkheart would like Labyrinth keep the magic alive with its fantasy world rather than relaying on good acting. I was sadly dissapointed.
Fraser was equally weak as usual. I've got no idea how on earth this guy gets so many lead roles. He can't act anything and he's utterly unbelievable in all kind of roles. Paul Bettany, Eliza Bennett and the rest of the cast doesn't shine either, but they do well enough the script considered, because this is a poor movie. It's got little to none magic in its tale, the story is not only unlikely in a fantasy genre, but also uninspired and uninteresting.
Fraser was equally weak as usual. I've got no idea how on earth this guy gets so many lead roles. He can't act anything and he's utterly unbelievable in all kind of roles. Paul Bettany, Eliza Bennett and the rest of the cast doesn't shine either, but they do well enough the script considered, because this is a poor movie. It's got little to none magic in its tale, the story is not only unlikely in a fantasy genre, but also uninspired and uninteresting.
Priceless (2006)
Director: Pierre Salvadori
Writer: Scenario: Pierre Salvadori, Benoît Graffin Dialogue: Pierre Salvadori Script consultant: Franck Bauchard
Cast: Audrey Tautou, Gad Elmaleh, Marie-Christine Adam, Vernon Doubtcheff
Genre: Rom-Com
It sounds sleazy, or at least easy, but they have made it into a more charming and a much funnier little story than I feared. I was pleasantly surprised by their choices for the story, by the mood set and the small funny parts done a lot better than the American romantic comedies like this rarely manage. I'm not completely in love with Gad Elmaleh as the male lead 'Jean', but Audrey Tautou is absolutely great as 'Irène'.
Adam (2009)
Writer: Max Mayer
Cast: Hugh Darcy, Rose Byrne, Peter Gallagher, Amy Irving, Frankie Faison
Genre: Drama, Romance
This could easily have been elevated to an epic tale, or just as easily have been a parody on Asperger's Syndrome. Still. Doing exactly what they did, I think they found the correct balance such a movie needs to both keep our interest and keep the warmth and soul. It's a clip of a time in the life of two people, as much as a story about a boy with Asperger's Syndrome and a girl with father-daughter issues.
Both Hugh Dancy and Rose Byrne are brilliant, and this is a piece of cinema I easily recommend.
Hot Tub Time Machine (2010)
Hot Tub Time Machine is an 80's movie in more ways than their destination for their time travel, and there's is quite a lot good to be said about the 80's movies. I remember being introduced to the young John Cusack in Say Anything..., and wouldn't be without that experience. There's also a lot of John Hughes movies to smile at, and so on and so forth. Hot Tub Time Machine is never close to be lifted to such a level.
I like the movie in parts, like the divided assets after the split up, some of the 80's pop cultural references used throughout and such, but overall the movie never manage to stay on track enough to tell its story or stay off track enough to be considered a wild look at the 80's and nothing more. The plot, if you could call anything like this the plot, is awful and easily spotted miles away.
The abuse of those parts with potential and the overuse of all other parts, made this movie a tiresome experience for me. Come on Cusack. You can do a lot better than this. And I truly hope Clark Duke isn't going to be around doing so lousy acting and/or parts for the better parts of this decade. That would be unbearable.
I like the movie in parts, like the divided assets after the split up, some of the 80's pop cultural references used throughout and such, but overall the movie never manage to stay on track enough to tell its story or stay off track enough to be considered a wild look at the 80's and nothing more. The plot, if you could call anything like this the plot, is awful and easily spotted miles away.
The abuse of those parts with potential and the overuse of all other parts, made this movie a tiresome experience for me. Come on Cusack. You can do a lot better than this. And I truly hope Clark Duke isn't going to be around doing so lousy acting and/or parts for the better parts of this decade. That would be unbearable.
Sunday, June 20, 2010
The Butterfly Effect (2004)
The Butterfly Effect isn't exactly a new theory, but it's no doubt still an interesting idea for a movie. At least it would have been if done correctly. Sadly I'm not a huge fan of the formula used here. The 'Treborn' men seems to inherit a rare gift or curse, as they can go back in time and change the outcome of their life. But Evan is about to find out when you change a small, but significant detail in your childhood, the world as you know it might change completely.
The four friends Evan, Kayleigh, Lenny and Tommy have secrets from their childhood following them into adulthood, but some of them might be undone? We follow Evan's attempts to understand his gift/curse, stay sane and change their past to create a better present and future.
Some parts of the story is intriguing, but as the story progress I began to get more and more annoyed with some of the choices made by both the characters and even more so by the creators, writers and director of this movie. I started out positive, but as they made their turns I would have aimed for the straight ahead or opposite turns to balance the story better and keep it more focused.
The four friends Evan, Kayleigh, Lenny and Tommy have secrets from their childhood following them into adulthood, but some of them might be undone? We follow Evan's attempts to understand his gift/curse, stay sane and change their past to create a better present and future.
Some parts of the story is intriguing, but as the story progress I began to get more and more annoyed with some of the choices made by both the characters and even more so by the creators, writers and director of this movie. I started out positive, but as they made their turns I would have aimed for the straight ahead or opposite turns to balance the story better and keep it more focused.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Labyrinth (1986)
Writer: Screenplay: Terry Jones Story: Jim Henson, Dennis Lee Uncredited: Elaine May
Cast: Jennifer Connelly, David Bowie
Voice-Cast: Brian Henson, Ron Mueck, Rob Mills, Dave Goelz, David Shaughnessy, David Alan Barclay, Karen Prell
Genre: Adventure, Fantasy, Family, Musical
The story is an equal amount of old fashioned fairy tale story like those collected by the Grimm brothers, and children's television-like from the golden era of such. It's a story filled with charm, humor and funny characters. They've also added a lot of familiar fantasy elements in there, but done with their own twist. Keeping in mind it's 24 years since they made this, way before Toy Story, The Lion King, 'Harry Potter' and such, it's nothing short of an imaginary early masterpiece within its target audience. For the rest of us it's both a warp zone back into the 80's, entertaining fun and a moral tale still worthy of our children.
Remember Me (2010)
Remember Me stars new boy wonder Robert Pattinson, known from the Twilight saga, as the male lead and Emilie de Ravin as the female lead. Two wounded souls, both with huge losses worn on their sleeves. They meet. There's a deeper connection. Both struggle with their families on the back of the open wounds. Yada-yada-yada. We've heard it all before.
I'm anything but impressed by Pattinson, but I did think de Ravin did quite well. Overall it's a story in much need of a strong storyteller, and it just lacks in that department. The script isn't bringing a new idea to the arena, and the old stories aren't told with either the heart nor the soul to fulfill its potential. There's more than a few glimpses of the potential, but overall it only feels like another screening of an old story. It's just been told better before. A lot better.
I'm anything but impressed by Pattinson, but I did think de Ravin did quite well. Overall it's a story in much need of a strong storyteller, and it just lacks in that department. The script isn't bringing a new idea to the arena, and the old stories aren't told with either the heart nor the soul to fulfill its potential. There's more than a few glimpses of the potential, but overall it only feels like another screening of an old story. It's just been told better before. A lot better.
Rendition (2007)
Rendition starts out with an interesting concept. A man born in Egypt, who's been living in US since he was 14 and is married to an American woman with a son and another child on the way, is swept up by CIA in the aftermaths of a terror attack in a Middle East country. Without any proof against, lawyer to help him or any rights at all, they use the new rules created on the back of September 11th to imprison him and rendition him out of the country for torture.
The moral issues of torture is one aspect of this movie, much like in the recently reviewed new movie Unthinkable. There's also the aspect of the free leech given government agencies thanks to the fear created by terror. Spending the phrase 'national security' or 'suspected terrorist', and they can pretty much do as they please. A carte blanche to forget about civil rights. Both things interesting enough on their own baked into a political thriller, but the real kicker her in my eyes is the American woman married to this guy renditioned. Her husband just disappears, and no-one has answers for her, or at least no-one wants to answer her questions.
Reese Witherspoon plays this woman very well, and also Jake Gyllenhall, Meryl Streep, Omar Metwally and the rest of the cast does well. Sadly the focus of the movie is somewhat unfocused. There's another story we follow at the same time, about the daughter of the torturer in this Middle East country, we follow the American CIA agent there as well and so on. It's not a well enough crafted script to keep in mind what they are trying to tell. I wished they had stuck to Witherspoon's character and crafted it around her, cause there's a story dying to be told well. As they spun it, I'm only left pondering of what could have been. I hate that feeling.
The moral issues of torture is one aspect of this movie, much like in the recently reviewed new movie Unthinkable. There's also the aspect of the free leech given government agencies thanks to the fear created by terror. Spending the phrase 'national security' or 'suspected terrorist', and they can pretty much do as they please. A carte blanche to forget about civil rights. Both things interesting enough on their own baked into a political thriller, but the real kicker her in my eyes is the American woman married to this guy renditioned. Her husband just disappears, and no-one has answers for her, or at least no-one wants to answer her questions.
Reese Witherspoon plays this woman very well, and also Jake Gyllenhall, Meryl Streep, Omar Metwally and the rest of the cast does well. Sadly the focus of the movie is somewhat unfocused. There's another story we follow at the same time, about the daughter of the torturer in this Middle East country, we follow the American CIA agent there as well and so on. It's not a well enough crafted script to keep in mind what they are trying to tell. I wished they had stuck to Witherspoon's character and crafted it around her, cause there's a story dying to be told well. As they spun it, I'm only left pondering of what could have been. I hate that feeling.
When Eagles Dare (1968)
When Eagles Dare is in many way one of the most interesting movies I've seen in a long time. Starring Richard Burton and Clint Eastwood in a movie based on the penmanship of Alistair MacLean is a recipe for success, and this is a success.
Reviewing it now is unfair on so many levels. The lack of CGI, the mediocre stunt-performances and film tricks and the progress 42 years have had in movies all make it a completely different story watching a war movie today. Compared to Saving Private Ryan, Zwartboek, Inglourious Basterds or The Hurt Locker there's so much to point you finger towards. To begin with it's very annoying having English as the sole spoken language except for some greetings. After watching a movie like Zwartboek or Inglourios Basterds, it's silly having German soldiers speaking English. Still. It was a different time in cinema, and I guess it would have been quite impossible getting the funding if the movie hadn't been English spoken.
Other annoying things are the fake blood, the silly and unbelievable shootout scenes and other stuff like that. Most of it because of the much more limited possibilities back then, and I can easily look past most of it and rather enjoy the movie for the time it was made. And there's a lot to enjoy. Despite being quite long, MacLean have written a solid screenplay taking the story forward in nice tempo. The acting is solid, there's some tension throughout as the rescuers and the Nazis go back and forth on several levels. I still feel I have to deduct on many of the minor annoyances, but it's a good movie from a different time. Many of the war movies made today could learn a thing or three from how they've built the story.
Reviewing it now is unfair on so many levels. The lack of CGI, the mediocre stunt-performances and film tricks and the progress 42 years have had in movies all make it a completely different story watching a war movie today. Compared to Saving Private Ryan, Zwartboek, Inglourious Basterds or The Hurt Locker there's so much to point you finger towards. To begin with it's very annoying having English as the sole spoken language except for some greetings. After watching a movie like Zwartboek or Inglourios Basterds, it's silly having German soldiers speaking English. Still. It was a different time in cinema, and I guess it would have been quite impossible getting the funding if the movie hadn't been English spoken.
Other annoying things are the fake blood, the silly and unbelievable shootout scenes and other stuff like that. Most of it because of the much more limited possibilities back then, and I can easily look past most of it and rather enjoy the movie for the time it was made. And there's a lot to enjoy. Despite being quite long, MacLean have written a solid screenplay taking the story forward in nice tempo. The acting is solid, there's some tension throughout as the rescuers and the Nazis go back and forth on several levels. I still feel I have to deduct on many of the minor annoyances, but it's a good movie from a different time. Many of the war movies made today could learn a thing or three from how they've built the story.
Green Zone (2010)
Green Zone couples up superstar actor Matt Damon with his Bourne-director Paul Greengrass. This time they are in Iraq, and Damon plays a quite regular Chief Warrant Officer. This is an attempt to make a political thriller based on a side of the Iraq war. They are walking in the footsteps of these kind of thrillers formerly measured up by Tom Clancy, and they can't touch Clancy on how to balance it out to make it work.
Damon's character doesn't ever manage to come across as believable, the supreme power political game is quite uninteresting, mostly because it's what the rest of the world have been saying really happened by US all along and while the movie tries to come across as grey painting the picture with different strokes, they never really achieve it.
Sorry Damon and Greengrass. Leave this kind of politically inspired thrillers to masters of the genre. Novel author Rajiv Chandrasekaran and screenplay author Brian Helgeland doesn't seem to fit that bill.
Damon's character doesn't ever manage to come across as believable, the supreme power political game is quite uninteresting, mostly because it's what the rest of the world have been saying really happened by US all along and while the movie tries to come across as grey painting the picture with different strokes, they never really achieve it.
Sorry Damon and Greengrass. Leave this kind of politically inspired thrillers to masters of the genre. Novel author Rajiv Chandrasekaran and screenplay author Brian Helgeland doesn't seem to fit that bill.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Blood Diamond (2006)
Writer: Screenplay: Charles Leavitt Story: Charles Leavitt, C. Gaby Mitchell
Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Connelly, Djimon Hounsou, Kagiso Kuypers, Michael Sheen
Genre: Adventure, Drama, Thriller
These three interacts in a quite well told story, working together while chasing their own angles. 'Archer' wants a huge diamond 'Vandy' found and hided as the government soldiers attacked the mines where he was held. 'Vandy' wants to find his family, including his son which was taken by RUF and made into a child soldier. 'Bowen' wants to get the info she needs from 'Archer' to write her story about the bloody diamond industry taking advantage of the war criminals using slaves and civil wars to get rich. All main actors does very well in this movie, and so does also a lot of those in smaller parts.
Not everything about this movie is especially original. We've seen the same kind of look at the cruelty of African civil wars in Hotel Rwanda only two years prior to this release. It doesn't make Blood Diamond any less of a viewing experience, maybe especially considering how we in the west spend diamonds without thoughts of how they got here. We get to touch on Africa and the wars from several entries, as their different priorities and cynicism differs. It's not quite crafted well enough between the parts of human interest, action and change, but it's no doubt a movie well worth its runtime. I have a couple of other objections against the creative parts of the movie as well, but I'll keep those to myself as I'd like to keep it as spoiler-free as usual.
Fanboys (2008)
Fanboys is set in 1998 pre- Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace and tells the story of a group of Star Wars fanboy-friends on a roadtrip to see the movie six months ahead of the release. It captures the geeky fan side of any boy very well, being a Star Wars fan or a fan of anything else.
The cast of Jay Berushel, Sam Huntington, Chris Marquette and Dan Fogler does well portraying the geeks. Add in some great cameos (like William Shatner), guest stars(like Seth Rogen) and in my case the rocking Kristen Bell as the female lead, and you got yourself a fun loving movie-experience for the fan inside me. I fully enjoyed it, even if the roadtrip side of it is walking in familiar steps and the geeky young romance side is equally unoriginal. It never claims originality. It just claims to be a fun tale of what could be the case when some Star Wars geeks sets out to get inside George Lucas ranch, and at that it measure up quite well. Added a rating point for feeding my Bell-fetish, and it was almost worth the time.
The cast of Jay Berushel, Sam Huntington, Chris Marquette and Dan Fogler does well portraying the geeks. Add in some great cameos (like William Shatner), guest stars(like Seth Rogen) and in my case the rocking Kristen Bell as the female lead, and you got yourself a fun loving movie-experience for the fan inside me. I fully enjoyed it, even if the roadtrip side of it is walking in familiar steps and the geeky young romance side is equally unoriginal. It never claims originality. It just claims to be a fun tale of what could be the case when some Star Wars geeks sets out to get inside George Lucas ranch, and at that it measure up quite well. Added a rating point for feeding my Bell-fetish, and it was almost worth the time.
Animal House (1978)
I'm told Animal House is a classic. I've got no idea why, but hey; who am I to argue? Anyhoo. It's not very funny. Even such a boring comedy guy like me have seen plenty of college movies were I've laughed a lot. I didn't here. The story is also on the weaker side, even considering the kind of comedy this is supposed to be.
Boys will be boys, and that's why you can always count on topless women to appear in these movies. Hi, I don't complain. Those naked breasts appearing every so often was sadly enough the most interesting part of this movie. You can put as much pornography as you like on the internet, but nudity in movies will still salvage something in the worst cases. Adding the fact it was made in 1978, there's not a lot of silicon to be seen. That fact is almost worth one notch on the rating scale alone.
Kevin Bacon, John Belushi and Tim Matheson is amongst those appearing, who we've been more familiarized with later on in their careers. Here their presence doesn't help along this movie set in the early 60's at a college campus. At least not in my case. At least I've seen it now, and I'll for eternity be familiar with the origin of 'double secret probation'.
Boys will be boys, and that's why you can always count on topless women to appear in these movies. Hi, I don't complain. Those naked breasts appearing every so often was sadly enough the most interesting part of this movie. You can put as much pornography as you like on the internet, but nudity in movies will still salvage something in the worst cases. Adding the fact it was made in 1978, there's not a lot of silicon to be seen. That fact is almost worth one notch on the rating scale alone.
Kevin Bacon, John Belushi and Tim Matheson is amongst those appearing, who we've been more familiarized with later on in their careers. Here their presence doesn't help along this movie set in the early 60's at a college campus. At least not in my case. At least I've seen it now, and I'll for eternity be familiar with the origin of 'double secret probation'.
Bull Durham (1988)
Bull Durham is the story about a talented baseball rookie in a minor team and the veteran signed to teach him the game. There's little original about the story, and I doubt a lot of it was original back in 1988 as well. Tim Robbins and Kevin Costner plays the two male leads, while Susan Sarandon plays the female lead.
They've filled this one with cliches, and maybe that's what's needed when you make a movie set among the national sport of America. It still makes the experience worse for the rest of us. Costner was as usual not much to write home about, while the other two made better use of the little they had to work with. The story is somewhere between cliched, naive and non-existing. Take your pick.
They've filled this one with cliches, and maybe that's what's needed when you make a movie set among the national sport of America. It still makes the experience worse for the rest of us. Costner was as usual not much to write home about, while the other two made better use of the little they had to work with. The story is somewhere between cliched, naive and non-existing. Take your pick.
Monday, June 14, 2010
Nowhere Boy (2009)
Nowhere Boy tells the story of the teenage years of John Lennon's life. The kid who one day should be remembered as one of the greats in music history, but there was little in his youth pointing towards that kind of success.
I find this movie rather boring. For a fan of Beatles or Lennon or someone who had their youth years listening to them, it might be interesting enough. For the rest of us it's really not that movie-worth at all. The family stories untold and late reviled holds some drama elements a kind eye might consider worth telling, but overall it's not much worth adding to film.
On the bright side we again see a time capturing British movie, much like the recent An Education from the 60's. They sure manage to do that well these days. Another bright side is the acting, where both Aaron Johnson and Kristin Scott Thomas does especially well.
I find this movie rather boring. For a fan of Beatles or Lennon or someone who had their youth years listening to them, it might be interesting enough. For the rest of us it's really not that movie-worth at all. The family stories untold and late reviled holds some drama elements a kind eye might consider worth telling, but overall it's not much worth adding to film.
On the bright side we again see a time capturing British movie, much like the recent An Education from the 60's. They sure manage to do that well these days. Another bright side is the acting, where both Aaron Johnson and Kristin Scott Thomas does especially well.
Unthinkable (2010)
Unthinkable is in many ways a movie based on the same principles as the Stanford Prison Experiment. Its focus is the psychological side of a question posted by both single humans and countries throughout the time: How far can you go? To what extend does the end justify the means? How many does it take to sacrifice for the greater good? How far would you go? Can we do the unthinkable and justify it to both our self, people in general and maybe one day our children?
As a thought provocation, an experiment or a debate on morale issues and the aftermaths of terror it's in so many ways interesting. That's not the same as the way a movie needs to be interesting. I consider myself quite open minded, smart and realistic. I understand the unspoken truths of war, terror and sacrifice without watching a movie about it. Maybe that's why the movie doesn't quite have the impact on me as they hoped, or maybe it's the because of the fact this movie operates mostly inside the viewers brain and mine might be broken ;)
Anyway. I hope many watch this and think about what they've seen. I just don't expect them to view it as a huge cinematic experience when they look back at it.
Samuel L. Jackson, Carrie-Anne Moss and Michael Sheen does great work in the leading roles, but also actors like Stephen Root, Benito Martinez, Holmes Osborne and Lora Kojovic does great work with smaller parts. At the end of the day the movie needs to provoke you to become anything special, as the story on its own isn't that strong. They depends on provoke, to such an extend the story told haven't been quite polished enough. I did still enjoy it, if enjoy ever should be used about such a movie, and it was a lot closer to an 8 than a 6.
As a thought provocation, an experiment or a debate on morale issues and the aftermaths of terror it's in so many ways interesting. That's not the same as the way a movie needs to be interesting. I consider myself quite open minded, smart and realistic. I understand the unspoken truths of war, terror and sacrifice without watching a movie about it. Maybe that's why the movie doesn't quite have the impact on me as they hoped, or maybe it's the because of the fact this movie operates mostly inside the viewers brain and mine might be broken ;)
Anyway. I hope many watch this and think about what they've seen. I just don't expect them to view it as a huge cinematic experience when they look back at it.
Samuel L. Jackson, Carrie-Anne Moss and Michael Sheen does great work in the leading roles, but also actors like Stephen Root, Benito Martinez, Holmes Osborne and Lora Kojovic does great work with smaller parts. At the end of the day the movie needs to provoke you to become anything special, as the story on its own isn't that strong. They depends on provoke, to such an extend the story told haven't been quite polished enough. I did still enjoy it, if enjoy ever should be used about such a movie, and it was a lot closer to an 8 than a 6.
And Then Came Lola (2009)
And Then Came Lola is the baby of Ellen Seidler and Megan Siler, who's both written and directed this together.
I like to begin with assuring everybody I haven't considered this up against Run Lola Run, as many who's slaughtered this movie at imdb.com has. I've only rated this on its own merits.
With that said, I was very happy with one point of this; the short runtime. Clocking in at about 70 minutes, end credits included, was pleasant since this is the worst movie I've seen in years. Those 70 minutes sure felt a lot longer.
Good looking actresses and a lesbian romantic comedy with sex scenes and girls kissing. It doesn't sound boring? I didn't think so either, but the story is so incredible weak this lands on a solid failure. The worst part is this: The leading actresses is mostly good looking women acting quite well, rather than the more masculine looking lesbians you see quite a few of and the awful actresses you see quite a few of. Still. Neither fact can salvage this storyline from doom.
I actually fear taking a crap "actress" like Paris Hilton and a crap script like a college film student describing his weekend PG-13 rated fantasies, probably would be much worse than this. I actually think it's about time they make a couple of decent lesbian romantic comedies. We live in in a new decade again, and homosexuality shouldn't raise that many flags anymore. Still. They deserve a lot better than And Then Came Lola.
I like to begin with assuring everybody I haven't considered this up against Run Lola Run, as many who's slaughtered this movie at imdb.com has. I've only rated this on its own merits.
With that said, I was very happy with one point of this; the short runtime. Clocking in at about 70 minutes, end credits included, was pleasant since this is the worst movie I've seen in years. Those 70 minutes sure felt a lot longer.
Good looking actresses and a lesbian romantic comedy with sex scenes and girls kissing. It doesn't sound boring? I didn't think so either, but the story is so incredible weak this lands on a solid failure. The worst part is this: The leading actresses is mostly good looking women acting quite well, rather than the more masculine looking lesbians you see quite a few of and the awful actresses you see quite a few of. Still. Neither fact can salvage this storyline from doom.
I actually fear taking a crap "actress" like Paris Hilton and a crap script like a college film student describing his weekend PG-13 rated fantasies, probably would be much worse than this. I actually think it's about time they make a couple of decent lesbian romantic comedies. We live in in a new decade again, and homosexuality shouldn't raise that many flags anymore. Still. They deserve a lot better than And Then Came Lola.
Solomon Kane (2009)
Solomon Kane doesn't suit the movie format. Honestly I think this would've been a lot better of made into a video game, or kept where Robert E . Howard created him. Solomon is a haunted evil man, killing, stealing and burning everything that comes in his way in the late 17th century. When the devil sends for his soul, he rejects and tries to change in order to redeem himself.
Of course violence follows him, forcing him back into the path of evil. We follow Solomon in the haunted land of Malachi, a cruel sorcerer keeping the people down. It's all a mixture of fantasy, violent fight scenes action style, religion and his inner battle of his own soul based on the way he's lived his life. It never gets very interesting, it never become anything but predictable and like everything else the ending was both weak and predictable. I give Solomon Kane some points for the decent acting, but overall I stay annoyed they didn't realize this ain't movie stuff.
Of course violence follows him, forcing him back into the path of evil. We follow Solomon in the haunted land of Malachi, a cruel sorcerer keeping the people down. It's all a mixture of fantasy, violent fight scenes action style, religion and his inner battle of his own soul based on the way he's lived his life. It never gets very interesting, it never become anything but predictable and like everything else the ending was both weak and predictable. I give Solomon Kane some points for the decent acting, but overall I stay annoyed they didn't realize this ain't movie stuff.
A Single Man (2009)
A Single Man is Colin Firth, rather than Colin Firth being a single man. This is a one man show in L.A. in the 60's. A professor who has lost his long time life-partner in a car accident, and about his days now. It also touches on gay issues from those days, while they might not have changed that much in some ways.
I give Firth a lot of credit for his acting, but sadly director Tom Ford spend this film doing propaganda for a gay lifestyle, rather than tell his story. If he'd done it the other way around he might have both gotten his point better across and managed to make a really good movie. This way I only take with me Firth's acting with a limited script, even when the bottom line had a story screaming to get the attention.
I give Firth a lot of credit for his acting, but sadly director Tom Ford spend this film doing propaganda for a gay lifestyle, rather than tell his story. If he'd done it the other way around he might have both gotten his point better across and managed to make a really good movie. This way I only take with me Firth's acting with a limited script, even when the bottom line had a story screaming to get the attention.
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Blue Collar (1978)
Blue Collar follows three auto-line workers backed into the corner equally by the firm and the Union, and as a result they decide to rob the union's cash holding. Thing doesn't turn out as planned, but we get a decent enough drama looking into the working class, the Union and the human effect of feeling incapable to support your family.
Richard Pryor, Harvey Keitel and Yaphet Kotto portrays the leads well, and so does the Union people and mid-level firm people as well. It's a decent story and decent told, but sadly lacks a little nerve and sting. While lacking somewhat to really be worth the experience, I still found it interesting.
Richard Pryor, Harvey Keitel and Yaphet Kotto portrays the leads well, and so does the Union people and mid-level firm people as well. It's a decent story and decent told, but sadly lacks a little nerve and sting. While lacking somewhat to really be worth the experience, I still found it interesting.
She's Out of My League (2010)
She's Out of My League is another movie based on a young male rating low on the objective dating scoreboard, falling head over heels for a young woman pretty much able to choose anyone. Sound like something you've seen before? It should. These kind of movies are becoming so usual I guess there's a new genre named after them.
This one doesn't stand out in any way. Jay Baruchel isn't convincing in the lead, he's a loser in even my book because of how he allows everyone to step on him and a couple of other spoiler-ish reasons I'm not gonna reveal here, the comedy parts are mostly the usual adolescent college kind I'm not a huge fan of and the balance between romantic and pathetic isn't nailed.
Fifteen of the first twenty-five minutes are actually enjoyable, Alice Eve is a pleasant enough introduced new actress on my parts, Krysten Ritter does a quite charming support role and in some scenes this movie nails pretty well both cute and romantic.
On its best and with its best intentions, the script aims for good entertainment. On its worst its way too simple, very naive and lacking charm. Sadly the lead role helps dragging it towards the worst end way to often, and I'm left wondering how much work I would have had to do on this script and casting to make it work. That's not what I like being left with after watching a movie.
This one doesn't stand out in any way. Jay Baruchel isn't convincing in the lead, he's a loser in even my book because of how he allows everyone to step on him and a couple of other spoiler-ish reasons I'm not gonna reveal here, the comedy parts are mostly the usual adolescent college kind I'm not a huge fan of and the balance between romantic and pathetic isn't nailed.
Fifteen of the first twenty-five minutes are actually enjoyable, Alice Eve is a pleasant enough introduced new actress on my parts, Krysten Ritter does a quite charming support role and in some scenes this movie nails pretty well both cute and romantic.
On its best and with its best intentions, the script aims for good entertainment. On its worst its way too simple, very naive and lacking charm. Sadly the lead role helps dragging it towards the worst end way to often, and I'm left wondering how much work I would have had to do on this script and casting to make it work. That's not what I like being left with after watching a movie.
This is Spinal Tap (1984)
This is Spinal Tap is the 80's mockumentary take on Rock n' Roll, presenting itself as a Rockumentary, following our fictional heroes of the band 'Spinal Tap'. I've time and time again mentioned here satire isn't really my thing, and I feel I have to remind you again because this wasn't very rewarding for me.
I get a lot of the references, the jokes and the jokes on the jokes, but it's just not especially funny or new. We've in many cases been laughing of the real rock stars of the same reasons for a long time. They just didn't know, understand or even care. Lets face it. They made enough money to not care who did or didn't laugh of them rather than with them.
Being shot in the documentary style works quite well, and it's no doubt director Rob Reiner and his co-writers have worked hard on this movie. Those more familiar with rock history than me probably gain even more from this movie, as it seems the characters are built on real life stars within the genre. I'm still standing on the outside humming rather than laughing and nodding my head rather than headbanging.
I get a lot of the references, the jokes and the jokes on the jokes, but it's just not especially funny or new. We've in many cases been laughing of the real rock stars of the same reasons for a long time. They just didn't know, understand or even care. Lets face it. They made enough money to not care who did or didn't laugh of them rather than with them.
Being shot in the documentary style works quite well, and it's no doubt director Rob Reiner and his co-writers have worked hard on this movie. Those more familiar with rock history than me probably gain even more from this movie, as it seems the characters are built on real life stars within the genre. I'm still standing on the outside humming rather than laughing and nodding my head rather than headbanging.
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Cloverfield (2008)
Somehow Cloverfield have always managed to step down in line for my next to-watch movie, but I've finally seen it today. I can't brag with any psychic abilities, but I can fairly comfortably state I could have kept on avoiding it.
It's not such a half bad idea they've taken on, but the execution lacks in so many departments. Firstly, it's a short movie. That's not necessarily such a bad thing, but when the first 17 minutes or so is so incredibly boring... then the length is a big problem. You can't spend such a huge percentage of the opening boring your audience to death, and even less so when the movie never really pay the debt for that spent time.
The hand-held is, as often the case with hand-held, tiresome. Even more so because it's so inconsistent in when to be shaky and when it seems very calmly operated. Operator 'Hud' wouldn't been doing such a good job in many of the situations it seems like he's the bomb, and in others he would've been equally qualified to keep it calm but still fails to do so.
The story isn't half bad, but it really should have been done with a better focus and balance, and this could have become a great movie. I guess much of the appreciation it got came because people realize that, but it's not a good thing rewarding it because of potential when the potential is so wasted. Rather reward someone who manage to come back in a decade or so and do it with the style and focus it needs.
It's not such a half bad idea they've taken on, but the execution lacks in so many departments. Firstly, it's a short movie. That's not necessarily such a bad thing, but when the first 17 minutes or so is so incredibly boring... then the length is a big problem. You can't spend such a huge percentage of the opening boring your audience to death, and even less so when the movie never really pay the debt for that spent time.
The hand-held is, as often the case with hand-held, tiresome. Even more so because it's so inconsistent in when to be shaky and when it seems very calmly operated. Operator 'Hud' wouldn't been doing such a good job in many of the situations it seems like he's the bomb, and in others he would've been equally qualified to keep it calm but still fails to do so.
The story isn't half bad, but it really should have been done with a better focus and balance, and this could have become a great movie. I guess much of the appreciation it got came because people realize that, but it's not a good thing rewarding it because of potential when the potential is so wasted. Rather reward someone who manage to come back in a decade or so and do it with the style and focus it needs.
The Legend of 1900 (1998)
La leggenda del pianista sull'oceano is molded the same way many epic movies are, but The Legend of 1900 is rarely mentioned for a reason. It tries a little too hard to come across as an important story, but never elevates to its potential. The story of the musical genius born and raised aboard SS Virginian is told in an interesting way, but the story itself have some severe lacks to really capture its audience.
Tim Roth does another great role as the pianist easiest recognized as '1900', but that's barely surprising as he is one of my second string favorites thanks to him being introduced to me by Quentin Tarantino through both Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction. In fact, I'm still unsuccessfully trying to get my hands on Tim Roth own directional debut The War Zone from 1999. That is actually rather annoying, but I digress.
I enjoy the way this movie tries to tell its story, but unlike in The Shawshank Redemption; this storyteller never manages to capture the story with the right amount of feel. Along with the scripts missed balance, the entire story never manage to lift off like it should have done.
I could have said a lot more about this movie, but in the end I'll remember it as a story I wish I could have really enjoyed as it's got many qualities suggesting it should be. Still the feeling of an end product far from its potential is rather annoying. Annoying enough I feel cheated, especially as the movie spends more than two hours and still doesn't take the time to really use all tangents at its disposal.
Tim Roth does another great role as the pianist easiest recognized as '1900', but that's barely surprising as he is one of my second string favorites thanks to him being introduced to me by Quentin Tarantino through both Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction. In fact, I'm still unsuccessfully trying to get my hands on Tim Roth own directional debut The War Zone from 1999. That is actually rather annoying, but I digress.
I enjoy the way this movie tries to tell its story, but unlike in The Shawshank Redemption; this storyteller never manages to capture the story with the right amount of feel. Along with the scripts missed balance, the entire story never manage to lift off like it should have done.
I could have said a lot more about this movie, but in the end I'll remember it as a story I wish I could have really enjoyed as it's got many qualities suggesting it should be. Still the feeling of an end product far from its potential is rather annoying. Annoying enough I feel cheated, especially as the movie spends more than two hours and still doesn't take the time to really use all tangents at its disposal.
Monday, June 7, 2010
Youth in Revolt (2009)
Youth in Revolt is another teen comedy take on the boy looking to lose his virginity. This time it's once again Michael Cera looking for some action, and we're introduced to the lovely Portia Doubleday. To begin with the latter. Portia is for sure a girl we'll see a lot more from in the years to come. She's most definitely got both a certain flair, as well as acting ability. She's by far the best part of this movie.
Because lets face it. Cera have done a lot of crap in between those good comedies. This one is very much on the crap end of the scale. It's hardly ever funny, it's lacks flow and there's no rhythm. What starts out with some charm and a hint of potential, is easily ruined over and over and over again during the last two-thirds of the movie. At least I was introduced to Portia Doubleday. There's a lot of crappy movies I've forgotten because they didn't even have an introduction going for them.
Because lets face it. Cera have done a lot of crap in between those good comedies. This one is very much on the crap end of the scale. It's hardly ever funny, it's lacks flow and there's no rhythm. What starts out with some charm and a hint of potential, is easily ruined over and over and over again during the last two-thirds of the movie. At least I was introduced to Portia Doubleday. There's a lot of crappy movies I've forgotten because they didn't even have an introduction going for them.
Five Minutes of Heaven (2009)
Writer: Guy Hibbert
Cast: Liam Neeson, James Nesbitt
Genre: Drama, Crime, Thriller
The script is fresh. It's not judging or filled to the brink with moral. It keeps the focus, it doesn't prolong the scenes more than needed for effect and it knows which story it tries to tell and does so. It's interesting the way more movies used to be interesting back in the days. This movie also manages to stick it a couple of times to so-called documentary/real life-TV-shows, and scores a couple of points with me for the effort. I'm very close to reward it with an eight, but in the end it just didn't make the cut for that rating.
Sling Blade (1996)
Writer: Billy Bob Thornton (Play & Screenplay)
Cast: Billy Bob Thornton, Dwight Yoakam, Lucas Black, Natalie Canerday
Genre: Drama
Billy Bob Thornton wrote the play and the screenplay adaption, he directed it and he plays the lead as 'Karl Childers'. This is Billy Bob's one piece for the archives. The movie he should be remembered for. The movie most people only dreams of being involved in, and Billy Bob was involved on every step. 'Karl Childers' is created with an eye and touch for detail and with a lot of heart. It makes the movie both emotional and enjoyably funny. It's also made with a great deal of understanding of everything from small town gossip to abusive people using fear, and it shows in the way the script is balanced and rounded. The details are again what makes it such a grand insight.
I could have said a lot more about this movie, but I'll rather just say this: Buy it, watch it and enjoy it! This is storytelling the way it was meant to. Great acting, great script, great overall story and a lovely touch for all those smaller details.
Edited August 16th, 2010:
I'm in hindsight not certain it deserves 10/10, and have adjusted it down at 9/10 until I revisit it at least.
The Informant! (2009)
The Informant! tells the amazing based on real life story of Mark Whitacre, the whistle-blowing vice-president of ADM. It's a story so fantastic, there's got to be screenwriters kicking their legs over reality once again blowing away anything they ever could make up. Sadly, much like the recently reviewed Cracks, a story worth telling isn't necessarily the same as a story making it into a good movie.
Matt Damon does a good job portraying Whitacre, and at the end of the day you'll feel sorry for this guy. The problem for me is the fact I pretty much didn't care much during most of the movie, and that's not a good thing with a movie depending this much on a character's story. It's an interesting enough story on some levels, but like every great story need a villain; every great story needs some kind of a hero as well. Big corporation, price-fixing, thieves, liars, cheaters, beggars and adulters needs some other qualities making them worth considering at all for either role. In this movie we spend must of the time not bothering to identify with anyone, and the movie is worse off because of that.
Matt Damon does a good job portraying Whitacre, and at the end of the day you'll feel sorry for this guy. The problem for me is the fact I pretty much didn't care much during most of the movie, and that's not a good thing with a movie depending this much on a character's story. It's an interesting enough story on some levels, but like every great story need a villain; every great story needs some kind of a hero as well. Big corporation, price-fixing, thieves, liars, cheaters, beggars and adulters needs some other qualities making them worth considering at all for either role. In this movie we spend must of the time not bothering to identify with anyone, and the movie is worse off because of that.
Cracks (2009)
Cracks takes us on a trip into the life of a elite British boarding school in the 30's, and it's got a story. Sadly not every story worth telling, makes a good movie. It's interesting enough to watch the interactions between the different characters, but it never elevates into a story screaming to be heard or told.
Eva Green, Juno Temple and María Valverde plays the three leads well. The favorite teacher, the diving team captain and leader amongst the students, and the new girl shifting the balances. The all girl school and all female cast makes for a story told without the usual romantic elements always finding their way into such stories, but it also leaves room to focus well on the way girls take each other on in the power struggles within a school, class or team.
I'm probably better of for listening to the story, but it doesn't change the fact I was bored several times during it. It's not enough of a story, enough nerve or enough connections and/or collisions to make the movie really good.
Eva Green, Juno Temple and María Valverde plays the three leads well. The favorite teacher, the diving team captain and leader amongst the students, and the new girl shifting the balances. The all girl school and all female cast makes for a story told without the usual romantic elements always finding their way into such stories, but it also leaves room to focus well on the way girls take each other on in the power struggles within a school, class or team.
I'm probably better of for listening to the story, but it doesn't change the fact I was bored several times during it. It's not enough of a story, enough nerve or enough connections and/or collisions to make the movie really good.
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Equilibrium (2002)
Kurt Wimmer's Equilibrium is another take on the futuristic Fascist theme, and a good one at that it is. It still can't hold a candle to V for Vendetta, but then again few can. Christian Bale plays the lead as 'John Preston', and as usual he does a great job. Being an admirer of his work in general, there's no surprise there.
The world built for the movie and the story pitched throughout isn't as interesting as Bale. It's a scary idea of the future where feelings are illegal. Not only in a Minority Report way where they take out criminals before the crime, but feeling at all are illegal. An injection is used to keep people in line and general brainwashing. We've seen it all before, and the movie never offers a lot of new impulses, new directions or even new takes. It's the usual one man against the system, revolution and some Matrix-like fight sequences.
It's good and it's worth your time, but don't expect to be blown away in any way.
The world built for the movie and the story pitched throughout isn't as interesting as Bale. It's a scary idea of the future where feelings are illegal. Not only in a Minority Report way where they take out criminals before the crime, but feeling at all are illegal. An injection is used to keep people in line and general brainwashing. We've seen it all before, and the movie never offers a lot of new impulses, new directions or even new takes. It's the usual one man against the system, revolution and some Matrix-like fight sequences.
It's good and it's worth your time, but don't expect to be blown away in any way.
Body Heat (1981)
Body Heat is an early 80's take on the classics of the Noir genre. William Hurt, also seen in Children of a Lesser God; another 80's recently reviewed here, and Kathleen Turner turns up the heat in a hot Florida summer. Soon enough the womanizer and the married woman find themself playing an old tune.
The major problem with this movie is the fact it doesn't offer anything we haven't seen a lot in the genre's golden age. The acting doesn't stand out, the story doesn't stand out and the movie is a little too long to make a focused enough piece. I applaud the fact they doesn't hide the nudity in scenes were that would be ridiculous, but besides that the movie is like so many done prior. It knows the story it tries to tell, but really lacks the little extra both in acting, script and editing to really elevate from the masses.
On a side note it's almost confusing to watch a movie from those days, before C.S.I., Bones and every other trace evidence or DNA TV-show ruining the fun of murders in the entertainment industry. I miss the good old days when movies could depend on the little grey cells as the only needed to solve crime.
The major problem with this movie is the fact it doesn't offer anything we haven't seen a lot in the genre's golden age. The acting doesn't stand out, the story doesn't stand out and the movie is a little too long to make a focused enough piece. I applaud the fact they doesn't hide the nudity in scenes were that would be ridiculous, but besides that the movie is like so many done prior. It knows the story it tries to tell, but really lacks the little extra both in acting, script and editing to really elevate from the masses.
On a side note it's almost confusing to watch a movie from those days, before C.S.I., Bones and every other trace evidence or DNA TV-show ruining the fun of murders in the entertainment industry. I miss the good old days when movies could depend on the little grey cells as the only needed to solve crime.
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