Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984)

Kaze no tani no Naushika

One of Hayao Miyazaki's earlier movies, but to me this one stands out as the one he manage to fulfill throughout. There's no doubt this might be one of his movies where his environmental message shines through even more than usual, but the story never suffers from this message.

Nausicaä might be one of the finest characters ever portrayed, and the people of The Valley of the Wind helps build her up.

The animations doesn't come close to what we've later seen from Studio Ghibli, but we got to keep in mind it's 26 years since he made this one. Never the less. The details are quite stunning here as well, especially in the background both in the Valley of the Wind and in the Sea of Decay.

So far my favorite animated movie, and these days that's actually beginning to say something as I keep exploring the masterpieces of the past.

Three Colors: White (1994)

Trzy kolory: Bialy

In the second movie of Kieslowksi's Color-trilogy we follow a Polish immigrant in France, and the turns his life takes when his wife divorces him for being unable to please her in bed.

This is the first Kieslowski movie I've seen, that doesn't feel like no-one else could have made it. The theme is a classic one, and the Eastern European mindset shines through like we've seen in so many other movies, but he still delivers a well prepared dish for us. It's got more depth than we usually see in these kind of movies, but it's never close to the depth he showed in the first movie of the trilogy, Three Colors: Blue.

Zamachowski is good in the lead, but not quite great. The support cast is however great, whether we speak of Delpy, Stuhr or Gajos.

The Third Man (1949)

The Third Man

I didn't quite buy lead actor Joseph Cotten in all his scenes, but that's the only non-spoiler objection. The rest of my objections keeping it from a top score, I'll keep to myself to ensure not ruining what still is a remarkably great movie.

Vienna post WWII is truly a stunning scenery for this movie. The bombed architecture, the four parts of town controlled by different country's forces and the language problems. What's more; director Carol Reed knows how to use it to its fullest effect. He also spends a lot of time achieving magic with the use of shadows, whether it's scenes where people are running or hiding.

The dialogues are great, and I love the way it uses German often enough by native Vienna people, rather than making it unrealistic by everyone speaking English. The supporting cast is great, also those you really can't understand if you don't speak German, as their tone and body language gets it through.

The Third Man is no doubt a must see movie experience everyone should enjoy.

Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005)

Mr. & Mrs. Smith

A rom-com action movie barely stands any chance of hitting all the right cords to make for a complete cinematic experience. The balance is just too hard to hit.

Well. They don't succeed here either. The movie is too long, it's not funny enough (though not for the lack of trying) and the action sequences aren't able to engage.

Still. It's light entertainment, and it does manage to do so sometimes between all those parts you easily find to object about.

My Neighbor Totoro (1988)

Tonari no Totoro

Whatever it lacks in depth of story, it more than makes up for in with its enchanting and heartwarming ways. While I've previous given Miyazaki credit for his incredible way of taking you into his stories, he's more than equally able to enchant you by letting you become familiar with his characters; and that's exactly how he reels you in with this movie.

While I've previously slashed ratings for movies because of their less than subtle morale, Miyazaki have the quality to bring his moral in without feeding you spoonfuls upon each other.

Satsuki and Mei are unresistingly charming characters, and Miyazaki plays to his strengths throughout the movie.

Adore it, love it, enjoy it, and raise your children and grandchildren within Hayao Miyazaki's magic universes.

Chungking Express (1994)

Chung Hing sam lam

How many people do you brush past every day in a busy big city? How often do you make a connection with any of them?

Chungking Express is a love letter to the purest of love, without the Hollywood mushiness, grand gestures and even unrequited at times.

We follow two Hong Kong cops love lives, taking us through many different states of love in a stylish and musically accompanied way. It sucks you in, intoxicates you and leave you with a feeling you've never really seen anything quite like it. Still. It reminds you of other great directors taking you into the loneliness, obsession or anticipation.

Kar Wai Wong have both written and directed this shining pearl, and I add his name to those I'll be looking deeper into filmographies of in the future.

The Awful Truth (1937)

The Awful Truth

It's nice to be remembered there actually was a time when movies labeled 'comedy' could make you laugh, and The Awful Truth sure achieves laughter. What's more is the fact it's charming and sparkles with life as well, which is something you rarely see these days.

It won an Oscar for 'Best Director', while also being nominated for 'Best Picture', 'Best Lead Actress', Best Support Actor', 'Best Editing' and 'Best Writing Screenplay'. As I mentioned when reviewing Make Way for Tomorrow, director McCarey felt he won that Oscar for the wrong movie that year. While there's no doubt I agree with him, simply because that's still the best movie I've ever seen, there's neither no doubt 1937 was a great year for McCarey.

The chemistry between Irene Dunne and Cary Grant is excellent, and especially Dunne is brilliant. Also worth a mention is Cecil Cunningham's performance as Aunt Patsy and Asta as Mr. Smith, the latter being a dog.

There's a couple of scenes that doesn't quite work as well as they probably hoped, but most of them thankfully helps establishing the characters and their chemistry. Overall a delightful divorce, as I guess I might as well mention the plot with half a sentence at least.

The Italian Job (1969)

The Italian Job

I've got very few problems understanding why they chose to remake this, as both the premise and the heist idea show promise. Obviously the execution wasn't nearly as good, and as such it was a logic movie to redo properly like they did in the 2003 The Italian Job, which I found rather entertaining for the genre.

Adding comedic relief to any heist, action or crime movie in general is a balancing act as well as getting the fun to work on its own. In this I found they managed neither. Some of the plays on British in general works quite well, but most of the rest just helped dragging its entertainment value downward.

What's worse is the heist itself. The preparations even managed to do stuff not needed for the job, even adding a point of ruining several cars while at it. To make matters worse there was very little flow throughout the execution part, and then this quickly became nothing but a good idea badly executed.

Spirited Away (2001)

Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi

Few, if any, are as great as Hayao Miyazaki at creating an entertaining enchanted premise, and then invite us in while showing us the true self of his protagonists. Sadly I've come to realize there's another commonality with his movies to me; between the middle and the end, he always seem to either get a little lost or go a little to far over the top. Far from enough to ruin the experience, but enough to not quite achieve what he was heading for. That's also the case with Spirited Away.

Still. There's a lot of gold until he get there. The young girl protagonist, Chihiro, is once again a great Miyazaki creation and so is the spirits bathhouse as the main scenery. We're taken along a charming ride, almost enchanting enough to make us forget those bumps along the road.

Great detailed animations and an imaginative world. Another safe bet for children of all ages.

Three Colors: Blue (1993)

Trois couleurs: Bleu

When I reviewed Kieslowski's The Double Life of Veronique, I mentioned its ability to stay on your mind much like Lost in Translation does, but it's even more true for Three Colors: Blue. While Sofia Coppola's movie dealt with loneliness and disconnections, Kieslowski's first movie of his color-trilogy deals with loss.

Julie (Juliette Binoche) lose both her husband and their lone child in a car crash she survives, and the rest of the movie is about how she deals with it, how it changes her and how the life that still goes on around her affects her and her choices. Binoche is brilliant, Kieslowski equally so directing and finally also Slawomir Idziak (director of photography and scenario collaborator) should receive his share of praise for the work. While many mention the music's part as one of their many reasons to like or love this movie, the music didn't do as much for me.

While there's a lot of good to be said about this, it also lacks the engaging parts that made me enjoy both movies mentioned in the first paragraph better. It's still a fantastic movie highly recommended for everyone except those who sadly depends on high octane action, sparkling dialogues or cheap humor. This is subtle, deep and food for thought, and makes me look even more forward to reach deeper into Kieslowski's filmography.

Sex and Lucia (2001)

Lucía y el sexo

Writer and director Julio Medem (Room in Rome) certainly ain't afraid of nudity in his movies. One of the few good things about Room in Rome was its use of natural nudity without sexual content, but as I now found out he's done a lot better before.

There's certainly a far amount of exploitative pictures in this movie, but anyone can find them self a decent porn if that's their thing. What I did indeed like about it was the way Medem takes us into the first stages of relationship between Lucia and Lorenzo. The way he shows the exploring of each other, the playfulness, the flirting and seduction, using photos as an instrument, and yes; the lust. It involves a lot of nudity, but Medem paints a very good picture of how some relationships are in the beginning. It's refreshing to not be shut out of it like most directors does do keep the MPAA's happier.

Sadly the movie goes under from there. The rest of it isn't at all interesting, tripping over it self to be innovative, clever or whatever. It's worth watching for the prior paragraph's reasons alone, but I wouldn't hold it against you at all if you never watch it to the end.

Strangers on a Train (1951)

Strangers on a Train

On the rapidly ever growing list of praised directors I reach late, we've reached Hitchcock. I've always been a fan of classic old fashioned murder mysteries, so the film noirs of their prime should speak to me in many ways. Not at least because they have the good old alibis and motives as their focus, rather than all the scientific CSI stuff we're stuck with today.

I'm not a huge fan of Granger, but Ruth Roman have a certain quality as Anne Morton and Robert Walker is brilliant as the charming and psychotic stranger.

We've all met him. The stranger who's just a little too friendly and chatty, but more often than not they turn out quite differently than Walker's character Bruno Antony. Maybe this movie should be blamed for how difficult it's to chat friendly with the guy next to you wherever you go these days, but I imagine it's more about the times we live in than Hitchcock.

I don't love this movie. Its final half hour have a little too many shady choices for my liking, but it's very interesting for quite a while. I certainly notice several interesting choices by the director, and look forward to get to know his work better. Walker sadly died at the age of 32 the same year this movie was released, and that's a great loss. He certainly brought another layer to this picture with his part.

Princess Mononoke (1997)

Mononoke-hime

Throughout the first half Hayao Miyazaki brings us into a magical world with characters, charm and creativity, and I felt like he was about to blow my mind like no animation before.

Sadly i didn't enjoy the second half nearly as much. In fact it was at times both going overboard and going under at the same time. It just didn't connect with me, and then it rapidly went downhill as an experience as scene after scene passed by.

It's still well worth watching, if for no other reason so for Miyazaki's ability to set an interesting premise and then invite us in to join the experience.

The Double Life of Veronique (1991)

La double vie de Véronique

Much like Hayao Miyazaki, Krzysztof Kieslowski is a director I've heard a lot of praise about, but not got around to until now. Now they've got more in common, as both impressed me at first meet.

Kieslowski takes us into his own pace, painting his picture with a lot of emotional care. For a while I wasn't quite sure where he was heading, but the ride never bored me anyway. Sometimes the journey is the goal, but he's got more up his sleeves.

The emotions is what I no doubt will remember this movie most by, and whether with music or just facial expressions; Kieslowski have done a brilliant job. Irène Jacob is perfect cast for the lead; not to shining at first eye, but with such a presence in scenes.

The Double Life of Veronique includes a brilliant love scene, done better than I can remember anything seen for quite a while. So much emotions and with such a knowledge, without having to dwell into exploitative camerawork to undermine it.

This is the kind of movie with the same ability to grow in your mind long after the end credits, much like Lost in Translation. I'm quite certain I'll revisit this as well, but until then I really look forward to check out other of Kieslowski's movies.

Howl's Moving Castle (2004)

Hauru no ugoku shiro

Since I mentioned this movie in a review earlier today, I might as well get around to it now. I'd heard a lot of good stuff about Hayao Miyazaki and his movies, but this was the first one I've watched of his works myself.

Howl's Moving Castle have got the magic of a universe created on its own premise, and Miyazaki takes us along for a wonderful ride. The story of Sofî, Hauru and the rest of the creatures in this magic universe, is told with a lot of heart. I love heart, and I'll never deny it. Add some charm and great old-fashioned animations, and we've touched on a lot of the good stuff served here.

There's some problems as well, as the story sometimes lose pace and trips the balance between moving forward or dwell on moments. It's still a great movie, and it might even grow on me the second time around to become a personal classic, like WALL·E once did.

Unstoppable (2010)

Unstoppable

The story of this kind got to have one thing in common; they're really predictable in every aspect. Tony Scott still manage to make it an entertaining enough movie, and that's quite an achievement everything considered. he got a lot of help though, as Denzel Washington and Chris Pine(Star Trek) interacts well in the leads and the supporting cast is unbelievable solid.

Rosario Dawson, Ethan Suplee, the triple Kevin's Corrigan, Dunn and Chapman, and Jessy Schram just to mention a few. Corrigan is often solid as a support member, Dawson got my eye a long time ago and let me once again throw my support behind Jessy Schram for a leading role. I love that girl, and have done so ever since she dropped by the TV-show Veronica Mars back in the days. She's brilliant here again, and someone got to get her signed for something big soon, be in TV or for box office purpose. She's got the look, the charm and the talent to back it up.

Back on track, so to speak. Unstoppable doesn't bring a lot of originality or suspense to the table, but it managed to keep me interested throughout. I'm pretty sure I'm not about to revisit anytime soon, but it got the job done when it didn't bore me at all. For the popcorns, that's usually as good as it gets.

Castle in the Sky (1986)

Tenkû no shiro Rapyuta

Hayao Miyazaki have worked him self into a position of well deserved fame through his animated movies, as I myself learned through Howl's Moving Castle (a movie which review I haven't gotten around to yet of those backlogged, sorry!). Castle in the Sky doesn't manage to capture me in the same way, but it's still a quite good story.

The life of an orphan mining boy change when a girl fall from the sky, all though rather slowly as she's protected by a force he reckons comes from a stone amulet. She's hunted by pirates as well as by strange agents helped by the army. The boy (Pazu) helps the girl (Sheeta) escape, and find them self in a strange race involving the mythological castle in the sky, Laputa.

Interesting and well worth a look, but it lacks the magic and greater interactions seen in Howl's Moving Castle. I'll definitely keep checking out Miyazaki's work though, because there's no doubt he's extremely talented.

M (1931)

M

This review is based on the 110 min edition.

A city of four and a half million people can easily be scared; just let a child predator loose on their streets. Fritz Lang knew this very well on the back of several cases throughout Germany were they struggled with it, and 80 years later his movie on the subject holds a well deserved masterpiece status.

The opening scenes alone are well worth the hype. From the kids singing in the streets about the man in black to the mothers worrying and then Elsie Beckmann. The acting involved in smaller parts like Elsie's is one of the main reason this works so much better for me than another old movie with masterpiece status for many, Bicycle Thieves did. Here Lang bring class to the smaller parts as well, while the amateur support of Bicycle Thieves remained amateurs in everybody's heads.

There's of course a lot of other reasons this works a lot better than a movie I gave a 7/10. Lang have a stunning child murderer in Peter Lorre, and dare to give him a balanced life with emotions all over the place. M also brings a town in terror, and we get to see many scenes where the nerve plays as much part of the scene as the dialogue and acting. Add a whistling that bring to mind many great scores later used in the industry, thieves protecting their domain and a bunch of smaller details, and you got yourself a must see experience with well deserved status. I simply loved it, and look forward to get to know Lang better in the future.

Airplane! (1980)

Airplane!

This wasn't at all my kind of humor. Cheap lowbrow sketch jokes on top of each other. A few laughs even for me, but this just isn't smart enough to entertain. In fact its repetitiveness annoys, making it counter its purpose. Even for the genre and this kind of humor, I've seen it a lot better.

True Grit (1969)

True Grit

With the Coen-remake coming up, I had to check out this John Wayne original first. I've never been much of a John Wayne fan myself, but the guy got legendary status.

To me the most stand out about the movie is its wasted potential. In glimpses there's both humor and character potential, but overall it never manages to build character relations, story or dialogue close to its peaks. The good thing about that is no doubt the possibilities for the Coens to do it a lot better.

There's no doubt some qualities with both Kim Darby and John Wayne, but neither manages to give a performance without mayor flaws. How Wayne got Oscar is beyond me, but then again I haven't seen that many movies from 1969. There might not have been better performances for all I know.

Interesting appearances by both Robert Duvall and Dennis Hopper, while Glen Campbell dragged down the experience in one of the larger parts. How the Golden Globe managed to award him with Most Promising Newcomer-Male is even further beyond me than how the Oscar went to Wayne.

One more good thing about this movie is the scenery and camerawork, which to me stood out more than the Oscar nominated Best Music-Original Song. Anyway. Looking forward to the Coen-take on this, and hopefully they'll have better customized the character relations and the story as a whole.

Never Let Me Go (2010)

Never Let Me Go

I made a lot of fuzz about Carey Mulligan when I reviewed An Education back in the days, and I'm about to do the same once again. In fact, I'm about to predict a future Oscar winning female for the second time in my life. First time around was Ellen Page. Mulligan got her self nominated for best lead for An Education, at SAG, Golden Globe and Oscar as well as won both BAFTA and British Independent Film Award. The latter she's copied with her role here, and I imagine she'll get some more nominations as the season arrive. It's not winner material for the big ones, but the qualities she show again are stunningly remarkable.

With Carey out of the way, it time to dwell a little more on the problems with this movie. Firstly it's really not very original. The premise is ancient, or at least that's how it feels by now. On different levels, it's been one of the major themes in fiction for quite a while. It doesn't bring much new to the table either, and it overlooks important questions and considerations we really should follow the main characters through. This results in a distance director Romanek shouldn't have allowed. On the other hand he does well painting a feel throughout the movie, so along with some great and some first rate acting there's enough going for it to be well worth checking out.

I haven't read Kazuo Ishiguro's novel which its based on, but I imagine it does a better job following through on several important aspects. Anyway. Romanek's pacing isn't the best either, so once again I find my self stunned by a Mulligan performance without really being served a movie that deserves such talent. Unlike An Education, I doubt a second viewing will help elevate it, but I wouldn't be surprised if I watch this again one day just to study Mulligan.

Life as We Know It (2010)

Life as We Know It

First half of this movie I actually laughed several times, which isn't always the case with the genre. My respect for Katherine Heigl is still growing, and she does have comedic qualities for sure.

Josh Duhamel on the other hand. He's still got that pleasant enough label I tagged him with after watching When in Rome opposite Kristen Bell, and he doesn't manage to establish him as anything special here either.

Second half of the movie was all downhill. They forgot the parts that made it funny or interesting, and soon enough we found us watching just another typical movie within the genre.

First half was heading for a solid 6 or maybe even 7, but I didn't turn it off half way...

Red (2010)

Red

Over the top entertainment the way movies like Knight and Day and the Charlie's Angels sequel hoped to be. It's witty, it's parochial on several levels and quite charming. The last part especially thanks to the character played by Mary-Louise Parker.

Add Bruce Willis doing what he does best and support from stars like Malkovich, Freeman, Mirren, Cox and Dreyfuss, and you've got an entertaining movie if you like these kind of things.

The action lacked somewhat on the balance between over the top, inventive and suspenseful, but good characters and actors makes up for it overall.

You Again (2010)

You Again

After almost a month without movies, I start off slowly with some candled popcorn. No secret I'm a big fan of Kristen Bell, but she's been struggling to pick decent roles ever since her departure from her TV-role of Veronica Mars. Sadly that's still the case.

The premise is decent enough, but it's done without taking the comedic act as far as it should have been and without taking the story away from the predictable route it chose.

A couple of decent scenes, but nothing worth its 1h45m for those of you who haven't met the Ridgefield High women (or a revisit as I've now seen it).