Requiem for a Dream (2000)

Requiem for a Dream

Ellen Burstyn's role is the deservedly highlighted word of this movie, but I don't get the rest of the hype for it at all. Jennifer Connelly is obviously great as always, but what else is new?

The movie isn't very long, but it still got time to bore me every so often. Digging into four addicts, even if they are closely connected, you really shouldn't find time to bore me. Director Aronofsky never get to do more than touch the surface of the characters, and he brings very little to the table when it comes to originality and depth.

Leto and Wayans does well enough, but as I never expect much with them to begin with it doesn't tell you all that when it comes down to business. The music was good. I'll give it that much, and remember it by it and the female performances.

It also tries to be a depressing cautionary tale, but I guess I'm just to damn cynical by now. To succeed Aronofsky would've had to go a lot deeper than he did, but I guess it does the trick for the superficial viewer. At least its praises seems to suggest that's the case.

Seven Minutes in Heaven (1985)

Seven Minutes in Heaven

The only reason I ever had for tracking down this oldie, was obviously to get a glimpse of Connelly's earlier work. With no expectations what so ever it couldn't possibly let me down, but being such a simple and unoriginal flick as it was it sure didn't surpass them either.

In some scenes Connelly shows her potential, but then again in others it's easy to remember she was still young and quite inexperienced. Being a fan of her made the experience worthwhile, but for the rest of you there's not much to take from this.

A little too much old fashioned standard moral, very simple characters and developments everyone can predict ahead.

Hulk (2003)

Director: Ang Lee
Writer: Story: James Schamus Screenplay: James Schamus, John Turman, Michael France Marvel Comic Books Characters: Stan Lee, Jack Kirby
Cast: Eric Bana, Jennifer Connelly, Sam Elliott, Josh Lucas, Nick Nolte
Genre: Superhero, Action, Sci-Fi

After watching the miserable Iron Man 2, I was in need to revisit the superhero genre as fast as possible with a more pleasant experience. The choice became a revisit with the two Hulk movies, starting with Ang Lee's 2003 opener Hulk, starring Eric Bana and Jennifer Connelly in the leading roles.

I wasn't in love with the idea of Bana as Hulk, but there's no secret I'm a great admirer of Jennifer Connelly. Connelly delivers here as well, but her character really haven't got that much to act on. Bana opened weakly, but as the movie advances I didn't hate him in this role as much as I feared.

The huge problem about this movie is the weak action sequences, and that's a major problem talking about any superhero movie based on Marvel characters. Another problem is the Hulk character itself as its presented. It doesn't manage to take the screen in the needed way. And finally let's face the drama parts Lee usually is well known for; they don't work well here. The entire beginning of the Hulk story isn't memorable, the father connection isn't either interesting nor exciting and however beautiful and talented Connelly is; Banner and Ms. Ross doesn't manage to elevate to the same level as say Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson.

Labyrinth (1986)

Director: Jim Henson
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

Labyrinth is a fantasy story from the good old days. The days prior to animated successes and CGI magic. It relies on puppetry, fantasy and a old school attitude. It's nothing short of magical to follow Jennifer Connelly's quest as 'Sarah' through the Labyrinth to save her little brother from the 'Goblin King'. It's charming, playful, well written and even if it got the usual moral always added in these movies targeting a children audience, it never steps outside of the importance of telling the story well. I can hold my breath for David Bowie's skills, but the young Connelly is refreshing. Recently reviewed her in Blood Diamond, and it's fun to watch her again only a few days later in a role twenty years earlier.

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.

Blood Diamond (2006)

Director: Edward Zwick
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

Blood Diamond goes inside the dark side of diamonds from conflict countries like Sierra Leone in Africa where it takes place. Leonardo DiCaprio stars as 'Danny Archer', a former soldier and now a diamond smuggler chasing the score to get him away from the civil wars and blood-sheds of Africa. Djimon Hounsou is the second leading male as 'Solomon Vandy', the man separated from his family, captured by the rebel group RUF and made a slave working for them searching for diamonds in the mines. The third lead is Jennifer Connelly as the female journalist 'Maddy Bowen' looking to write a story about the diamond companies exploiting stones from conflict areas.

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.