Movies
Review: Ondine (2009)
Tuesday, September 7th, 2010 | Movies, Reviews | No Comments
Ondie is a modern fairy tale that tells the story of an Irish fisherman whose life is transformed when he catches a beautiful and mysterious woman in his nets. She says her name is Ondine, which means “she came from the sea”. His daughter comes to believe that the woman is a selkie, something like a mermaid. However, like all fairy tales, enchantment and darkness go hand in hand.
Since I saw In Bruges I am always happy to see Coling Farrell (don’t just judge him by Miami Vice). His performance of the somewhat dim witted Irish fisherman is also very good and the mermaid in question is also veeery nice to look at 
(@see Alicja Bachleda) No wonder she got preggas while shooting this film … how romatic!
7.5 / 10 – Slow and touching, a relaxing flick for a sunday evening.
Review: Kirot – The Assassin Next Door
Sunday, September 5th, 2010 | Movies, Reviews | No Comments
Olga Kurylenko as an assassin, maybe in a black leather dress and swords as her weapons of choice? If you expect something like this you are completely wrong.
“Kirot” is a drama about brutal sex-traffic Mafia exploitation and a woman trying to get out of the business but she ends up being forced into assassinations by her boss. He is keeping her passport and without it she cannot leave. So she does what she is told to just to be able to get away from this at some point. Doing so she befriends her neighbour, who is a victim to her wife beating husband. Together they comfort themselves and try to cope with the situation – and to find a solution to their problems eventually.
6.0 / 10 – Quite okay but doesn’t really kick off at any time, could have been a lot better.
Review: The Lovely Bones (2009)
Tuesday, April 13th, 2010 | Movies, Reviews | No Comments
I used to be a big Peter Jackson fan. Bad Taste was the first splatter film I’ve ever seen (at the age of 14!) and I almost wet my pants doing so (laughing my arse off). A hilarious masterpiece. Brain Dead and Meet the Feebles followed and I watched them quite a few times back then. Then his style completely changed. First, a disturbing drama about friendship that is to kill for: Heavenly Creatures, after that Forgotten Silver – a nice mockumentary about a supergenius filmmaker. The horror comedy The Frighteners never really got to me (even though Micheal J. Fox stars in this one). Then, Lord of the Rings got announced and like a lot of people I couldn’t believe the news at first, but later on I was convinced that PJ would be the only guy out there capable of doing it right – just because his prior films where so very special. Well, we all know he did a very good job, followed by a pretty mediocre King Kong remake (childhood dream, fair enough). After years of production (well, at least it was pronounced years and years ago) his new major release hits the theatres. The Lovely Bones. The story of a life and everything that came after…
If you are easily disturbed or very sensitive you can stop reading here. This film is not for you.
The story evolves around a 14 year old girl that get’s abused and killed by a sociopathic man. Her spirit first doesn’t realize that she is dead, and stays to observe how the famlily adapts to the new situation until she is finally ready to pass on. A very touching adaptation of the book by Alice Sebold. I don’t want to tell any more, you should have already got the hang of what you can expect from this film. Just one more thing: watching the credits I asked my wife “Who wants to see such a film, anyway?” wiping away my tears…
8.0 / 10 – a very well done film – cruel, dreamy, sad – not for the faint o’heart
P.S. – I also waited to see if my ole ‘discman’ mate Matt Dravitzki is still around. Executive assistant to PJ by now, congratz! (Yeah, IMDb could’ve provided the information right away, but that’s like cheating) – a pity I haven’t heard from him in years.
Review: Invictus (2009)
Monday, March 22nd, 2010 | Movies, Reviews | No Comments
A friend of mine (Hi, Simon!) asked my whether I’ve watched Invictus. “Never heard of it” I replied. He was going to see it for the sole reason it is a rugby film (he was gonna watch it with his rugby team 
), which is nothing that interests me. Still I gave it a try and I was very surprised. First, the film is very good, second, rugby is not the main plot and last but not least, after watching the end credits I was like: “WTF! Clint Eastwood again?” The old bloke’s last few instalments all were convincing and pretty much ingenious (@see my review of Gran Torino).
The film tells the inspiring true story of how Nelson Mandela joined forces with the captain of South Africa’s rugby team to help unite their country. Newly elected President Mandela knows his nation remains racially and economically divided in the wake of apartheid. Believing he can bring his people together through the universal language of sport, Mandela rallies South Africa’s rugby team as they make their historic run to the 1995 Rugby World Cup Championship match.
So it’s more like a political drama rather than a sports flick. Morgan Freeman stars as Nelson Mandela and Matt Damon as the Boks’ captain, both doing a great job. After watching the film it was fun to read some more trivia about Mandela and the South African rugby team. I cannot say whether the films portraits actual history accurately, but it sure was a pleasure to watch.
8.0 / 10 – Moving, inspiring, heart touching. Thanks, Mr Eastwood, for another enjoyable evening!
Review: Triangle (2009)
Friday, February 12th, 2010 | Movies, Reviews | No Comments
When Jess sets sail on a yacht with a group of friends, she cannot shake the feeling that there is something wrong. Her suspicions are proven when the yacht hits a storm and the group is forced to board a passing ocean liner to get to safety, a ship Jess is convinced she’s been on before. The ship appears deserted, the clock on board has stopped, but they are not alone… Someone is intent on hunting them down, one by one. And Jess unknowingly holds the key to end the terror.
If you are into mystery and somewhat horror this might be a good choice for you. Even though the cover looks more like another hillbilly flick the key element of the mystery is time bending/travel and it is portrayed quite well. Films that play with different time lines often lack logic. Triangle manages to have at least three (maybe even four, I can’t remember) parallel realities – which I found very well done regarding the complexity that may occur. There is just one minor glitch that you might want to complain about – why is Jess acting as she does first entering the boat? No more explanations here, I don’t want to spoil the story. Speaking of the story, don’t expect too much, it’s above average, but nothing special – compared to earlier instalments of director Christopher Smith (like Creep or the downright annoying Severance) it’s pretty good.
What I liked best was the camera work / setting / editing… everything is shot very impressively, right angle, right light – not to be mistaken as pretentious, more like minimalistic but elaborate. I don’t really know how to express my impressions. It just was an eye treat that I enjoyed a lot. Not one of these cheesy low budget cheap shots.
7.0 / 10 – Entertaining and a pleasure to watch.
Review: Zombieland (2009)
Saturday, November 14th, 2009 | Movies, Reviews | No Comments
Earth’s population has been decimated by a virus, related to the mad cow disease, that turns everyone into flesh-craving zombies. Only a handful of humans remain, including Columbus, trying to make his way to his home town, where he hopes his parents are still alive. Columbus has long been an outsider and somewhat phobic, which he uses to his advantage in avoiding zombies. In fact, zombies are not his greatest fear: clowns are.
Woody Harrelson and dork Jesse Eisenberg in a zombie flick? Well, you kinda get what you expect, a quite cheesy comedy, but the zombie part is very well done – and very graphic (almost feels real). After watching the opening scene I was completely hooked. See for yourself (wait for the opening credits part starting at 2:35!):
Zombie splatter in slow-mo accompanied by Metallica’s “For Whom The Bell Tolls”. An instant winner 
It’s a pity the film cannot stand up to this brilliant start, it’s coming down to a quite good zombie comedy (Zombie Bill Murray, muhhaha), but towards the end it feels kind of random. I am impressed this film made it into the IMDB Top 250, well done!
I also have to state that I disliked the “senseless destruction” scene. Watching a bunch of Whities whacking an Indian store to pieces… felt kinda racist to me (yes, there was a cowboy, too, but come on, next time whack a Wall Mart!).
7.5/10 – a modern zombie comedy that almost rocks completely, almost …
Review: Paranormal Activity (2009)
Sunday, October 25th, 2009 | Movies, Reviews | No Comments
Who is afraid of the Kwyjibo? A couple is haunted by an entity that tortures them every now and then. This time it’ll be the last.
I was sooo happy seeing this film, because I expected something really spooky.
Heard about it, saw the rather high IMDb rating, got excited.
Here are some quotations from the cover (should have known these are NOT to be trusted):
“Paranormal Activitiy” is one of the scariest movies of all time. You will be affected as it’s hard to ignore the imprint it leaves on your psyche. Nightmares are guaranteed.
Don’t see it alone.
What I got was a pretty bad instalment that borrows from films such as Blair Witch, Poltergeist and The Grudge without ever becoming something that might play in the same league. In fact, it’s very dull except for the few moments when something is happening. These moments start promising, but just never evolve to something that really gets you. People might say that all happens in your head, well, for me it ended seeing the footsteps scene. Evil twin, dead stepmother, schizophrenia, all gone. Anyone call Mulder, please? Okay, Mr Spookaway explained that this entity is a demon rather than a ghost. This even allows for more nonsensical things happening, right? Lights on, lights off, wow!
There is also practically no such thing as a story, no twists and no explanations, just some knocking noises, a wind here and there and finally physical intervention of the invisible force. The shaking camera genre is once again used as an excuse for the absence of writer’s skill.
3.0/10 – A highly overrated and overhyped film. May only scare the unversed masses.
Review: Drag me to Hell (2009)
Saturday, October 3rd, 2009 | Movies, Reviews | No Comments
Sam Raimi strikes again! And he still knows how to do so! His “The Evil Dead” is a masterpiece horror classic (Beware! Remake approaching!), no doubt about that and he even did an outstanding job doing “Spiderman” – a completely different genre. Now he returns to classic horror and does not fail as so many other out there do all the time. The last film I remember that scared/thrilled/entertained me equally was “The Ring” remake (don’t tell!), and that’s quite a while ago. Since then I digested dozens of cheap boring horror wannabe flicks, “Drag me to Hell” being a most welcome exception.
Okay, a few words about the film without spoiling too much. First, it is not a remake of an Asian classic (w00t!). Second, it’s done by somebody who knows his profession – no low budget “my first director’s job” 5 kids in the wood spilling guts crap (again, the exception proofs the rule, right?). The story is basically “Don’t piss off any gipsies or they might curse you” with our main character almost unwillingly deciding to go for the curse – doh!
What I liked especially (apart from the perfect technical presentation of the flick) is that it does not focus on one stylistic device, but tortures the viewer on multiple levels. A recap of the my feelings that arose during the first “scary” scene: reserved, repelled, disgusted, embarrassed, intimidated, and finally horror-struck. I was trying to have my dinner watching that, for heavens sake 
Watching “Drag me to Hell” made me somewhat feel like a kid watching “The Evil Dead” for the first time. I am happy that it is apparently not my fault that most of the so called horror movies out there just plainly bore me to death. I can now blame the directors/writers/producers, because even for a superficial western blockbuster it is possible to do a great entertaining job! Well done, everybody!
9.0/10 – Thanks for providing something that stands up to 80s horror classics and is not stealing from an already made film.
Review: District 9 (2009)
Tuesday, September 15th, 2009 | Movies, Reviews | No Comments
Aliens invading Earth. Humans invading Planet X. Seen it a thousand times.
District 9 takes a different approach off the beaten track and does so quite well. A big space ship had to make a forced landing on Earth in the 80s, where hundreds of aliens were rescued and given shelter near Johannesburg, Africa: District 9. This shelter soon became a slum and problems arose. This is where the film picks up – the day the aliens are about to be deported out of District 9 to be resettled somewhere else more remote.
The idea is great – even though I thought it was too simple I couldn’t remember a similar film (shame on me!). The documentary style is well done as well, not as claustrophobic as in [rec], not as hard on the stomach as in Cloverfield (I’ll never see that movie again!). Also Peter “Bad Taste” Jackson’s influence is easy to spot. See for yourself.
I did not like the film drifting into an ordinary action shooter towards the end, I would have expected a more detailed view of the social and integration problems.
8.0 – A great film, that could have been even better if it had more of a story.
Review: Pontypool (2008)
Monday, August 24th, 2009 | Movies, Reviews | No Comments
Winter in Canada, a guy is on it’s way to work. It’s early in the morning, still night, he is on his way to his morning shift working as a radio host. What starts as a normal work day soon evolves into a complete mess of news and facts of what is happening on the outside. The viewer stays with the moderator, just listening to the reports of bloodshed and a weird virus that is spread by words! “War of the Worlds” (the radio play!) meets “Tape“.
The main actor is really cool (Stephen McHattie), the story is a refreshing change to the straightforward “atomic waste” or “five kids in the wood” films. Unfortunately the story telling is not good, it just looses it’s logic half way through the film with just random events happening. Still, above average for good acting and a nice idea.
6.5/10 – quite well done but too far fetched and illogic
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