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Reviews
Spellbound (2002)
Spellbound indeed
Spellbound are indeed spellbinding. It's a small documentary about a rather, for a foreigner, obscure part of the American society. The contest where young boys and girls are set on a big stage to prove the best ability to spell words from hell.
Spellbound introduces us to 8 kids, of different stages, and their parents, and all in all it turns out to be a scary, involving and provoking story. A mother of a spelling-bee-child refers to a conversation she had with a fellow spell kid, where she called the whole contest "child abuse"... On many levels I have to agree. This dosn't go for all the kids and the immediate families, but to see how the life of a child center around the closed world of a dictionary, and some of the kids "denied" the possibility for a normal kid- or teenagers- life is heartbreaking. There are wizkids in the world, and their potential should be explored and developed to the full, but is spelling and the tremendous pressure going to provide these kids with anything other that a lost childhood.
It's exiting and it's great fun, but I must say that after seeing some of these kids and how their life are ruled provided me with a bitter taste in my mouth.. BUT, I must say.. this movie is far more exiting and engaging than most Hollywood blockbusters..
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943)
Blimp
As a new-broke p&p virgin, I just saw The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp. And what a breathtaking experience it was. A friend of my recommended the p&p movies, and after acquiring four of their movies, I started off with Colonel Blimp. The story of the prototype British Officer, who's life in the queens garments becomes everything but usual. A story about the love a man has for his work, the love of women and the love of friendship.
It also has in store some amazing "movie-making-tricks" that amaze me. E.g. the scene where all the trophies and the years are nailed to the wall... It's hard to explain..but when you see it, you see how breathtaking this truly is.
Now, I got three more movies to see..So..gotta run ;)
21 Grams (2003)
21 heavy grams
This is what should be a prime prototype on a GOOD movie! With a superior cast list, a steady director and a story that'll blow your mind sideways, this is a melt of true hope, true sorrow and indeed true human feel! Cristina (Naomi Watts) loose her husband and two girls who's ran over by Jack Jordan (Benicio Del Toro). Her life's heated up to hell status, and the first thing she are requested after receiving the news, is to donate her late husband's heart to a dying patient (Sean Penn). A true drama, that pulls the guts out of you, mainly because the three leads gives everything of themselves, in this drama of the year!
The Magdalene Sisters (2002)
Sisters from hell!
How rage full one can get when one's confirmed with a reality that you cannot identify with..just observe and get so f***** mad, I could vomit! OK..strong words, but this film deserves strong words.. Magdalene Sisters are the institution of nuns that run a laundry, employed by girls who's had a child outside wed-hood. For me the church do not represent these things in full, but I wanna bet my ass that a place like his has existed and does exist today! THAT is why this movie is important, THAT is why the Church did, in fact, argue hard and long against this movie when it was released! It's for these kind of stories that films are made!
Shi mian mai fu (2004)
Daggars flying HIGH!
The Easters strike again.
Asia hits back. Blockbuster machine Hollywood gets another strike in the side, as House of the Flying Daggers are released to the large masses.
We've seen Crouching Tiger and Hero. Amazing movies who gives the viewer a insight into how special effects should be used, and what other effects may create that overtakes the special effects themselves. As in Hero, the use of effects like color, camera movement and a story that gives you the one thing you've been looking for sooo long.
Flying Daggers gives you all this.. Going further into western cinema that the previous hits..but only gains on the new look. A "treat" for the interested are that the special effects are made to "look fake". It's not real..why believe it is?
The Chronicles of Riddick (2004)
Riddick on the roll
Space Opera was never meant for the large masses. Star Wars was the movie that went wrong..It was a hit!! God.. Not even Lucas had that in his sight..
All Scifi movies get the run-down by the critics. It happens every time. But if you like what the genre gives you, you've figured out that whatever the big critics may say..it doesn't count..
As for Riddick...it's far from flawless...but it contains what all us SCIFI fans want and look for... It's GRAND..it has amazing effects..and it has the mythology we love... It's all, more or less, the same..but we LOVE it!
The Door in the Floor (2004)
Door in the Floor
John Irving's books have never produced an easy transcript to the big screen. It takes a lot of good craftsmanship, somebody that understands Irving's complex simplicity, and actors, screenwriters and director that has everything to loose and a bold attitude.
We've seen failures (Hotel New Hampshire) and success (The Cider House Rules) been transferred to the silver screen from Irving's bizarre descriptions... Complex people in even more complex situations.
In Door in the Floor is a good example on how it could be done.. It's just sad that Irving's literal work are so good that it sets so high standards to the production.. Somewhere..and somehow the movie doesn't get to the point where it servers Irving right.. Something's missing.. After twisting my brain for a few hours since I left the cinema..I still cannot pinpoint it.. The movie provides good actors that have good understanding as for the job that needs to be done.. But the sorrow, the hate and the love is not present enough
Spider-Man 2 (2004)
Spider Man 2
Sam Raimi has never made a bad movie. Even as a fan of the "cheap" Dark Man. I must say Spider-Man 2 and its story disappoints me. It's a predictable story for all that it's worth. Maybe that is the nature of a superhero movie, but it doesn't show me the bits that make me swirl in the corner of my home cinema. Even though, there are things in Spider-Man 2 that are good. The actors are excellent, the music of Elfman are as always soothing for a dark mind, and the way the camera flies in this move just makes you grasp. I hope Raimi picks a more exiting and UN-predictable story for his next sequel.. Both Spider-Man and Raimi's "worth" more than this.
The Grudge (2004)
The Grudge
Yet another horror movie adapted to the silver screen for the American masses from the Asian masters! First, I must say, I have not seen the original of this movie..and even then it's easy to say "something went wrong in the translation", but hell, it's not easy NOT to...
The Grudge have most of the elements of the "haunted house" story.. Scary attic, a bathtub full of water, noises all over..and scared-to-hell paralyzed people. The Grudge provides some good scares and has a few elements of brilliance, e.g. when it comes to the sound-design. Though, it lacks the last bit..where your spine twists and your palms get all sweaty... Sam Raimi, one of the executive producers of this flick, has, surprisingly, not set any stamps on this movie, except that his brother, Ted, has a small role...
The Terminal (2004)
The Terminal
The Terminal is based on a true story..but a true story isn't told.
The movie are VERY loosely based on the story of Merhan Karimi Nasseri. An Iranian "stuck" on a French airport, stuck in the situation of being a "no-man-land-man". In the Spielberg movie the "stranded" isn't an Iranian, but an east European citizen, who's country was the subject for a coop while Hank's character was in the air.
It might be provoking in it self that Spielberg & co. has taken what one might call LOADS of artistically freedom in this movie, and for me it is slightly provoking. This could have been a movie about a real person, a real suffering person that, even if the true Nasseri, has been given access to France currently, still lives at the airport, and his life are not a comedy, as Spielberg portrays.
On the other hand, Spielberg delivers a movie with the room for some softness and some laughs. It's "view" on the world is of the "feel-good" type. It gives us movie fans a "breathing ground" in the times of Harry's Lord of the Troy. It's simple..it's fun....and it's Spielberg
The 4400 (2004)
The 4400
The plot line of "4400" intrigued me.. 4400 people has disappeared the last 50+ years... Suddenly they reappear on earth, not aged one day, and not remembering anything.. But something has changed with these people. Something is different...
"The 4400" has the possibility to become a series of almost "unlimited" access for the creative process. If they want they can make 4400 episodes, just to explain the destiny of each and every one of the "returnees". So far, in season one, only 5 episodes has been made, including the pilot, and it looks good. First seasons often suffer under the pressure of establishing the cast and the story.. 4400 does this very good. Even after 2 episodes you got the notion of the different roles and characters, and you get truly "engaged" in the series. I saw all 5 episodes in one night! According to the website of the series the next season are to be aired in the summer of 2005.. I can't wait!
In Good Company (2004)
In Good Company
The New against the Old. The established company against the dotcom people. The money against the human aspects of business.
"In Good Company" the lead of Dan Foreman (Dennis Quaid) sees his established life and situation being threatened by the takeover by a large multinational dotcom company. He's "degraded" and a young hotshot of a corporate asshole ,Carter Duryea, takes over the show.. Thing doesn't go much better when the Carter eyes start to fix on Quaid's daughter (Scarlett Johansson) The most impressive about this move are indeed Scarlett Johanssons role. She never ends to impress. This together with Topher Grace, who's gone from sitcom hero to silver screen presence.
Other than that.. not much to report home for. It's packed with typical American moral rubbish and not a very well written script.. It's fair entertainment...
Ray (2004)
Ray Review
Ray Charles was a legend without cause! The inventor of whole music genera. The GOD of soul.. and blind as a bat! It's an amazing story in itself! Ray, the movie, is an amazing movie with amazing actors, and most amazing of them all.. Jamie Foxx.. He's literary Ray Charles himself. It's a touching story of a man's life. A life full of amazing moments, about the joy for the small things and of heart tearing sorrow. It's recommended absolutely. And both the movie and Foxx should have a run for the Academy Awards. As should the director, Taylor Hackford, for handy-work of another dimension.
Once scene though was "over the top". The scene were Ray goes back in time, and he can see again, and talking to his mother... Did you really have to do that?
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004)
Sky Captain
It's a project right down my alley. A fantasy, Science Fiction, Goth-styles, Adventure with an amazing look and cool special effects... But... damn.. it fails big time.
First, though, the good things... It's Art-Deco, Gothic, Film Noir look is amazing. It's one of the "prettiest" science fiction/fantasy movies of it's genre in years. And the idea itself for this kind of film is just..Cool!
But why did you guys have to go ahead and blow it like that? Well, something might not be all you're fault, but "regular" actors still seems a bit "stiff" on "ALL" blue screen scenes. Mrs. Paltrow represents a major downfall for the movie itself. She truly sucks as the grumpy, nagging reporter. And the story.. well..NO...nothing at all to write home about.. It's mainly, until the very end, an independent movie.. Independent movies has little to build they're movie on if not a good story..but the story in Sky Captain..well.. it's 100% absent.
On other good thing though.. Angelina Jolie...with a British accent.. NICE!
Alt for Egil (2004)
Alt for Egil Review
Fresh out of the Norwegian Film School in Lillehammer, Alt for Egil is Tore Rygh's debut on the big screen.
Alt for Egil is the first of it's kind in Norwegian cinema. A musical! Egil is the pizza delivery guy who has a very close friendship with the mentally disabled friend Jan-Ove. One day, skiing in the mountains, Egil accidentally runs down a girl, who ends up in the hospital in a coma. When the girl wakes up, Egil falls deeply ion love with the girl, and a drama between the three unfolds.
Alt for Egil's story is one for the sweet parts of the heart. On the other hand the brain has some saying in this. Technically this movie is not very good. A lot of the issues this movie has tried to solve end up in small embarrassing moments.
But, all in all, it's a sweet and good movie. The music numbers are fun and at times very gripping. Small methods make small magic in this movie. The actors are splendid, and for "hard" Norwegian movie goers, a singing role for Kristoffer Joner is very satisfying.
A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004)
Lemony Snicket
As a frequent reader of the Lemony Snicket (11 till this date) books, I've been looking forward to this release a long time. It's a story about the Baudelaire orphans. The books, and the movie, begin with the orphans being told that their parents both died in a fire at their home, and that the kids are to be relocated to the closes relative. This is where the vicious Count Olaf steps in. Count Olaf, in the movie, is played by a restraint Jim Carrey. It's, for the most part, not the Carrey you know from movies like Ace Ventura or the Mask. It's a Carrey with restrictions and more "into-the-depth-of-the-role" type.
It's a wonderful and funny story, and even if the books are written for both the young and adult audience, the movie itself is made for kids, mostly. It's sad, because the books have such a wide prospective, and aims for a broader group of people.. Carrey is, I am sorry to tell, not what he could and should have been in these movies.. In my view, Count Olaf is a much more sinister and "evil" character than Carrey provides..
Other than that, a truly entertaining movie...but read the books first..the movie jumps rapidly between the stories, and without prior knowledge, this can be a bit confusing...
ALSO...please stay put in the cinema until the end credits start rolling.. they are truly entertaining.
Million Dollar Baby (2004)
Million Dollar Baby
A Goddess on the screen, Hilary Swank, proves to me that this is an actress that can do whatever she wants. She goes from one height, Boy's Don't Cry, to doing loads of low-end action movies, back to the shining star she truly is in "Million Dollar Baby"...
Clint Eastwoods Oscar Nominated (currently one month still to the Academy Awards) portrays a picture so dark, and still so incredible white. "Million Dollar Baby" is a movie about the 30-something old Maggie Fitzgerald who's only last dream in this life is to hit it hard. To become a professional female boxer and to give all she got into this last shot. Coming from poor and truly ungrateful family to a place where hope finally starts to grow. Shwank gives her character a depth and a sincerity that amaze me.. When she first smile in this move, it truly shows that this girl and her path hasn't allowed her to smile for ages.. It's beautiful and heartbreaking at the same time.