Change Your Image
dertilee
Ratings
Most Recently Rated
Reviews
Combat (2006)
The blur bitch project
I saw this "film" recently at the Athens International Film Festival. Ordinarily i wouldn't mind its tediousness, blurriness, pompous post-dogma style of cheapness mixed with half baked structuralist psychological ravings but... But it has received the prestigious Teddy film award at the Berlin Film Festival and i wonder; What exactly did they have in mind when they gave it to a non-film ? what is so poetic or deep about shaken images looking like they were taken with a mobile phone video camera? Should we all go out and make our own mobile videos? i have a great idea about the Blair witch returning to haunt and spank art video directors.
Dogville (2003)
a township of dogs
Nicole Kidman is the greatest actress of the 21st century and Lars Von Trier is the most challenging and visionary film artist since the times of Goddard. Together they created a critique of the protestant morality and a bomb to the western way of thinking. Echoes of Brecht and his circle of chalk overshadow this black tale of exploitation, naivety and cold-hearted revenge. The most striking postmodernist film ever made, already famous for its sarcastic take on the american dream (which is not so accurate-the film had a much broader vision)has been deprived of its chances to artistic recognition, first at Cannes film festival and now by postponing its American release until next year. It must have caused great fear indeed!
The Matrix Revolutions (2003)
So this is the Matrix?
What is the Matrix? what is the Matrix? In 1999 these four words buzzed throughout the world bringing hope to every film buff for a new sensitive and deep kind of film making coming out of the ever declining Hollywood industry. In 2003 I have only one question : what was in your brain when you made these so called Revolutions? Sensitive gave way to the sensual and deep turned out to be cheap. This essentially bad collection of coffee table philosophy and rambo meets aliens war relishing did not only disappoint me. It made me furious.The emperor turned out to be naked after all... This is your Matrix (and your Waterloo too). And a last hint : If your Savior pulls the plug on the matrix what about the salvation of those poor souls trapped in the bathtubs of eternity? Well a small price to save SION. Please give us a break (and our money back).
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider - The Cradle of Life (2003)
pandora's trash
90 million dollars, exotic locations, an exciting and all-suggesting leading lady and... what? This? Incoherent, underwritten, flashy, trashy and close to the naively insulting. It could have been exciting interesting and magnificent but no they had to go and make it like a videogame ! Well, haven't they heard the news? 10 year olds are not the only film audience in the world. Now let them reap the poor box office and count the loss. It takes more than this to make the female combination of James Bond and Indiana Jones: it takes the art of cinema...
L'homme sans tête (2003)
A short feast
i saw this little big surprise at the Athens Film Festival tonight and was stunned. I thought it was very poetic and completely surreal. I believe that its main influence was Jean Pierre Jeunet whose cinematic vision seems to spread on to new evangelists. Formidable, elegant and ...extremely expensive-looking for a short. A treat.
The Four Feathers (2002)
the four mistakes
After having enjoyed more than once the massively impressive "Elizabeth" i was intrigued by Shekar Kapur's next choice of tackling a much remade and widely known adventurous romance like the Four Feathers. Sadly and predictably, no matter how many efforts were made of adding a fresh air of modern international affairs to the subject matter, the whole notion is so dated and predictable that it cannot stand the test of time without showing the seams. Flashy direction, loose script, totally unsuccessful use of music and underuse of young talent, combined with a sense of boys'own adventure flick, all add up to little more than a "full" plate of mindless entertainment with a few memorable moments, especially the ones with Wes Bentley who shines in his role as a devoted British officer (something that cannot be said about the rest of the cast). Overall not the sort of work to be expected from this director.
In the future he should be less certain that he can take a well known work, completely reverse its point of view and get away with it.
Naturlige briller (2001)
One brill-iant minute
I saw this film last September at the Athens Film Festival's shorts program and it still keeps coming back. The sheer brilliance of the idea, the pacing and the filmic economy that characterize this gem are beyond words. Bravo! I wish i could watch it everyday ! Then the world around me would seem better without having to use the title glasses.
Thir13en Ghosts (2001)
A house is not always a home even if it looks like a bargain
After all the more or less positive reviews I have read and all the comment and good word of mouth I have heard, it was a disappointment to have to sit through this series of boos and cheap thrills called "thir13n ghosts". Films are supposed to have plot, development and characterization, otherwise why should one lose time and not visit the nearest roller coaster playground instead? One - admittedly very impressive- set and some clever directing ideas (the camera zooming through the special glasses in the bathroom scene) do not make up for over-acting, pointless screaming, confusing plot lines and -the greatest fault- uncertainty of tone which blow the film to smithereens. And why may i ask are the main characters of Greek descent? Is there a hint somewhere i am missing? Do the screenwriters know or was the name thrown in to give a touch of exoticism and ancient mystery? Pity for the probable good intentions.