ng_open_air Reviews

King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (2017)

A movie to forget

[5/10 · 10 November 2017]

The fact that I do not like Ritchie's style is probably making me a bit subjective. However, trying to be as objective as I can, I found this movie extremely tiring to watch.

In my opinion, Ritchie should better stick to gangster and spy movies, and leave historical and/or fantasy themes to someone else.

The Impossible (2012)

A decently directed true story family drama

[7/10 · 4 June 2013]

There isn't much to be said about the plot in this movie, because, mainly, there is none. Which is, of course, to be expected. The main event here is the devastating natural disaster which we all, sadly, still remember, especially all the countless families that were affected by it, either by losing their loved ones or participating in it themselves, which has without doubt changed their lives forever. This is a story about one such family.

The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami was, in fact, one of the worst natural disasters in the recorded history, killing over 230,000 people. I remember watching the TV reports, I still feel shiver just thinking about it. I guess I cannot even begin to imagine what horrors families like this went through during the fore-mentioned events. And I am quite sure no movie can ever express those horrors thoroughly enough.

I think this movie was done cleverly and with much precaution. The tsunami aftermath is still a very delicate subject, and there are a lot of people that witnessed this nature's act of destruction one way or another, so the filmmakers obviously didn't want to make it too realistic and documentary, instead they tended to focus on a single family's struggle for survival, with just the right amount of drama. The TV reports that I recall of were much more horrifying than the movie, but I guess it is better without too many explicit scenes.

Speaking of explicitness, there is a small detail that I can't see the relevance of - showing Naomi Watts' naked breasts in a few scenes of the movie - but I guess the filmmakers had their reasons for this.

The definitely most terrifying scenes in the movie were when and right after the wave struck, which was quite a good impression of nature's devastating whims. The effects in the movie were quite satisfactory. Though I must say I expected a longer introduction before the actual strike scene, i.e. some shots of the water recession. Not that it is of much relevance anyway, I just think it would have been a nice touch.

To sum it up, there are some things that could have been done differently in this movie, nevertheless, it is a good, professionally directed, natural disaster movie, with good cast and some nice special effects, plentiful of drama, all in all qualities that make it's watching worthwhile.

Now Is Good (2012)

One of the most heart-breaking stories I have ever seen

[8/10 · 6 February 2013]

It is hard to even begin to imagine a fate more terrifying than this - a girl in her prime, just about the age when she not only desires to explore all what life has to offer - both good and bad - but also should finally be able to fully experience life, gets her dreams brutally abrupt and shredded by a vicious disease that pushes her in a far undesired path - she has to deal with a fact that she is counting her last days on this Earth. Having to see everyday things, little things most of us take for granted, and knowing she won't be able to enjoy them for much longer, if ever.

And like that's not hard enough, she also has to deal with so many tough decisions. I guess most people in her condition would hope for a miracle all the way until the end, despite what the doctors say, but she has so much will for tasting life, that she doesn't want to waste her precious time on chemotherapy, or any treatment what-so-ever - she faces her fears, she accepts her fate and tries to live what she has left the best way she can.

She also doesn't get much support from her parents - well, maybe a bit too much support from the dad actually, but not the kind she needs, and no support from her mum at all. But when you think harder, who can blame them - they are both devastated by the fact that they are going to lose their daughter and each is dealing with it in their own way. The father is over-caring and never stops hoping for a miracle, but is deep down aware of the imminent outcome. He can't reconcile with the unavoidable fate of his daughter, but also tries to stay strong and cool-headed in all times; he eventually cracks in the very end. The mother tries to deal with the "problem" by not dealing with it at all, and instead just avoiding it, so hopefully it might go away by itself, just magically disappear. She loves her daughter very much, but she is in worse state than it might appear at first - she is in denial, she refuses accept the concept of her little girl dying, so she puts on a mental block in attempt to overcome and forget about this whole tragedy.

There is also the brother - of course he can't deal with this in an adult manner, so he acts quite childish on the subject, which is really to be expected. He cannot yet grip entirely the concept of living and dying, and he talks about his sister's death as if it were something everyday and ordinary - he doesn't really seem to understand how it's actually going to be, that he is not going to see his sister anymore, that he will lose her forever. He finally realizes it in the end of the movie in her final moments - and this is my favorite quote of the movie - when his parents tell him that he "should say goodbye", he replies that he's afraid that "it might make her die".

I think there is no need to analyze the love story of the film. It's a beautiful, but classic love story, just wrapped in very difficult and painful circumstances. It is very essential to this movie though, because as it brings some happiness and brightness into Tessa's life, it also makes the movie easier and less painful to watch. It is a love story with a sad ending, but since the viewers are already aware of this from the beginning of the movie, this is not a classic tragic love story (although the movie itself IS tragic) - it just makes us feel glad that Tessa grabbed a little chance of happiness in the end - she deserved it. The love story also fulfills the leitmotif of the movie, and that being - don't leave your chances for later, you never know how much more time you've got - "This right here, right now, is definitely a moment." Seize it, it's happening right now, and "now is good"! In the end, I would just like to add that Dakota Fanning's act was brilliant, as always. This is not an easy role and I think she has done it flawlessly. She is by far one of the brightest young stars Hollywood has to offer, and I'm really looking forward to see her in the future, because I'm certain her best acting days have yet to come.

Resident Evil: Retribution (2012)

This is not a movie, this is a video game

[6/10 · 1 February 2013]

There is not much to be said about this movie. Even the most optimistic viewers wouldn't expect anything more from this than another zombie flick full of running, jumping, fighting, shooting, infinite amounts of bullets being fired, a little gore, and a shallow plot.

As a horror, it's a disappointment; but to be honest, can you really expect to be frightened by a movie that you've seen four times already (this being the 5th sequel, and all of them are practically identical)? As a sequel to the franchise - yes, I must agree that this one is probably the worst and least amusing of all five movies, but that doesn't come as a surprise, because with this type of movies it's always the same, each new sequel is worse than the one before.

But all of this didn't come as a surprise to me, and to be frank, this movie didn't disappoint me personally, in any aspect, because my expectations weren't that high anyway. It may have been done better, of course (there is always room for improvement), but I don't mind, really.

There were numerous hilariously illogical "mistakes" in the movie (as one might call them), but I don't consider them as mistakes, as such "mistakes" happen in all R.E. movies and since all the movies are based on a video game (and we all know how video games can be). If this were an independent movie, I would totally trash it, but while watching it, I kept thinking to myself that I was actually playing a PC game, and of course you can expect that, for example, in a game a character runs through a rain of bullets and comes out unharmed. Because such games are essentially not about the story and logic, but more about the adrenaline. Though this raises a dilemma - why would anyone keep creating such movies, when we HAVE video games, and they serve better for that purpose? The answer is simple enough - to raise some more money living on old glory. The first movie was legendary, and the sequel to it was expected and welcomed - everything else was pretty much the same - mediocre and rather poor.

I sincerely hope this one will be the last sequel of this franchise, just for the sake of keeping dignity of the original story. But, if they do make another one, I'll most probably watch it anyway.

Moonrise Kingdom (2012)

"Epic" children's play

[7/10 · 31 January 2013]

After watching this movie, I feel like I've actually been in a theater. Watcing a children's play. Weird.

This is definitely something new to me, I've never watched a movie quite like this. The plot itself could have been displayed in a regular way, but then this movie wouldn't have been as special, would it? If this was just another drama about two adolescent runaways, misunderstood and neglected by the adults, and the consequent search party, it would have been just another movie we have already seen. And it would probably get good enough reviews anyway, at least because of its great cast. But instead, Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola decided to go in a slightly different direction. And I wouldn't expect anything else from them, anyway.

At first part of the movie, I must be honest, this irritated me quite a bit. That's probably because I'm not used to watching movies filmed this way. Furthermore, it's not just that the movie was filmed like it was a children's play, but it was also filmed as seen through children's eyes, so it basically pushes the viewer to adapt to thinking like a child. Although it has its adult moments, flirting with themes such as love, romanticism, even sexuality (in a clumsy, childish manner), but also "darker" themes such as child negligence, adultery, hurting (both physical and psychical) and death. There is also a slight touch of dark humor in some scenes.

One thing that I didn't like in this movie is the music - it's too loud, too quirky, and in my opinion there's just too much of it. I would have rather that they skipped a few numbers, and left some scenes silent, just with the conversation of the characters. But, I guess the music was done like this on purpose, so to create the theatrical atmosphere, and to be in tone with the rich and colorful stage scenery, and emphasize the "epicness" of the plot.

All in all, this movie left me a bit confused. I'm not sure whether to like it or not. It's definitely not my genre, but then again, this is something I'm not used to, and it's kind of hard to say if it's my genre or not, since I can't even label this movie with a genre, I'm not sure of its genre. One thing I do know, and that is I am not a theater guy myself, but I think this movie would be very interesting to anyone who likes the theater. And also to anyone who is open to something new, equipped with a little patience, and appreciates artistic freedom - I say, thumbs up!

Wanderlust (2012)

Not worth watching

[4/10 · 28 January 2013]

At the end of this movie there are a few bloopers, in which basically the actors burst into laugh when saying some lines of their respective characters. Watching this, I thought to myself - this movie was obviously funny only to the people on the set, while it was being made. Maybe I would have laughed too if I was there with them. It's either that or none of the actors have any sense of humor. Which I don't believe is the case, because some of these actors are generally good, I guess they just fell victims to a devastatingly bad script.

In other words, this movie sucks big time. I mean, I didn't expect much, since it's a romantic comedy, and such movies are practically supposed to be uninventive and predictable. But this one is almost unbearable to watch. There is no plot whatsoever, the characters are mostly idiotic (not funny kind, just plainly idiotic); I think personally the only positive thing about this movie would be Jennifer Aniston, but her performance wasn't quite admirable as well. I guess that's because the movie didn't require any performance to begin with. Just a bunch of aimless characters, with moronic lines that don't make any sense most of the time.

There is a mild improvement in general perspective of the movie while it gets closer to the end, when it gradually blends into "the romantic-comedy cliché" (I can't believe that I actually said that a cliché is an improvement, but in this case this is true). Unfortunately, it's not remotely enough to make it worth while.

Want my advice? Skip this one!

Frankenweenie (2012)

Nothing exceptional

[6/10 · 25 January 2013]

I understand that many, even most, Tim Burton fans liked this movie very much. Some go as far as claiming that this is his best work, or that this is a refreshment to his work.

I see nothing special about this movie. This is just an average Tim Burton piece. Don't get me wrong, I love Tim Burton, but compared to his other two animated flicks ("The Nightmare Before Christmas" and "Corpse Bride"), this one can't be called anything better than average. It has all the classic Tim Burton qualities - the extraordinarily weird characters (which are just plainly weird, with no extra explanation), some black humor, dark atmosphere, great music (courtesy of Danny Elfman) and artistic touch; yet it lacks of that certain something that makes movies out-stand.

I must additionally comment on the fact that the movie is filmed in black and white technique - although I understand the reasons behind this, and generally approve of such ideas, I don't think this was as essential to this movie; in fact perhaps it would have been better if it were in color. Although I say this from an utterly subjective perspective.

All in all, a nice movie to watch, but nothing to enjoy much about. I'd say this one is for the die-hard Tim Burton fans, if you are not one of them, you can easily skip this movie, you won't have missed much.

Ruby Sparks (2012)

A real refreshment to the genre of romantic comedy!!!

[8/10 · 22 January 2013]

A real refreshment to the genre of romantic comedy!!! I really enjoyed 'Ruby Sparks'.¸ At first, to be completely honest, I didn't expect much out of this movie. It's labeled as romantic comedy with a pinch of fantasy - and that's exactly what I thought it would be. Oh, but this movie is so much more!!! First of all, I would point out that the cast is excellent. Each and every actor in this movie is perfectly picked for the role. And their performance is quite astonishing as well. There is no affectation or over-performing.

Much effort was obviously put in the development of the characters as well. I think it is great for the movie that the main actress Zoe Kazan is also the writer, because she is able to perfectly transfer the character from paper to screen.

Even though it may not seem at first, all the characters in the movie are quite complex individuals. Especially the two main characters, Calvin and Ruby.

Calvin is not your typical hero - he is shut, friendless, psychically troubled, control freak, not too good looking, kind of nerdy, and above all hopeless romantic. Who would ever want to date him? On the other hand, he is quite popular among the girls (even idolized), as he is a famous writer. Quite the contradiction, right? Calvin is all about contradiction. He is displeased with his life to say the least, even though at some point he says to Ruby that his life "has been perfect so far". He desperately craves for a girl, but never goes out with one, even though he has many opportunities. He claims that his ex girlfriend (who is obviously still in love with him) ruthlessly left him, even though he is aware that he pushed her away. He got a dog so he could meet women, but instead he is convinced that the dog is chasing women away. Ruby fits perfectly in this list - she's Calvin's opposite, a contradiction. She's everything that Calvin isn't. Being the creation of his imagination, she represents a part of him that is locked deep down, something like a dark side, but in this case, she is his bright side, which is repressed, while "the dark side" prevails.

I think that's why Calvin dreams of Ruby - his better side is trying to come out; it's some sort of a remedy that he subconsciously desperately cries out for. Even his psychiatrist encourages him to write about the girl from his dreams, because he thinks this may help him recover of whatever problems are troubling him.

There are two ways of explaining how and why Ruby came to life.

First explanation would be simply to accept the storyline as it is, that she is in fact an imaginary character who "materialized out of thin air", magically, triggered by the force of Calvin's subconsciousness.

The second explanation is a little more complex, and has several possible truths. Generally speaking, the whole movie might just be a product of Calvin's imagination. Being that a dream, or a hallucination. Although, Ruby at the end of the movie is definitely real. Who is Ruby then? She might be someone who, in her own words, goes "to the same coffee shop" as Calvin. So let's say Calvin saw her, maybe more than once, he liked her, and his subconsciousness created this image of his dream girl, with made up personal details, which were designed to something that he personally felt pleasing (like her background, history, birthmarks). This doesn't necessarily have to be characteristics of the woman at the end of the movie. These were conveniently taken out of the book anyway, so we cannot know the real truth (which would obviously be visible out of Ruby's reaction to the book, if she would have read the details about herself).

It doesn't even matter what the truth is anyway, does it? This is left up to the viewer's imagination. Romantics will believe that the strength of love that Calvin sensed about this imaginary character brought her to life (ergo, love is magical), and that the last scene is kind of a cosmic reward for Calvin's unselfishness (for letting her go); maybe this was put in the movie just to create some additional mystery, and to have a happy ending (I don't know about you, but I love a happy ending). On the other hand, some of us that have a more philosophical and metaphysical point of view will probably have their own theory, similar or not to mine.

Either way, this is a movie that has a little something for anyone, and it's a definite thumbs-up.

The Tall Man (2012)

Give this one a chance and you won't regret it!

[8/10 · 22 January 2013]

Wow! This one's something else. I mean, to be completely honest, for about most of the movie, I thought it would just be another cliché, a twisted mystery/horror story, filled with logic mistakes, bad acting and a predictable ending. Except, this story has so many twists, that after I changed my prediction of ending for about the fifth time, I was finally convinced that the ending might not be as predictable as I imagined. And what a treat it was in the end! Not only did it fulfill all the possible expectations of a good mystery thriller, but it also added quite a drama blow, plus a moral dilemma closure leaving the dazzled spectator a lot to ponder about.

My advice to all who are considering watching this movie - if you start feeling the way I felt for about a whole hour since the beginning of the movie, and if you think the plot leads nowhere and that it's becoming senseless and trashy, or that it's just a good idea but lacks of everything else (that also crossed my mind a few times) - please reconsider and be patient. All these seemingly illogical scenes that appear as mistakes, bad acting, or plot gaps, are actually not what they look like - and this becomes clear only at the end of the movie. So - be patient and give it a chance, I guarantee you won't regret.

Hotel Transylvania (2012)

Children's flick

[7/10 · 16 January 2013]

This film doesn't bring anything new to the overstuffed animation scene.

The idea itself is somewhat interesting, presenting monsters as good guys and humans as villains (although actually there are no REAL villains here, every character is quite lovable and friendly). Perhaps this idea could have been developed somewhat more seriously, thus making the film emerge from the vast sea of similar flicks, nevertheless it's interesting enough to watch without getting bored.

I would say that for grown-ups, this movie won't be too interesting to anyone, except the die-hard animation fans. To children, however, I believe this would be a very interesting film, especially those that fear of monsters under the bed or in the closet - this one might just put those fears to rest.

Before Sunset (2004)

Love story for anyone

[7/10 · 15 January 2013]

Just before writing this review, I took a quick look at the Board where people discussed this film's ending. There are so many interesting theories about what might have happened afterwards, and you can see how people are intrigued with the openness of all the questions left unanswered, when the screen turns black. It is not so much about the mystery, but rather provoking people's imaginations and more importantly arousing their own romanticism. I think that, in a way, the people were actually describing what they would do if they were Jesse or Celine. This is what I like the most about this movie (actually both movies), it kind of makes any viewer recognize him or herself in one of the two main characters. Because these characters really can be any one of us. And this concept, in my opinion, is what makes this film a winner - two ordinary people meet in a random place and fall in love. They are not your typical Hollywood love story characters, and that's a good thing as well, because if they were, this film would be as boring as hell. As Celine says when commenting on how long it took Jesse to write the book: "Wow, that's a really long time to be writing about one night." Both movies are quite uneventful and ordinary, but it's not about events anyway, the characters and the mood alone keep viewers in suspense throughout the picture. In its raw simplicity, both films evade tiring or confusing the viewer, thus making it a lot easier to just give in to the overwhelming emotions.

All in all, I would recommend this film to anyone (or more precisely, these films; they cannot go one without the other), especially to all romantics out there. And to some others who perhaps don't fancy romance movies, I would say - watch this one anyway, this is not another cheesy love story, but rather a realistic venture that could really represent the life story of any of us. I, for one, know I wouldn't mind if it were mine!