Veteransson Reviews

Our Souls at Night (2017)

Legends reunited in beautiful drama

[8/10 · 28 December 2017]

Our Souls at Night brings veterans Robert Redford and Jane Fonda together for a heart-felt movie, set in a small town in Colorado. The movie is directed by Ritesh Batra and based on the novel with the same name by Kent Haruf. Our Souls at Night opens with the widowed Addie (Fonda) knocking on widowed Louis' (Redford) door one night with a strange request: will you sleep with me? And by this she does not mean 'sleeping' but really, just sleeping. For the companionship. This of course shakes up the daily routine Louis is so used to. The opening shots show that he already accepted his story in this world to be over, he was not looking for nor expecting any change. But with Addie's request, Louis and she start a new chapter in their lives.

The writers did not go looking for great obstacles and inciting events that could shake up their developing relationship. While great obstacles and events are needed for a movie to remain interesting, this movie somehow does not suffer from it. Now why is that? One reason is the focus of the story. Although Addie and Louis are somewhat older, the movie's focus is not on people acting old. The obstacles they face have (almost) never something to do with the physical complications of their age. Instead, the movie focuses on the emotional baggage people with a lifetime of experience and regrets carry. There is no place for big inciting events since they have already taken place over the course of their lives. Their developing relationship is no walk in the park either. They do face some obstacles, mainly in the from of Addie's son Gene (Matthias Schoenaerts). Another reason why this movie works without a high amount of tension or conflict is the acting. Redford and Fonda are superstars and, yet they portray their characters so brilliantly that they manage to make you forget you're watching Redford and Fonda. There's a lot of subtle, brilliant acting. By keeping it simple, the movie manages to deliver a remarkable story about being old and still being able to get a fresh start in your final stage on earth. It is a refreshing view on an elderly relationship and does not fall for useless clichés or unnecessary drama. That being said, while the movie succeeds in what it wants to be, it will not blow you of your socks. The movie does benefit from the simplicity of the story, but is however also limited because of it. The plot does not take any big risks and therefore, does not get the payoff such risks might deliver. You will absolutely want these old people to be happy, there is no doubt about that. But this is mainly thanks to Redford and Fonda's performances and not because of the story. The characters are better and more important than the plot in this one and that is what stops this movie from being perfect. You will root for these people because they are so human, not because the stakes are high.

Our Souls at Night is thus a beautiful movie, told and performed with heart. It is a great one to get you away from the oversupply of Hollywood action and superheroes. You might finally get to feel something again with this one.

Revolutionary Road (2008)

Devastating movie with amazing performances

[8/10 · 15 January 2017]

Sam Mendes returns with another picture following the lives of suburban families in America. In this one, the story is set in the 50's and takes place in Connecticut. No Kevin Spacey this time to steal the show, but Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet make up for that. They respectively portray Frank and April Wheeler who form a couple after meeting in a bar and move to suburbs after April gets knocked up. The movie opens with this bar scene, where they both meet and April tells Frank that she wants to pursue a career as an actress. Next, we cut to a play April is in and from the look on Frank's face it wasn't a good one. The two of them get into a fight on their way home and it becomes clear that they aren't the same people that met in a bar.

The main themes of the movie, as it is mentioned in the movie, are emptiness and hopelessness. More precisely, the fight against it. We first saw Frank with some kind of confidence and excitement about the future on his face, but now he's not the man that would be noticed in a bar. As he goes to work he blends in with all the other men going to work, wearing their hats and gray jackets, just like him. He has lost his distinctiveness. April wanted to act but now has to settle for a life as a housewife. They are both unhappy, lost in the emptiness and hopelessness. The American dream grants everyone the right to the pursuit of happiness, but happiness is what the Wheelers struggle with, which leads to tensions and bad decisions within their household.

This particular struggle is depicted perfectly by Sam Mendes. You can feel and see the emptiness in their lives, also thanks to some brilliant performances. DiCaprio is perfect and gives one of his best performances, which says a lot. The way he expresses his frustrations was amazing, the way he desperately tries to hold back his anger reminded me of a cover trying to stay on the cooking pot while the damp of the coiling water pushes it away. Kate Winslet is as brilliant as DiCaprio is, she gives a devastating, but brilliant performance. She won that year an Oscar for her performance in 'The Reader', but she deserved it for this one as well. DiCaprio wasn't even nominated. Why, I do not know.

The movie is devastating, because it is so relatable. There are so many people living in their seemingly perfect lives, but desperately hoping for something more. Every year they grow older as their regrets start to accumulate. The Wheelers want to escape from this rut and decide to move to Paris, but deep down they know they're stuck, and will never become what they wanted to become back when they were young, back in that bar. Besides this devastating look on the suburban life, there are a few lighter moments. Sam Mendes luckily lightens the mood from time to time by pointing out the silliness of this suburban life in a subtle comedic way. Only, we could have used more of this.

Another strength of this movie, that simply has to be mentioned, is Michael Shannon. He plays this character, who's unfortunately only in the movie for a couple of scenes, that suffers from mental issues. If telling the truth is a mental illness, then this guy is a complete lunatic. With his character, the movie cleverly makes fun of the suburban families for being afraid of the truth to an extent that they send people who actually tell the truth for once to a mental institution. All right, there was something off with this character, perfectly portrayed by Michael Shannon by the way. It is however a shame that his character wasn't more present in the movie. The movie could have benefited from his refreshing presence.

The themes in this movie are intriguing and relatable, the screenplay did an excellent job in making us understand the inner desires and motivations of the characters. The cinematography was terrific as well, and so was the entire ensemble cast. Yet, somehow this depressing tone of the movie became a drag at times. Some lighter moments could have made this movie easier to watch. '12 Years a Slave' had also this continuous depressing tone, without any lighter moments, but still managed to be absolutely perfect. 'Revolutionary Road fails at this, because even though the overall message is devastating and conveyed perfectly, the story is unfortunately not interesting enough to make your care for 2 hours.

99 Homes (2014)

Great acting but too convenient storytelling

[7/10 · 14 January 2017]

'99 Homes' is directed and co-written by Ramin Bahrani, who so far mainly made low-budget indie movies with a relatively unknown cast. These movies never got into the mainstream spotlight, despite overall good reviews. This time, with Hollywood stars Michael Shannon, Andrew Garfield and Laura Dern added to the cast, Bahrani finally received his well-deserved attention. The movie even got a Golden Globe nomination for Michael Shannon's terrific performance.

The story follows Andrew Garfield's character, Dennis Nash, who lives together with his mother (Laura Dern) and son (Noah Lomax) outside of Orlando. The movie takes place in 2010, in the aftermath of the mortgage and international financial crisis. Dennis works as a roofer but jobs are scarce and he fails at paying off his loans. This results in realtor Rick Carver (Michael Shannon) knocking at the Nash family's door, evicting them from their family home.

Both Michael Shannon and Andrew Garfield steal the show in this one. Garfield is a British actor but is very credible in delivering an Orlando accent. He gives his character certain mimics and tics that make him feel real and credible as an uneducated roof worker. Michael Shannon shines at being an asshole, he's an unlikeable asshole realtor but somehow, I found myself rooting for him at times. Shannon seems to be in control of every muscle he uses to express himself and gives one of his best performances. The American housing crisis affected lots of families, which is shown in the movie. The tragedy these evicted families went through is depicted realistically with focus on the emotional toll this sudden change of environment had on the people. Thankfully, this drama was not captured for the sake of the drama, as you often see in Hollywood movies. The best part of the movie was the contrast of these poor families with the predator Rick Carver. He feeds off the situation in morally and legally questionable ways, but isn't a two-dimensional antagonist. He explains why he does what he does and even though you might still not agree with him, at least you understand his motivation. He's not just an asshole for the fun of it or to make the protagonist's life more difficult.

The screenplay of '99 Homes' unfortunately stops this movie from being great. The start is promising, after his eviction, Dennis Nash desperately wants his home back and basically sells his soul to the devil when he starts working for the realtor who kicked him out of his own home. But after this, every beat of the movie became predictable. The story did exactly what you'd think it would do and forgot to surprise. It more or less surprised me once however at the end of the second act, but only because it contradicted the ultimate desire of the protagonist. I thought this particular choice in the story was a cheap way of making some drama. The ending, the final climax was again predictable and unsatisfying.

'99 Homes' is still a good movie, with great acting and an intriguing plot. The drama depicted in this movie is handled with care and respect to those who have lost their homes. Unfortunately, the screenplay was a little too easy, too convenient and therefore predictable. It never surprised in a good way.

The Skeleton Twins (2014)

Great dramatic performances from comedy actors

[7/10 · 13 January 2017]

'Skeleton Twins' is directed and co-written (together with Mark Heyman) by Craig Johnson. The movie follows the story of twins, played by Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig, who are reunited after a 10-year period of not talking to each other. The reason for this reunion is the failed suicide attempt by Bill Hader's character, Milo. His twin sister Maggie decides to take him in to look after him but it's clear that she isn't even able to take care of herself.

The movie opens with the suicide attempt by Milo, ready to slit his wrists and Maggie, ready to overdose on pills. Milo's failure results in Maggie's failure, because the hospital calls her up informing about her brother's radical decision, which prevents her from taking the pills. We as a viewer are the only ones who know about Maggie's failed attempt, which makes her character interesting to follow. The contrast between what she says and obviously (to us) feels elevates the dialogue and her relation with both her brother and her husband Lance, played by Luke Wilson. The cast in this comedy-drama is superb. The drama clearly outweighs the comedy in this picture, and therefore it's interesting to see how Craig Johnson opted for actors you usually see in pure comedies or even Saturday Night Live. It did pay off however, the entire cast was superb. Kristen Wiig and Bill Hader had an amazing chemistry - they both worked together on SNL – and were credible as twins. Maybe less credible as twins who hadn't seen each other in 10 years, because it felt as if they had never been apart. Luke Wilson and Ty Burrell (Modern Family) gave amazing performances as well. Wilson was great in both the comedic scenes and dramatic scenes. Ty Burrell played surprisingly a very restrained, serious character and delivered in every scene he was in. As I said, the drama outweighs the comedy in this one. There are some funny scenes but the themes the movie touched upon were quite heavy. Suicide and what comes after if you live is the main theme in this movie and this isn't the one you usually make jokes about. Craig Johnson looked more for comic relief in his characters than in this main theme, the comedy didn't go the dark way thus. Nothing wrong with dark comedy about sensitive, heavy topics however, '50/50' succeeded in making tasteful jokes about cancer and dealing with the disease.

The characters are vital to the movie. Without you caring about them, this movie will bore you out of your mind. Craig Johnson succeeds at making you care about the characters, which makes the dramatic moments even more powerful. However, as the movie progressed, the movie didn't always get my full attention. The characters didn't develop throughout the movie, stayed more or less the same. When your story depends this much on your characters, it would be beneficial to the movie to have a story or character arch. The movie didn't and luckily the performances and comedic relief were good enough to save the movie from becoming boring.

'Skeleton Twins' is a sweet movie about suicide, family, impermissible relations, with great performances. Don't expect a laugh out loud comedy, this is a drama with some subtle comedic tones.

Reservoir Dogs (1992)

An incredible debut from Tarantino

[8/10 · 12 January 2017]

Quentin Tarantino did not miss his debut with this one. He wrote and directed Reservoir Dogs which premiered at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival. A lot of great movies have premiered at this festival but 'Dogs' will probably remain the most famous passage. Although, 'The Usual Suspects' and 'Memento' are better movies, in my opinion. 'Reservoir Dogs' stars the great Steve Buscemi, Tim Roth, Harvey Keitel, Michael Madsen, Chris Penn, Lawrence Tierney and Tarantino himself.

The cast is simply terrific, everyone is great in this movie. This is of course partly due to the many talents in the cast but also because of the great dialogue and characters. Michael Madsen's character in particular will stay with you forever. The 'Stuck In The Middle With You' scene is brilliant and horrific. Tarantino is at this day still a controversial director, and it all started with this movie and this scene. It's a shame that the violence gets so much attention in Tarantino's movies, because it shouldn't. The violence serves the story, and is in fact essential to the movie.

Reservoir Dogs is a crime movie but isn't your average crime movie. The opening scene is a banal, but funny dialogue between the 'Reservoir Dogs'. It sets up the characters brilliantly and shows that the movie is going to be entirely different from what you might expect to get out of a crime movie. Dialogue is the core of every Tarantino movie. In 'Dogs' this becomes clear right from the start. The dialogue in this movie is however not the best Tarantino has written. Great dialogue builds character or introduces characters, serves the plot, is interesting, and does this without being straightforward. Every line of dialogue in this movie was interesting, it always is with Tarantino. But sometimes it didn't serve the plot and merely confirmed what we already knew about the characters. But of course, it was still interesting, entertaining and incredibly funny.

'Reservoir Dogs' deserves to be called a classic. Tarantino's debut was so innovative to the movie industry that it will remain a classic forever. Reservoir Dogs will never cease to be relevant. Tarantino's potential is shown in every aspect of the movie. He was however not yet the film maker he is today, in my opinion. The bar scene in 'Inglorious Bastards' is one of the smartest scenes he has ever written. The level of suspense of opening (milk) scene of that movie hasn't been matched very often in movie history. In my opinion 'Pulp Fiction' is still his best and even though 'Reservoir Dogs' is absolutely great and innovative, I don't give this one a higher rating because there was still room for progress, in Tarantino's standards. In his next movies he achieved this progress.

Don't Breathe (2016)

Stephen Lang is perfect, the movie very suspenseful.

[7/10 · 12 January 2017]

Three burglars find out about a blind army vet, living in an abandoned street, sitting on a huge amount of cash. The three burglars break their rule of not stealing cash and decide to rob the place, thinking it would be a piece of cake. And of course it isn't. The blind army vet isn't as helpless as they had hoped for.

Don't Breathe is directed by Fede Alvarez, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Rodo Sayagues. They obviously felt inspired by David Fincher's Panic Room (2002), and did come up with a great, suspenseful movie. The three burglars are played by Jane Levy, Dylan Minnette and Daniel Zovatto, who all do a great job. Stephen Lang however outshines everyone in this movie as the old blind man. He doesn't say a lot but his gestures and mimics were enough to be uncomfortably creepy. Even though he played a blind guy, he still made his character seem anything but helpless, on the contrary, his character was more menacing than any ghost, monster or murderer from your average horror movie. On the other hand however, you feel sorry for the blind man. He's simply a man trying to protect his house from burglars. Or is there more behind this man? The movie does a good job making you wonder about whether the blind man has something to hide or not. The movie does a poorer job however with Daniel Zovatto's character, he's the typical character every horror movie has: the asshole that talks too much and doesn't care about anything or anyone.

Besides one or two cheap jump scares, the movie succeeded at maintaining a lingering suspense throughout the entire movie. Once the three burglars are inside the house, there won't be a moment that you'll feel at ease. This is an edge-of-your-seat kind of movie. The movie opens with a scene that obviously takes place later in the movie, which alerts you that until that scene, the burglars will never be safe, and heightens the suspense even more.

As the movie progresses, the twists and turns in the story start to accumulate. Twists and turns in a story are great but not if there are too many, and not if these twist and turns are the ones you might expect from a horror movie. Throughout its course, the movie becomes more and more predictable. And this is where the suspense, although still being present, lessens.

'Don't Breathe' is a great horror movie, accessible for people who don't usually enjoy the genre. It has a great premise and is very suspenseful but becomes a bit too predictable over time.

How to Be Single (2016)

Warning: this movie will bore you.

[4/10 · 9 January 2017]

Wow, this movie was boring. 'How to be Single' doesn't need nor deserves another introduction. The movie is directed by Chrsitian Ditter (Love, Rosie) and stars Dakota Johnson, Rebel Wilson, Leslie Mann and Alison Brie as four single women living in New York City, trying to find out if they want to be single or not.

We, as the human race, have barely recovered from 'Fifty Shades of Grey' and Dakota Johnson throws another atrocity in our faces. It isn't as bad as this inexplicable hype was, but still, how and why, really why did this movie get made? The movie has no content, no relevant message, tried and failed at being heartfelt, and wasn't even funny. There's not much worse than a comedy, trying to be a drama as well, without any good jokes. It's plain boring. Granted, not all the characters were two-dimensional, but we never got to care about them. They're just random people, living their random uninteresting lives. The addition of Rebel Wilson was supposed to bring some comic relief but that didn't work out at all. I haven't heard a single original, smart joke the entire movie. In fact, at least four jokes or funny situation used in this movie were firstly used in the sitcom 'How I Met Your Mother'.

The movie follows the four lives of four different women. Leslie Mann is Dakota Johnson's older sister, Rebel Wilson is a colleague of the latter and Alison Brie is… What on earth was her role in this movie? Her character felt irrelevant to the story, as if it her scenes were added later on in the production process. Dakota Johnson's character is the main character and the movie focuses on her in particular. Johnson did a fine job, but her character arch was so uninteresting and made the entire movie seem pointless.

There's not much you can get out of this movie. No jokes, the jokes they had were already used in a sitcom, uninteresting characters, pointless storyline, a completely irrelevant character, and the list can go on and on. As a result, 'How to be Single' is a boring movie that feels way longer than the 1h 50 min it is.

Bad Moms (2016)

Not funny enough for a comedy, but not awful either..

[6/10 · 8 January 2017]

'Bad Moms' is written and directed by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore, most known for the writing of 'The Hangover'. This sounds promising but on the other hand, unfortunately, they've written movies like '21 & Over' and 'The Change-Up'. 'Bad Moms' is more similar to the latter two than it is to 'The Hangover'. The movie follows protagonist Amy (Mila Kunis), who's the very busy, young mother of two middle school kids. She's married to the father of the two children. He's basically worthless as a partner and a father and consequently she has to take on a huge work load which turns her life arduous. When she meets two other moms, played by Kathryn Hahn and Kirsten Bell, Amy decides to change her habits and starts letting herself come first for a change.

'Bad Mom's is a silly comedy, with some flat and annoying characters. It gets very difficult to like anyone in this movie, besides Mila Kunis, who tries to make this movie work. Every character is larger than life and fits at least a couple of stereotypes. This stereotypical representation of the characters reminded of a bad high school movie, which it actually was, with the difference that the characters are all at least 10 years older. The movie does point out some of the difficulties of being a mom, and how hard it is nowadays to fit the norm of the 'perfect' mom. This makes you care more about the main protagonist in the story, and make you root for her. The other two moms that Amy befriends don't get a lot of introduction or background, and are thus very two-dimensional.

A comedy needs to be funny and actually, this movie was able to come up with a couple of funny moments. There are a lot of comedies out there that fail completely at being funny and are therefore boring as hell. This movie isn't one of these comedies, but is however still not funny enough for it to be an enjoyable comedy, and I did get bored at times. There are some characters that are meant to be funny but turn out be nothing but silly and unlikable. If it wasn't for these couple of funny scenes and funny puns, and a committed Mila Kunis, this movie could have been an awful, boring comedy. Now, this doesn't mean we need more of these movies. Unfortunately, Hollywood didn't get this and a sequel has been announced for 2017.

PS: If you haven't finished season 5 of Game of Thrones and you're still planning to, don't watch this movie. A major spoiler is revealed for the sake of a joke. The joke wasn't worth it.

Captain Fantastic (2016)

Funny, with some great social commentary and an even better Viggo Mortensen

[9/10 · 7 January 2017]

Sundance has offered us a lot in 2016. Manchester By the Sea gets a lot of Oscar buzz, Sing Street was simply terrific, and now Captain Fantastic hits it home with an extremely original, funny, beautiful drama, written and directed by Matt Ross. Viggo Mortensen plays Ben, the father of a big family with a disparate lifestyle. They live in a forest, hunt their own food, learn survival skills, are incredibly and surprisingly well educated, they are completely self-relient, independent from society. When one of Ben's daughters complains about being hungry, he hilariously replies with 'Then you should've shot the f*cking sheep!'. The mother of the family is sick and is staying at a hospital, which makes the task of Ben to keep the family together and strong more challenging than he might be able to handle.

Viggo Mortensen continues to commit himself to great projects and is brilliant in the movie. His oldest son Bo is played by George MacKay and he delivers as well. Bo looks up to his dad and throughout the movie this leads to some enjoying scenes between the two of them. The family counts six kids and unfortunately, not all six of them were able to keep their head above water. Also, sometimes Matt Ross went a bit too far in showing how alternative these children are. We got it the first couple of times one of the children said something no kid would ever say, no need to rub It in. At times this made some of the children look robotic. The family bond however is depicted perfectly by both the actors and Matt Ross, leading to some funny and heartfelt moments.

The movie touches on some of the Western values, which leads to some interesting views. Actually, I can't use the word 'interesting' according to the alternative family, so I'll expand more on this. The family lives in an extreme, far away from society. Extremes are never the right option, but they do offer some new perspective on values and norms that we have come to see as self-evident. Views on Christmas, money, education and brainless entertainment are some of these themes the movie touches upon. Ben's children are stronger and have a greater general knowledge compared to children raised in or by the society, so there are some arguments for his way of education. 'Captain Fantastic' works as a movie foremost because it doesn't try to make Ben's ways of doing things seem superior to the traditional ways. The children benefit in some aspects but also clearly suffer from this alternative education and lifestyle. This is shown in several scenes throughout the movie, when one kid hurts himself or another is freezing in the pouring rain. When the children's grandfather (a great Frank Langella) clearly shows his disapproval of Ben's methods, these particular scenes prevent him from being viewed as the villain. You can completely understand where the man is coming from.

Another great aspect of the movie, which provides a lot of comedic relief, is the contrast between the family and the real world. Some of them have clearly never been far into this world. This leads to some shocking reactions about the countless number of fat people, a deliciously awkward dinner scene, a short, but very awkward romance and even criminal behavior. The entire second act is one big road trip, providing us with all these funny sequences. The soundtrack is great and somehow you want to be part of this family, but on the other hand not. Apart from one cheesy scene that didn't work but luckily didn't ruin the ending, the third act delivered the same enjoyment as the second act. But only in a more heartfelt way.

Captain Fantastic is a well-made, good looking movie with some great performances. The balance between the funny and emotional moments is perfect, making it a light movie, easy and fun to watch.

Don't Think Twice (2016)

Great, realistic and wrongfully overlooked comedy with relatable themes.

[7/10 · 6 January 2017]

Don't think twice follows the lives of a group of actors playing in an improv group in New York City. They're not just colleagues, but have formed a friendship and together, sitting on and around the same couch they watch Weekend Live (read Saturday Night Live) and hope to one day become part of the talented pool of people working on the TV show. When one member of the group gets picked up by Weekend Live, the groups' friendship is put at the test.

Trying to make it is the central theme of this movie. Writer, director and actor Mike Birbiglia successfully depicts the motivation behind this inner desire to make it in the comedy business, which helps you understand why some feelings of jealousy arise when that one person actually makes it. When the subject comes up, you can feel the tension in the air, you can feel that some friends simply don't grant this person his/her success. What makes this movie great is that we actually understand these feelings of jealousy. The other members aren't jealous for the sake of being jealous, they start to realize they might not make it after all, maybe they aren't good enough, they start to question their future.

Throughout the entire movie, you feel like you're watching real people and not just characters. This is thanks to the great directing, writing and acting of the entire cast. The most interesting character was the one Birbiglia plays himself, Miles. He's an improv teacher and there are some great contradictions between his life and passion for improv. He has a routine life, comes back home with the same kind of girls, tells the same joke to each one of them and seems to be stuck in his routine. There's everything but improvisation in his life. Watching his character develop and handle his frustrations was an interesting aspect of the movie. Birbiglia's talent as a writer becomes again very clear in a scene near the end of the movie, between Jack and Samantha (Keegan- Michael Key and Gillian Jacobs), that has a lot of emotional power and contains some clever double meaning. Unfortunately, there are also some flatter characters that didn't add much to the movie. Some dialogues and scenes didn't build the character they intended to do. Also, the ending of the movie worked, made sense, but somehow felt too easy

Nevertheless, 'Don't Think Twice' is a wrongfully overlooked movie because it's so relatable to anyone with a dream. Making it isn't a given and realizing it might as well never happen can be devastating. On the other hand, as one character shows, some people don't have to make it to be happy.

Blood Diamond (2006)

Great Hounsou and DiCaprio in thrilling journey through Sierra Leone

[9/10 · 6 January 2017]

Blood Diamond Is directed by Edward Zwick (The Last Samurai) and takes place in Sierra Leone. The movie follows two protagonists Solomon Vandy (Djimon Hounsou) and Danny Archer (Leonard DiCaprio), the former a fisherman, separated from his family by the civil war, and the latter a sly diamond smuggler. Solomon is being forced by the rebels to look for diamonds and stumbles on a pretty big one. When Archer finds out about the diamond, they form an unlikely partnership to help each other out: a diamond for Archer and a family for Solomon.

Let's get the obvious out of the way first: the performances by DiCaprio and Hounsou are brilliant. Hounsou gives an overall restrained performance but knows exactly when and how to explode. DiCaprio is at least Oscar worthy, nails the foreign accent of his character and outshines in the subtle portrayal of his emotions. The best parts of the movie take place when those two characters are together, the chemistry works and provides us with thrilling and funny scenes.

The movie is one big, epic adventure through the country of Sierra Leone. The civil war that's raging in the country ensures a constant menacing atmosphere. The violence is brutal: wives and children are being butchered, hands and arms are being chopped, the rebels know no mercy. When a little boy tries to hide a diamond while working for the rebels and the leader (Captain Poison, played by David Harewood) notices, this menacing atmosphere surely raises the tension.

The movie also tries to convey a message about the materialism in the first world. Everybody wants diamonds, but doesn't really care where they come from. When journalists write about it, people care for a minute, but nothing changes. When Solomon naively asks journalist Maddy Bowen (Jennifer Connelly) if people would come help when she publishes her story, she cynically laughs and says 'no'. The movie could have benefited from delving deeper into this materialism and ignorance towards the state of affairs in the countries supplying their gadgets that they so badly want but not need.

Blood Diamond takes you on a at times fun, and at times shocking, devastating ride through a devastated Sierra Leone. The conclusion of the movie is satisfying and the great soundtrack surely helps with that. Being 2 hours and 23 minutes long, there were surely some sequences that didn't really add much to the story and could have been left out. Also, I wonder if this movie would have been as interesting without the charismatic Hounsou and DiCaprio.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)

Overall boring and uninteresting, but great visuals

[6/10 · 6 January 2017]

Rogue One, directed by Gareth Edwards (Godzilla), is the first live action feature film taking place inside the Star Wars universe that isn't part of the episodes. The events take place right before the first Star Wars movie from 1977 and tells the tale of the group of rebels that acquired the plans of the Death Star, as talked about and used in the 1977 movie. The main protagonist of the movie is Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones), who is part of the rebellion group that stole the secret plans of the Death Star.

Now, this movie wasn't necessary at all. Nobody asked or waited for this movie to happen, but it's Star Wars (!), so why on earth wouldn't you want to make another movie taking place in this universe? As long as you get a competent, enjoyable movie out of it, a lot of fans and non-fans won't complain too much about this movie being made. But that's just the problem. While the first sequence of this movie is intriguing, the remainder of the first act and the entire second act are boring, messy and utterly disappointing. You get introduced to many characters on different planets exchanging uninteresting dialogue, and although there are some funny moments and thrilling scenes, the point of it all was lost on me. The other issue, besides the uninteresting events throughout the first and second act, is the character development. And perhaps these two are related. There is no character development. Some characters do have a bad-ass scene or deliver some funny punchlines, but their characterization is so flat that it's truly impossible to care about them. You never get to know anything about them, besides from Felcity Jones' character, they're all simply 'profession characters': Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) is a rebel, Bodhi Rock (Riz Ahmed, great in 'Nightcrawler) is a pilot, Chirrut Imwe (Donnie Yen) fights in this movie. But that's all we know about them, we don't really know their motivations or emotional baggage. This flat characterization had a huge contribution in why the movie was uninteresting. At moments where a lot is at stake, when emotional events occur, you just don't care.

It is however a 2016 Star Wars movie, and the visual effects were damn perfect. This movie looked beautiful, better than any Star Wars movie before (besides some CGI persons). The third act was one giant, epic war scene, taking place in an original setting. This third act is where the movie picked up, but still suffered from the flat characters and some cheesy, cliché sequences. There was so much at stake, but again I didn't care about what happened to whom. For the hero-villain climax Gareth Edwards chose one of the oldest clichés in Hollywood. The ending of the movie was interesting, and elevated the story, it was an ending that made sense. It's however sad to realize that the ending could have been perfect and hauntingly beautiful if only Gareth Edwards took the time to make you care about the characters. It's a shame this was never done. But again, the movie looked incredibly good, and should be praised for this aspect.

Overall, this movie would have been a train wreck if the visuals weren't this perfect. The visuals, some elements of the third act, and an amazing Darth Vader scene made up a little for the first two acts of the movie, but not enough for it to be a satisfying movie. Now, where does Rogue One fit within the Star Wars movies? It's way better than the prequels, but doesn't reach the level of 'The Force Awakens' and the original trilogy. These movies had great characters and a menacing villain.

Tomorrowland (2015)

This movie didn't work for me, at all

[5/10 · 4 January 2017]

Tomorrowland is the second live action feature by Brad Bird after his successful debut with Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol. The movie follows Casey Newton (Britt Robertson) who tries to enter a new, mysterious world with the help of inventor Frank Walker (George Clooney). The overall marketing campaign behind the movie was quite mysterious about the plot of the movie, which is a good and rare thing these days. Lately, you don't get to see a movie very often without knowing what it's about. Unfortunately, figuring out what the movie was about during watching it was perhaps the sole aspect of the movie that kept me interested. This Disney family movie didn't work for me, at all.

Tomorrowland sets up and explores a new, original world and luckily the visuals were good enough to make this world look appealing. This should have been beneficial to my interest in this world, but almost every aspect of the movie, besides the visuals, made sure that I wouldn't get invested in the movie. Alright, it's a kid's movie and therefore the acting is sometimes silly because that's how kids like it. The dialogue is simple and very expositional, so kids can understand the movie. But that's no excuse for the dialogue to be this awful and the acting to be this bad. You can make things simple without making the bad. Take 'Back to the Future' for example, where the dialogue and acting are quite silly, but unlike in 'Tomorrowland', it actually works. In the case of 'Back to the Future', director Robert Zemeckis and actors Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd played a pivotal role in the success of the movie. It takes great actors with an understanding of comedy to deliver this kind of silly dialogue, and it takes a competent director to set the right tone for the movie to make this kind of acting and dialogue work. Brad Bird and Britt Robertson failed at what the cast of 'Back to the Future' succeeded. George Clooney gave a decent performance.

Tomorrowland will not become a classic Family movie, but will be forgotten shortly after watching it. Which is a shame, because the movie did set up an original world.

Sing Street (2016)

Funny, sweet, joyful movie with a lot of heart

[9/10 · 3 January 2017]

'Sing Street' is set in Dublin during the 80's, when teenager Conor, subliminally portrayed by Ferdia Walsh-Peelo, is forced to change schools due to the incapability of his parents to make ends meet. Across the street from his new school, where the protagonist is challenged by the new environment from the first day on, Conor notices a mysterious girl (an outstanding Lucy Boynton). Eager to impress this mysterious girl, he makes up that he plays in a band. So… Conor kinda has to start a band now.

'Sing Street' is another music movie written and directed by John Carney, who has had past successes with 'Begin Again' and foremost 'Once'. This time Carney revisits his childhood and it pay off big time. It's a sweet, joyful movie about so much more than impressing the girl. First of all, the music is great. With the help of his brother Brendan, played by Jack Reynor with a knock-out performance, Conor tries to find his identity as an artist and moves like a loose cannon from one source of inspiration to another. From Duran Duran, to David Bowie, to the Cure. The songs he composes together with his band, an ensemble of misfits, is catchy, fun, very eighties, with lyrics that shape his character and serve the plot. While the musical aspect of the movie makes the movie lots of fun, there are various powerful scenes that make 'Sing Street' one of the best movies of 2016. One scene where Brendan talks to Conor about their mother, enjoying the last rays of sun of the day seems like a small, simple scene but is so very powerful and plain devastating. It are those moments of great dialogue and symbolism (and not coincidentally most of the time with Jack Reynor in them) that make this movie grow on you even days or weeks after watching it.

This coming of age movie also has the typical romantic story line. The dork trying to get the hot girl is a concept used in many, maybe too many movies and has become a cliché. Here, you just don't care about the cliché because the story line is handled in such a sweet and tender way that you simply want all the clichés to play out as you expect them to, because you want to see them played out in this exact way. Walsh-Peelo and Boynton have an amazing chemistry, with great dialogue, sometimes with a philosophical character. He's only 14 years old, she's 17, but being 'happy sad' puts the oldest among us to think. The dialogue wasn't only strong between these two characters. Over the entire movie, so much is said with subtle choice of words. Nobody ever explicitly states how they feel or what happened in their lives. instead of plainly pointing out how a character feels, the dialogue guides our perception about the feelings and background of a character. This is the dialogue in its purest form. This subtle guiding of our perception is also achieved by the amazing performances of the actors.

Music, trying to find your identity as a person and artist, and love are three main recurring themes through the movie. But the movie reaches another zenith when you realize it's about more than all of that. It's about the relationship between two brothers in a broken family. The relationship between Conor and Brendan is perhaps the best part of the movie, again because of strong performances by both actors, and again because of the way it was handled by John Carney. Brendan's character will be relatable for every first born of the family.

Sing Street is a must see, extremely joyful, sweet and funny movie. Besides the fun, the movie hides many layers that will make the movie stick with you for a long time. Hopefully, this movie will receive the appreciation it deserves during the upcoming award season.

Everybody Wants Some!! (2016)

Lot's of fun, great soundtrack

[9/10 · 2 January 2017]

The movie opens with freshman college student Jake (Blake Jenner) in his car, on his way to his dorm while 'My Sharona' plays on the background. Watching this movie in December, Summer has never felt closer. Linklater sets the tone of the movie perfectly with this first scene: a hot Southern Summer, set in the early 80's, right at the start of something new. You can feel these three elements in the air through the entire movie, and that's exactly what makes it amazing.

The movie follows a baseball team during the first weekend of the academic year, right before classes start. But this isn't just another college movie, we're talking about Linklater here. This however doesn't mean the movie is no fun, because it is. It has all the fun, all the crazy and random drunk moments, jocks, drunk girls and machismo as you can expect from any college movie, but with the difference that every character feels real and has more depth than any Blue Mountain State or American Pie character you'll ever see on the big screen.

Richard Linklater knows exactly what college students are like. They're heading towards this quarter life crisis, not knowing which direction they're going, so they decide to lose themselves in the moment. A recurring theme in the movie is competitiveness, they're all athletes, proud to be part of the baseball team and all they want is winning. Finnegan (Glen Powell), arguably the best part of this movie, notices this competition within the group: 'You get a bunch of competitors together, and you're addicted to winning.' Finnegan didn't even have to say this line for us to know it, this remarkable addiction to winning is omnipresent in the entire movie. As I mentioned, the movie plays out over the first weekend of the academic year. and so what you see are simply events, which are entertaining and build character, but however lack story. Although this lack of story didn't bother me, it does make me wonder if the movie would have been better with more depth in terms of story.

'Everybody Wants Some!!' is said to be the spiritual sequel to 'Dazed and Confused', another great Linklater picture. I prefer not to compare both movies, but if you enjoyed Dazed and Confused, you'll enjoy this one. The tone is perfect, the characters feel so real, the soundtrack is perfect, you can feel the summer and hormones in the air, and therefore the movie as a whole is lots of fun.

The Prime Minister (2016)

Great suspense, but unsatisfying ending

[7/10 · 2 January 2017]

De Premier is the first film by Eric Van Looy since 'The Loft', the American adaptation of his own 2007 'Loft'. With 'The Loft' being trashed by American critics, there was a lot at stake when this picture came out. But Eric Van Looy successfully dealt with the past criticism and made an intense, suspenseful thriller, maybe even superior to his 2007 success of 'Loft'. From the first, rainy, shot of the movie on, the tone is set. You immediately feel something bad is about to happen. And the tone of the movie never changes, which is a great accomplishment. Van Looy mentioned that with 'De Premier', he wanted to make his own 'Jaws', meaning that every scene of the movie leaves you in suspense. He succeeded. Koen De Bouw, the Belgian Prime Minister, forced to kill the U.S. President (Saskia Reeves) gives a good performance. He portrays the PM in a credible way, balancing his character between helplessness and resourcefulness. The stand out performance comes from the menacing driver, played by Stijn Van Opstal. He drives the PM around and makes sure he sticks to the plan that was forced up on him. De Premier is almost perfectly directed, with some thrilling scenes, among which a bloody bathroom scene, but has one major issue: the story. First of all, kidnapping the Belgian PM to assassinate the U.S. President isn't the most credible story. But that's OK, since it made me want to watch the movie. The problem with the story is foremost the ending. The ending could have worked, if it didn't completely contradict previous events. With contradict, I don't mean to point out a plot hole or anything of that kind, it's rather that the ending doesn't match the overall suspenseful and menacing tone of the movie. The movie also tries to explain why the Belgian PM was chosen to assassinate the President and came up with some clear arguments. I just didn't buy them. If it wasn't for the great directing throughout the movie, I might have felt cheated by the ending. Nevertheless, this movie is most certainly worth your time, you'll enjoy the suspense but don't expect a satisfying climax.