h-b-bos Reviews

Rust and Bone (2012)

gorgeous picture

[10/10 · 25 June 2012]

I tremendously enjoyed this movie. Some people think this is a story about a girl who loses her legs. It's not. The story isn't about her. The real main character in this story perhaps is Ali, played by Matthias Schoenaerts. Well maybe it's not about him as well. What this story is definitely about is fighting. This story is not meant to be touching, it is all about coping strategies. With Ali it's really fight or flee, for Marie it's getting back on your feet after a devastating blow.

Matthias does an excellent job, acting a lower class man with no real education. He is simple minded and he is quite rude, but he has a gentle side to him.

I like the ink that Marie gets done, marking the stubs of her legs 'droit' and 'gauche', left and right. To me that is a subtle way of showing that she is beginning to accept her situation.

I found the casting for this movie refreshing. The looks of the characters aren't perfect. I find that I am getting tired of what seems that all actors and actresses are looking less distinctive than ever.

Footnote (2011)

An onion of irony

[7/10 · 12 March 2012]

This is a very good movie, but it could be better. The feel of the whole story very much reminded me of the Coen Brothers movie 'a serious man'. It has the same sense of general awkwardness in its characters. The story is very well told. It has a chapter structure and the parts of father and son have kind of symmetry to it, resulting in a feeling of bittersweet irony. If you like irony in all its layers and subtleties, then this is definitely something to watch. The one thing that could make this movie better in my opinion, is the climax that the whole movie is building up to, but which is left to your imagination. In my taste a little too much so, but decide for yourself!

Hugo (2011)

Good but not excellent

[7/10 · 26 February 2012]

Meant to be visually stunning, it fell a little short to my expectations. The visual effects may fool the children, but at some point they will get annoying. When Hugo is within the walls of the train station you will notice that his movements do not fit the constraints of the architecture as you saw it in the interior of the station. The train station and the space between the walls are obviously different worlds. Another flaw is that there are several shots which would have the camera position as much as three times as high as the Eiffel tower. There is no such tall building in the vicinity of the Eiffel tower in my recollection of Paris, especially not in the time in which the movie is set. I also noticed I got a little bored with the 'steampunk' clockworks and machinery that you see in this movie, the golden compass and likes.

I enjoyed the wild experiments of the beginning of film making, in which the main character George Melies plays a big role. You feel the excitement of new inventions and wonders of technology. But I fear that this movie suffers too much from lack of focus; children will miss the different layers and will probably be bored and the storytelling will leave adults something to wish for.

Shaolin (2011)

Chinese propaganda and buddhist morality tale

[27 September 2011]

I give this movie 5 stars, but that is just because of the action and the beautifully choreographed scenes.

The Buddhist wisdoms are thrown at you as if it were by a TV reverend on coke. I am not at all against healthy morals in a movie, but the way this movie tries to stuff you with them is getting irritating. This movie is more religious than the Vatican. The music is also very annoying, not because it's Chinese, but because it sounds cheesy (and often sounds very western).

The Chinese government can be proud. This is excellent stuff to feed your masses. It will keep them docile and loyal and hey, if we can feed them a healthy portion of distrust to western society... couldn't hurt either. Americans and westerners in general are all after our precious Chinese riches.

However, Jackie Chan was refreshing as a not-martial-arts-man and the bad guy isn't bad either. The film definitely has its moments and if the above doesn't scare you off, you might very well enjoy it.

Griff the Invisible (2010)

Funny and very enjoyable

[8/10 · 23 September 2011]

I just saw the film and I really liked it. I like the characters, I know some people who fit the descriptions of the main characters and I have to say that even to me the thought to have superpowers really appeals to me. So it does to the boy and the girl and they really go up in their stories, quite convincingly to the audience too.

Some might say the plot is thin, but plot is not what drives this movie. It's the kinks in the minds of the characters that are pictured very well and that are really good to relate to.

The end scene is left unexplained (no external 'eye', just the world through the eyes of the characters), which I find a good choice. I didn't really surprise me, but it didn't need to. It was the only possible end and it was well executed.

WWW: What a Wonderful World (2006)

Amazing shots, excellent storytelling

[8/10 · 19 May 2007]

I watched the film 'WWW: What a wonderful world' yesterday. You could say that it's kind of a black comedy. The main storyline is between a traffic agent, who is a part-time prostitute and a mercenary killer. This is the main thread in a intertwined string of little stories. In the end the come together in a magnificent, unexpected finale. The soundtrack is diverse and a good support for the story. The introduction of the characters is very funny. The camera-work is beautiful, some shots skip your rational brain and plunge right into your emotions. If you're out for an entertaining movie, that may be even worth watching several times, than this is it.

The Soul of a Man (2003)

Blues in its purest form

[8/10 · 12 March 2006]

The documentary begins with setting the perspective to several light years. The voyager is traveling our milky-way with the sounds of our earthly lives, as a space monument for (possible?) extraterrestrials.

The documentary contains footage of Willy Dixen, Robert Johnson, Skip James and J.B. Lenoir. The footage of J.B. has never been published before. The narrative is from 'blind Willie' Dixon. However, it's done by an actor. The film shows the work of all these early blues men followed by covers and interpretations by musicians, such as Nick Cave and the bad Seeds among others.

The Death of J.B. Lenoir (John Mayall's song) is a striking event in the story. Lenoir got political engaged and is considered to be of the league of Martin Luther King and peers. His political interests can be found in the themes of his lyrics.

Blues is found to be 'THE' native music of America. Blues is the roots and the rest is the fruits.

The title 'Soul of a Man' is after a Willie Dixon song.

End of the Spear (2005)

Total transformation. This is what I call a moving picture.

[9/10 · 21 January 2006]

I was lucky to see this film very early in the summer of 2005. I was stunned by the commitment of these missionary families. It may be difficult to believe in something as a calling, but I think that there's no better word to describe the motivation of these people to go deep in the amazone jungle to try to reach a tribe which is totally ruled by fear and vengeance. They strike me as ordinary people who give up their ordinary lives, because God had spoken to them in some way. The determination of those families is great, they don't give up even when it cost the lives of their beloved. It's hard to not see the hand of God supporting and comforting them, just to move on. The result is awesome, a total transformation. Where fear and vengeance ruled, now love is at reign.

The film is lively, which is enhanced by the different views from the anthropologists, the missionary families, the waodani and the civilized panama tribe people. It's amusing to see the anthropologists amazed by what they're studying. It all happens right under their noses, but they still don't seem to get the point. Or maybe the point may not be in the conclusions of their scientific approach...