Sherlock Holmes 2 (2011) vs. Mission Impossible 4 (2011)

.. or, to have the full titles: "A Game of Shadows" vs. "Ghost Protocol". Why "vs." ? Well, because these had simultaneous release, because though different both are blockbuster action movies, because "the main villain" wants pretty much the same thing, because both are sequels, and .. because it sounds good as a blog post title :p .

In the "Sherlock Holmes" sequel we have a story, or better said a script, that's a bit more "hollywoodish" than the first part. Or at least more close to a James Bond movie. Holmes & Watson have to deal this time with the probably most familiar enemy from the books = prof. Moriarty. Who (light spoiler), after buying weaponry, weapon factories, etc, sets his purpose in life to start a world war that will justify his investment. Well ... If two years ago I was (very) positively surprised by how Guy Ritchie managed to resurrect the classic character, this time the result is not that impressing. This because inevitably you'll compare with the first. If you skipped though the first part, what you'll get is a pretty different stuff from what you usually get to see as an action movie .. + comedy .. + a bit of drama .. + making full use of the times in the end of the 19th century (= you could say also a bit of "fantasy") .. + others.

Even if, opposed to the first part, the mystery to resolve is a bit lost (that's why I allowed myself the spoiler before) the rest is still there. Meaning a mix of all-genres-in-one, garnished with the same top notch acting, the same slow motion effects that reminds of the first John Woo Hollywood movies, the soundtrack that's not that brilliant as the first but still has Hans Zimmer written on it, and probably the most important ... "the British charm" to say so, that's usually found in the more "contemporary" Guy Ritchie productions = starting with "Snatch" as example.

Passing to the other half of this post title, the last "Mission Impossible" starts to suffer from the same issues as the Bond movies (since I was already mentioning them before) = 1. different director, different feeling in the same context with the same main characters 2. you don't have much chance to remember (unless you're not some crazy fan) what and how happened in the rest, but fortunately you don't have too many continuity elements .. although this might apply also to Holmes, but since we only have two parts there it's not the case yet. As a story, as I was saying we have pretty much the same base idea. A villain with some financial resources wants to start a global war, the difference being that in this case the purpose is not to gain money from it, but just pure madness. I won't say more, because I'll spoil the main plus the movie has. And that's ...

For the two hours and twenty minutes it has, you don't feel them. The action, even if it doesn't have much of a subject behind it, it's pretty well built not to bore you with interminabile fights & explosions ( as in "Transformers" ). You get enough variation, from the location setting = the geographical position, up to the actual buildings = Kremlin + Burj Khalifa. You can add to these the elements from the rest of the series = the gadgets & the sidekick team (completely changed this time, although Ving Rhames makes an appearance on the end). Actually, I think this is the most attractive element throughout the whole movie, because if we have had only Tom Cruise as a solitary Ethan Hunt what we'll get would be "just another Bond" clone.

The problem in report to Holmes, is that here on the acting part, if you pay some attention, you'll tend to get you're eyes rolling if you know what I mean. Tom Cruise & Michael Nyqvist (the bad guy) are ok. But for the rest ... if I was saying about the sidekick team ... we have a mix of the same Jeremy Renner from "Hurt Locker" (= pure drama role), the same Simon Pegg from "Hot Fuzz" (= pure comedy role), and a Paula Patton who I didn't see until now anywhere, but who I'm not sure I want to see from now on (at least not for her acting skills). In the end though, the result is tolerable, the reason being .. the directing = Brad Bird. If it doesn't sound familiar, he is the same guy behind .. "Ratatouille" & "The Incredibles" from Pixar. And the part with tolerable doesn't mean it's an exceptional directing, but just the fact that it has a sort of the same cartoonish atmosphere (actually it's like a sort of "The Incredibles" in a more serious tone), atmosphere that justifies some overacting here and there.

So .. since I already wrote a lot :) and I don't have many ideas left, what can I say as a short conclusion is that both titles are perfect as "holiday movies" = just plain entertaining fun .. even if there is some difference in the overall quality between them ..

Rating:
SH 2 - 4 out of 5
MI 4 - 3 out of 5

Real Steel (2011)

Ok .. I know .. "Real Steel" doesn't sound that good for the current period, but the title is misleading. Even if the movie was released in October, I say that it's quite fit for the winter holidays. Reason for I've actually chosen it as the subject (well .. I actually didn't have many recently seen options to choose from). From start I have to say that the rating in the end is quite objective. If I would have to refer at "the usual feeling" that's associated with these days (sorry, I didn't find any other better way to name it :) you know what I mean), than it would be one point higher for how well it fits.

We have a sort of family story with a happy end that's more than predictable, but that's not a big problem :) you want it like this & you get what you want. In brief, in a future that's not far, professional boxing was replaced with robot fights. That's where the title comes from ... The competitors are the owners of the steel machines fighting in the ring based on remote control - by joystick, voice, or even mimicking the moves made outside the ring by the player (actually an interesting idea .. I'm wondering if there isn't some potential for something like this when the robotics will get more advanced). In this context we have a real ex-boxer, who switched to the new "sport", and who also tries hardly to make some money but manages to blow it and not only in his "career" but apparently on everything. His girlfriend, the owner of the robot service that gets almost bankrupt, is ready to break up completely with him. His son, being 10-11 years old, hates him for the fact that was neglected since his birth until his mother died, and more .. now for the custody being "sold" to an aunt (actually to the aunt's husband). Well .. I don't know what to say more. If you watch the first 20 minutes you'll already know pretty much of what's next. And I've already said that the end is happy. So .. it's enough :)

I don't have any filmic details to give. I can't say that I've watched something that impressed me in some detail ( well .. I'll refrain from starting to "analyze" Evangeline Lilly's smile because I'm not sure is of general interest ;) The movie, overall, is perfect if you want something light, to give you (or adding more to) a positively-optimistic mood. It's also sufficiently alert to catch your atention. But besides the action, the title, the fighting context, etc .. the result in my opinion is something quite non-violent (remember, robots fight, not the people) that eliminates pretty much every inferior limit for a targeted age. It's also a bit too .. how to put it .. "american" = the obviously happy end, a series of cliche/rolling eyes scenes + (a bit of spoiler here) in the end I had a vague feeling that I've seen a remake of "Rocky". But exactly this is what it makes to be what I've said above it is = sort of fit for this time of year. Ocasion for, I'm also sending a "Happy Holidays !" wish to everybody ;)

Rating: 3 out of 5

Babette's Feast (1987)

I have the luck from time to time to find a movie that fits perfectly to my mood when I see it .. because if I would watch it at another moment, I won't probably be very impressed. That's what happened with "Chocolat" when I've seen for the first time. And the second ... And even the third (yes, somehow I managed to watch that movie at least three times). But before "Chocolat" was "Babette's Feast". It's a Danish production, quite old, with a pretty similar idea, on a much smaller budget, probably slower and more boring, but which actually fit the moment for me as I was saying above. I'm quite sure that seeing it another time in another place there would have been chances to stop watching before half of it. Well .. I started with a pretty long intro, and not very close to the subject, mostly because it's a bit hard for me to write about this movie due to some reasons exposed below.

Who knows me a bit better, probably never heard me talking (in depth) about religion, faith, etc. The reason - in my opinion is a personal matter, as in your own, yours only & only for you. at least in case you're not a priest, Rabi, you want to establish a sect, etc, and opening your mouth about the subject falls in your job specs. If it's not the case, your own beliefs are your own problem, and that's that. I already wrote more than enough to get to the point I want to. And that is that this movie is probably not recommended for some categories of viewers: on one hand the Christian fanatics (I'm sorry for the term, but there exist) might consider it a mockery up to a point that it's quite advanced in the timeline, but if they resist up to the end anyway, they would probably be satisfied enough by the outcome to start the next day to share Bibles in the neighborhood instead of posting in IMDb boards entitled "Anti Christian movie" (that's a quote from what you find on the "Chocolat" page by the way); on the other hand I won't recommend the movie neither to who's a convince atheist, because these ones probably would be satisfied by the movie from the start to the end and begin extracting scenes to post on fb, their own blog, wherever under a title like "How to Control the Masses. There is no God. Let's get a beer.". Maybe I'm a bit to radical, but but what's above is about extremes. If I think a bit, I guess that, as incredible it may seem after you've seen the movie, a Muslim, Budhist, etc, probably would watch it more detached and would be able to see more clearly the main idea transmitted (however, it would probably be the same thing, if the movie would quote from Quran instead the Bible). Oh .. I almost forgot, there is another group of viewers that maybe will disapprove with what they'll see: hardcore vegans, although here I want to believe (assuming they're not in any of the above categories) that there are enough sufficiently open minded to get the message behind the subject. Because the subject is ...

... a dinner. Yeah, well, this is the climac of the movie - a dinner. I know that I said a lot up to here and also nothing, but I still don't want to disclose more. I already referred to "Chocolat". What's here is not far away from that, and in "Chocolat" you don't really have an action thread long enough to start describing, so the same applies here. What I can say, in this case, is to be patient and to pay attention to details (there is minor stuff, but somewhere it gets some meaning, more or less explicitly - ex: think why he sent her to them .. is cryptic, I know :) but considering that the movie might look quite boring in the first part I hope I might raise some interest).

I hope I didn't offend anybody with what I wrote above. Anyway, if I did, it should be pretty much everybody :)), just to make sure that I get rid of all the viewers (from the "ton" I have). Once again I have to say that the "guilty" paragraph targets the groups with extreme views. Incredibly but true, there is a middle path (yes, in the middle) or at least a bit more moderate. But I'm already starting to do what I said I'm not doing ... So, I'll wrap up. Before that ... if I enumerated the potential watchers that should avoid the movie, maybe it will be better to actually recommend it to somebody too. If you ever wanted in your life to accomplish anything, but the faith, luck, kismet, etc weren't too kind to you and sent you on a different path, see this. You won't regret it (well .. it's recommended anyway to not be chronically depressive :))) I forgot this group).

Rating: 4 out of 5

To still keep the action, the minimum that it is, not spoiled, I preferred what's below, although I'm not sure I can call that a trailer. However, a search on YouTube will lead you quite quick to a clip presenting a 3 minutes review from an NY Times critic. The problem is that after you might not have the patience to see the movie (although it doesn't give you exactly the main stuff), but for who wants more info can look for it.

Repo Men (2010)

Unfortunately I don't have anything left to preview, and I have to fall back to something seen a bit longer ago since this week I didn't have time for movies. But since "a bit longer ago" wasn't that long ago and "Repo Men" is a Sci-Fi that surprised me positively, I fortunately have a subject. I would have preferred though something more accessible because I must start by saying that you have to have a tough stomach to get over this movie from start to finish (no pun intended :), you'll get it when you'll see the movie) ...

What's the idea ? Well, in brief we have a not very far future when there exists the possibility to save your own life (sort of speaking ...) by using the services provided by "The Union" - a sort of corporation that deals with medical services that consist in organ transplant without waiting queues. But, there's a catch ... Primo - the prices are huge and generally imply monthly payments with an interest. Secundo - in case of payment delay, the company property = the liver, the heart, etc is returned .. by force. Meaning that the corporation has a special department of "repo men" apparently having some skills in surgery .. what makes the movie a bit more bloody in my opinion than it should be. As a feeling I got, if you manage to get over the first 5 minutes it's fine :) .. you won't get much more intense than that (just more bloody but the maximum psychical effect is passed .. I guess).

Without saying too much, the story follows two of the repo guys, best buddies, one of them adding involuntarily to it's marital troubles related to the job also a physical one = a new borrowed heart. More details in the movie. The idea is that up to the moment where this happens, the script makes everything it cans to disgust you (starting with the first 5 minutes from the beginning). Not necessarily visually, but more related to the idea of "humanity" that's sent. In other words what you get first is one side of the story - the one seen by the "repo service". After the mentioned guy gets his new heart, he slowly gets drawn and ends up on the other side (no spoiler here, it was probably obvious) - the side of the ones potentially prone to get hunted if they didn't pay on time. And something changes, obviously also in the tone of the movie. Besides this, the story starts to get some complexity, and the ending is one that has serious chances to surprise you. Without saying more than I should, it at least a part of what you'll see leaves you an impression that's stretched too far to be credible, just wait ...

I don't have time to write much more. The main cast - Jude Law, Forest Whitaker, Alice Braga, Liev Schreiber does an excellent job. What I would like to point out anyway is the score that's superb. I don't remember exactly what's coming from the main composer = Marco Beltrami, but what left stuck in my head is the usage of some songs here and there having a very powerful effect on the associated scenes. For instance, if I'm not mixing them already ... those 5 minutes from the start which I keep mentioning are rolling on a version of the well-known "Sway". To symmetrically complete it, Dave Stewart (who should sound familiar at least due to "Lily Was Here") has a song on the end credits, that fits so well as conclusion that made me stuck my eyes on the screen until the final frame.

As an ending idea it's a movie that I consider underrated, but unfortunately I had to admit that there are reasons to, probably the cause being the aggressiveness excess. Anyway .. trust me .. even so this is not completely gratuitous = if you like SciFi's with some substance behind you should see it.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Part 2 of Winter-Spring 2011-2012 Movie Preview

I'm getting directly into the subject because I don't have much time for writing. I suppose that everybody heard about Tarzan. However I don't know who heard about John Carter. What's the catch ? Both were created by the same author - Edgar Rice Burroughs - being featured on the cover of a significant number of books (individually, not together, obviously - the first is lost in Africa, the other on Mars). Well .. if Tarzan got enough coverage during the last century, next March it seems we get the first big budgeted production for pentru John Carter. For me looks like an YASM - Yet Another Superhero Movie ... but we'll see ...



If we're already on the American literature area let's move on to another Edgar. "The Raven" which for my expectations is top of the list for the next Spring is an apparently awkward mix between the dark tales of Edgar Alan Poe and .. Edgar Alan Poe himself. What is probably not that known, and by chance I've found out myself quite soon from a book that got into my hands, is that Poe was a pretty complex character let's say for the first half of the 19th century when he lived, besides the prose having also written a series of essays related with the origins of the universe, physics, etc ... nothing really serious as far as I know but nevertheless interesting to read. Anyway, until I'm not starting to get to far from the subject, coming pack to the production which in the end I really doubt that has something to do with the real Poe besides the literature part, what I'd like to point aout is the director: James McTeigue this being after all the reason for which I'm waiting for the movie. To be more exact I doubt that it would be comparable with "V for Vendetta", but if it's above "Ninja Assassin" it's already very good.



Since I didn't have any animations from last time up to this moment I'm closing March 2012 with "The Pirates! Band of Misfits". As the trailer says, the movie is produced by the same studio - Aardman - that released "Chicken Run" (which I didn't get to see yet) and the shorts series + the movie featuring Wallace & Gromit, stuff that for me was genius work. Unfortunately Nick Park who nailed a few Oscars with those doesn't seem to be associated in any way with the present title. Anyhow, I still hope for something above average ...



In April we have "Safe" which I find to be something like a sort of "Mercury Rising" reloaded. In case nobody remembers about "Mercury Rising" don't worry you have no reason to, it's a movie with Bruce Willis since before 2000 which was a major flop. But at least it had Bruce Willis ... Here, besides the reused idea we have also Jason Statham on the reloaded track (I'm asking myself if this guy couldn't optimize a bit his incomes and career = to shoot more movies at once, it's anyway the same role in each).



As it can be already observed I don't have many titles left for the next Spring, so even if I'm not a very big comedy fan, I don't have any options left for the next April besides "American Reunion". It's a sequel. For "American Pie". What's the number ? I have no idea ... I lost count ...



In case somebody forgot the superheroes invasion lately, it's not a problem - in May the next year, everybody comes back in "The Avengers". Since I'm more than fed up with the genre, I won't spend any time enumerating them, you can look for yourself in the trailer ...



I'm closing this preview (without much hope) with "Battleship" because that's pretty much the last trailer momentarily available for the end of next Spring. The only reason that made me mention it is the fact I've seen Liam Neeson around there but I'm not sure that's enough to guarantee that we won't end up with an aquatic Transformers ...



Next time I'm back with a movie. Ciao ;)

Part 1 of Winter-Spring 2011-2012 Movie Preview

I like when I get to this period of the year. I'm even thinking to do this in more detail = with more titles, and more often = every season, not only at the beginning of Winter and Spring. Besides the "Oscar month" these are the only entries where I don't really need to desperately try to find a reasonable movie to see so I'll have something to write that won't transform the blog intro something like "movie junkyard blacklisted titles". On the other hand I have to admit that usually almost half of what's mentioned here proves to be after release a successful candidate for such a list. So, for the nth time, again & repeated :) - this is just a preview - not a recommendation. Now, let's start with the winter season ...

The first title of December - "Tinker Taylor Soldier Spy" - was already presented on a few festivals + released in UK. I don't know yet what the critics say. What's on IMDb looks good but not exceptional. For me however is enough, this movie being the one that interests me the most from the upcoming period. One reason is that's a sort to speak "old fashioned spy thriller", a genre that for me always worked, so I'm probably subjective due to this. To give some detail it's based on a novel by John le Carre - "The Spy Who Came in from the Cold", "The Russia House", "The Tailor of Panama", "The Constant Gardener". Who has seen something from the ones mentioned can say that's expected probably not to have any extremely alert action, the author having something like a typical style among the others ( as Ludlum, Forsyth, Higgins, Clancy ... :) ok, I'll stop .. I said that I like the genre :) ). In the end it's after all a movie, and it's not only about the book, and on this side the only thing that I really must say is that the director is Tomas Alfredson. I know that probably the name doesn't tell anything. He directed something called "Lat den ratte komma in" in the original Swedish - or "Let the Right One In" in the US remake which I preferred to skip, movie that for me is one of the best vampire (non-commercial) flicks I've ever seen. To conclude ( I promise it won't take that long for the next ones :) ) what I expect is quite a lot from this combination of director - book author ...



I'm staying in the "British" area with a sequel: "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows" . Considering that the team - Guy Ritchie & co. - from the first movie seems to be the same, I hope the quality will be also consistent (stuff that for me was surprisingly ok considering the approach taken for the "classic" subject).



I thought a bit, but in the end I said myself to give some credit for the end of December to ... "War Horse", in front of some other remakes or sequels, although the trailer, the way the story looks like, and the title are not helping a lot in recommending the movie ... Still the director is Spielberg, and even if my feeling is something like a mix between "Secretariat", "Seabiscuit", "Black Beauty", "pick your favorite horse movie" and "Saving Private Ryan", I still hope for something at least at the level of "Empire of the Sun" (I don't know why this is the title that popped into my head just now ...). Anyway, I foresee some Oscar nominations for the technical part, so ...



For January I'll be extremely subjective in previews :D, sorry but I can't help it ... The first title is "Haywire" = this time is a bit of a more modern version of the classical "spy thriller" above, this one being directed by Steven Soderbergh. Excepting "The Informant!" this guy pretty much left me unimpressed with any movie he did, but as I was saying this time I'm subjective. The reason should be obvious :p ...



Number two on the list of the next year is the fourth "Underworld: Awakening". What I hope is that the level to rise again towards the one in the first two, which on the area of "commercial vampire movies" I think they're top of the list for me = above "Blade" or others (for "Twilight" I didn't resist to see more than the first). The third "Underworld" was .. a semi-wreck to be gentle. So worse would be a disaster ... And since this one seems to be given a higher budget, in theory the investment should be for something a bit better (although ...). All in all, Kate Beckinsale is back ;), so that's enough for me ...



I don't know how much is left to be seen besides what's in the trailer of "Man on a Ledge", but I didn't have any other better option to look for to close January. To add more, the action seems to be sort of original as a thriller idea. And besides that, I finally have the opportunity to see Elizabeth Banks in a role that seems a bit more consistent :) ...



Following the "one spy thriller per month", starting from the classic genre up to what seems to be more an action movie, in February we have "Safe House". Starring Denzel, stamped with a "cool" look on a poster saying something like: "No One is Safe .. Safe House" (lots of "imagination" there ..). Not much else to say, the trailer looks better though ...



Besides the general opinion I liked the first "Ghost Rider". For me the second looks really really different (and I won't say it's something good, even if, once again, pretty much everybody bashed the first). The directorial "couple" Neveldine/Taylor a was anyway ok in "Crank" (not also in "Gamer" ...). So, I don't know ...



For the end of February we have "Gone". I have some fears because the screenwriter seems to have had a contribution also on "Untraceable" (which I consider a lousy excuse of a realistic thriller attempt). But maybe it was for the better parts in the script there. At a first sight the trailer looks quite promising ...



Well .. that was a short Winter upcoming list ;) next week comes the Spring ...

Chungking Express (1994)

I had a deadline this week and I decided to see something with a solid potential to recommend, considering that I didn't have time for more than a movie. The most accessible option I got was the current title, a bit older, but with a promising rating on IMDb. On top of that the directing is by Wong Kar Wai, one of the most appreciated names in the Asian cinema. However ...

For me, the movie failed. I don't know, maybe it's because I've seen it in two pieces, at late hours. Ironically, this syncs with the script structure - the movie is a romance made up from two completely distinct stories, placed one after the other, without any connection points besides the location where are set (maybe there is more, either clearly or with a "deep" meaning, but anyhow I missed it). The second reason for which it failed for me is the combination between the director's specific slightly chaotic style and the fact that the genre is the type of romance in which you don't have much of an action thread to follow (= in certain points gets totally incoherent, resulting in reactions of "what the ..." .. but it's possible that again, the hour I've seen it should be blamed for this + the degree of sleepiness). That's the cause for which I don't have many details to give about "the story", which resumes more to a combination of the something like "moments from X's life, moments from Y's life, etc ..." where "momente" can be more or less unusual & out of common (otherwise will definitely fail for more people than just me).

One of the main reasons that initially drawn me to the current title (besides the IMDb rating) was the cinematography by Christopher Doyle. And that's the main reason for which what I've seen wasn't completely disappointing. In my opinion this guy is the best director of photography in activity, although I've not seen much of his recent work. The reason for the lack of titles is that apparently he works more in Asia, and generally speaking in productions that are not very mainstream (probably the most known title is "Hero" with Jet Li from 2002). I don't have words to describe what I've seen in "Chungking Express" (this doesn't want to sound superlative, I've had better - I simply just have no idea how to describe it), but from the cinematography point of view is pure art. Without effects, only by the camera and filters, at the level of 1994's technology, with a Hong Kong budget. Maybe for some it won't be spectacular at all, or maybe even annoying sometimes, I don't know ... but anyhow is something different, and I honestly believe that either taken piece by piece, or as a whole it can be successfully used in a "camera handling" course.

Anyway, that was not enough for me to save the general impression. To conclude I couldn't recommend this movie, except for the reasons above, or if you're in the mood for a "slow romance", your brain is clear of stress and you're favorite tune is "California Dreamin'" (the original The Mamas & The Papas version) - at some point I've started counting how many times is "featured" in the film, but I lost track ...

Rating: 3 out of 5 (mainly for cinematography)

Drive (2011)

"Drive", as seen by IMDb is the best movie that came out this year. Based on the theory that the titles mentioned there in top 250 worth a look I can confirm it's not lost time (but for the best movie of 2011 up to now I'm a bit reserved ...). As a genre is somewhere between a noir film and a thriller. The story is simple ...

... And it's centered over a short period of time from the life of a guy who's working as daily job in an auto service having occasional contracts for movie stunts, and in parallel he's making also some money as a driver for illegal heists. I wouldn't say more because as I mentioned the plot is quite simple. The base idea is that when things start to get brighter for his future as a possible race driver, his extra hours (= the 2nd job above) that he decides to do for helping somebody, mess up pretty much everything. I'll stop here with the story and I'll say just that I find it interesting that the movie is based on a bool (interesting in the sense that I can't imagine how thick is the book). That's actually the part that for me seemed to drag it down and which stops me to fully recommend it. The subject itself is just too thin, and maybe I wouldn't have a problem with this, but if I think long enough I guess I'll find some other movies that match quite well the same line. Fortunately this subject is after all "placed" inside a movie ...

Which movie I can say it's brilliantly made from lots of points of view. First, I have to say that it's slow paced, which part is clearly sustained by the editing (you have a lot of "nothing happens silent scene" intertwined with the others), and also which part is probably potentially boring for some viewers, but for is ok as it is because it brings a necessary contrast for the violence degree (the movie is rated R by the way). The second aspect is the cinematography by Newton Thomas Sigel, who has some known movies in his CV ("The Usual Suspects", "Valkyrie", etc) but nothing to come close to what you get here. I'll use a cliche because I don't find any other way to express it now: it's a visual feast from the beginning to the end. You have lots of scenes so nicely shot that at some moment I was actually having the impression that I'm seeing something similar to one of those continuous promos you get at the Oscars or in some other places showing something like "well known distinctive scenes from various movies". I could say more here and even try to analyze one or two, because there is also a possibility for interpreting them left quite often, but I'll resume myself to a mini spoiler after the trailer = just half from one of probably the best sequences in the movie. The third point that has a major contribution to the whole result is the score. I would be pleased if I would see at least a nomination at the next year's Oscars for Cliff Martinez, which would confirm after this year's Trent Reznor, that we have a new wave of synth based stuff a la '80s but brought to the level of the current time. Anyway, besides this part the movie has also integrated a number of excellently chosen songs (used in a way that seems a bit like Tarantino style). Overall, it is the best soundtrack I've heard this year ( you can get a glimpse of it below ;) ).

There would be also other stuff to be said. About the sound editing or the actors for instance (I would expect to see some nominations for Albert Brooks, in an excellent villain role), but I don't have much more time for writing :) To draw a line, I still have the minus given by the thin story and also the fact that the movie was mainly appreciated for the directing. I could go with this if I wouldn't have seen not very long ago "Valhalla Rising" by the same guy, and I'm really afraid that here is more about the independent decision of each responsible with the above mentioned parts than a general direction given by the director (and I could also add to have more, that there are a couple of scenes which are exaggerated theatrical, and break a bit the cold noir feeling). Anyway, it's a movie to be seen ;) ...

Rating: 4 out of 5

Unknown (2011)

Some time ago I've seen a trailer for a movie called "The Double". I didn't see the movie (I don't even know if it already had a wide release) but I'm afraid it doesn't make any sense to do it anymore ... Actually, I'm wondering if it wasn't postponed to allow them to redo/extend the ending. Because in the two-three minutes of the trailer you have pretty much everything: the intrigue, the action, and what seems to be the main twist. Yes, I know ... the title of the current posting is "Unknown", not "The Double". But besides the genre which seems common between the two = sort of a la Bourne spy thriller, there is also some other similar thing, guess which ... the trailer "effect" of course.

To be fair ... "Unknown" is still a bit more censored in the trailer contents, but if you have a pretty big amount of movies seen is impossible to not get the main idea. Which is also confirmed in the first seconds of the movie if you're paying attention. We have a couple formed from Martin & Liz Harris, he apparently being a biology doctor invited to a top level conference in Berlin. After they get to the hotel he realizes that one briefcase from the luggage was forgotten at the airport & goes back to get it. With a cab. Which cab (driven by an illegal immigrant woman) ends up in a river (I guess it's called Spree). After he's saved by the woman who was driving, Mr. Harris from the coma in the fourth day since he was hospitalized. Without having any papers, and intrigued that his wife didn't search for him does the obvious thing to do = runs quickly at the hotel to find her. But ... no love ... or more exactly big surprise ... he finds her along her .. husband, a new Dr. Martin Harris, with a passport, family pictures, memories, etc. And since Ms. Harris seems to like more the new one, the only option left (and strongly suggested by the hotel security) is to take the way back to the hospital, followed by the inevitable question "Who am I ?". Well .. I'm not going to continue further. I already said "a la Bourne" in the beginning and there is also the trailer (which I'm still in doubt to post or not). To "compensate", there is a sort of twist in the ending, but to be honest it's a bit to simple compared to the rest of the action to qualify as an event with a major impact in the story.

Except the fact that the movie is ultra-spoiled if you've seen the trailer, in the end if you draw a line you might end up with a relatively good production. And again I have to refer to Bourne = you might expect something that gets close to that level. Liam Neeson is ok as main character (which despite my expectations is quite different from the part in "Taken") and the action is pretty dense to be catchy for this genre. To add more you have also the cinematography which is really nice in some scenes (like the intro). However ... the script is a bit far fetched about many aspects = from the type of "amnesia" the main character got to the way the image of the scientific community is portrayed (financing from Arab princes who are invited at top tier biotechnology conferences ... come on ...).

The conclusion, to get back to the starting idea, is that if you're in the mood for a decent action thriller and according to what I wrote above this one looks like a feasible option, maybe it's better to skip the trailer. It's probably one of the few cases where it says more than my long writings :) ...

Rating: 3 out of 5

... but :p if you want the short version :

The Warrior's Way (2010)

I don't have much time today so I'll dive directly into the subject. "The Warrior's Way" is a pretty strange mix between a western and ... "Ninja Assassin" about which I was writing not so long ago. In other words the main idea is pretty similar = we have an assassin who one days gets fed up with his "job", the clan's code of honor, fidelity vows and such stuff and just flees away ... obviously followed by the whole ex-workmates armada who are strongly decided to turn him into chopped sushi.

Although the context is relatively similar, "The Warrior's Way" is after all another story, and this time I should emphasize on the "story". To explain, from the first scene you get a feeling of a sort of "fantasy" having a narrator in the background and a pretty colorful chromatic (but which looks quite ok, so a plus already for the cinematography) and this is kept throughout the whole movie inevitably giving you a light impression of surreal. But, getting back to the actual story, if in "Ninja Assassin" , the "rogue one" had a personal problem with the clan leader and the final purpose of fleeing was a sort of "comeback revenge with guns ... well .. shurikens blazing", here our assassin wants just to simply retire. This, and also he has a fixed idea of guarding the last survivor (a girl of a few months old) from the enemy clan which was supposed to be completely decimated according to his last contract "clause". And considering that Japan is an island = apparently to small to hide, his decision is to emigrate to the west, which is the wild west in this case. And so we get to the action place = a little (almost ghost) town, the headquarters of an unemployed circus collective, place which is periodically raided by an ex-army gang whose members seemingly were left with too much unused ammunition after the Civil War. Well, probably it's already predictable where this state of things leads, our man having no chance to successfully embrace his new flourishing career of owner and main employee of the local public laundry.

I've already said more than enough but there is still to be seen. Without additional details (you can see this however pretty much from the trailer so it's not a spoiler), I can't hold to tell that on the whole salad above you can add also a romance + a certain scent of "Karate Kid". And trust me, there is still more, especially regarding the way the story goes ... Thing, that incredibly enough, leads to the weird mix mentioned in the beginning, which is however quite interesting to watch especially if you didn't expect some "masterpiece" and you just want to see an action movie. As a downside you'll get a ton of cliche and SF-ish scenes, although this part is how to say ... comes in the same package with the action flow = so maybe at some point it would have been more weird to be missing than present. Therefore, the real downside at least for me was another one ... And I have to get back to the comparison with "Ninja Assassin". I think that there maybe due to a less chaotic pace the story was more catchy and like I was writing in that entry, the characters, especially the lead negative one, are pretty well developed. This is pretty true also here, but it's still a difference ... Anyway, for a directorial and screenwriting start (because this is what it is), the result should be appreciated. So, although in my opinion "Warrior's Way" is a bit lower, considering that IMDb underrates them both at pretty much the same level, I will be consistent with what I concluded also for "Ninja Assassin":

Rating: 4 out of 5



PS: Considering that the soundtrack which is in parts close to the Morricone spaghetti western work was replaced in the trailer by something completely different ... I felt the need to give another link, although I don't know for how long it will be valid :

Fase 7 (2011)

The difference from usual zombie movies is that here you don't have anymore the horror part = in this case "the infection" leads shortly to "(cough) .. I think I'm sick .. (double cough) .. I've seen flying U45XWS9C6QT2 .. MMmmm... me dizzy .. (triple cough) .. sAkJDS9mas .. bye bye, cruel world" without any other violent manifestations caused specifically by the disease. For who has already watched "Rec" (or "Rec 2" .. or "Quarantine" which is the U.S. remake), "Fase 7" is pretty easy to describe. It's an Argentinian production (so, also in Spanish to make it even more similar) in which you have pretty much the same "setup" - let's say at least 90% of it = a block of flats set in quarantine due to a virus (but a global one this time, not only in the building). So eventually it turns into that kind of zombie movie ... but without the zombies :). Normally the question comes (especially for horror lovers), so.. where's the fun then ?

Well, the thing is that "Fase 7" is not a horror. Or at most it could be qualified as a "social horror". Meaning that you'll get violent manifestations eventually. However, as said these aren't caused by the "zombification" itself, but by the psychological impact of the crisis situation on the approximately five neighbors (solo or family) who are living in the building. Which makes the movie to end up being somewhere at the border between a thriller and a dark comedy. The last part could start by simply describing the building cohabitants. First, we have the main characters - which are a young couple, who recently moved at the upper floor. He is pretty much a typical/usual/normal guy who was actually dreaming on moving far from civilization somewhere in the mountains, fact that coming from him is considered as a big joke by her - who is pregnant in the 7th month and affirming that he won't survive a week without technology. Their closest neighbor living at the same floor is an ex life insurance agent who apparently now has as main hobby ... transforming his SUV into an armored one (just to start with ...). Probably that's one of the reasons, besides the conspiracy theory paranoia, for which his wife left him alone with a young daughter of about 7-8 years old. Somewhere at a floor below, an old man lives alone. He seems to be the nicest/"welcome here" guy in the building being apparently a gentile inoffensive individual who's pretty much the only one trying to be friendly with the new arrived couple. At the lower levels we have two other guys with some family, passed through the middle age, and seemingly good friends despite the choleric character of one and the mild calmness of the other. Well, that's the main "configuration" of people who during the movie simply manage to transform the building into a veritable battlefront. "The War" starts mostly due to the actions of the two guys from the inferior levels who are strongly decided to move the old man from the middle floor into .. a quarantine in the quarantine invoking that he's sick. Obviously, the incoming lack of food, medication, etc (the classic element in this genre) has its impact in all of this and what's next. And in what's next we see how our "peaceful" guy from the upper floor gets drawn into a pretty tense situation while desperately trying to keep his wife unknowingly of the hell went loose among the other inhabitants, two steps away, just on the buildings staircase.

For me, the best part of the movie is the dark humor, pretty stylish (= "hidden" basically behind the action) about which I'm not going to say more and just leave it as a full surprise. Also as a surprise (at least a partial one) comes the end of the movie = who survives. After all that's the main theme, more or less serious - "surviving your neighbors" - the interesting part being that, incredibly, this proves to be a bit more difficult than surviving the epidemic outside the building. I won't get today into the technical part of the film, because I'm already writing on a hurry - but at least I should just point out the score (u can hear some in the trailer). Overall, it's a movie that can be (sort of ..) fun to watch but in which you also have sufficient scenes that may give you more food for thought.

Rating: 4 out of 5

The Next Three Days (2010)

John Brennan: So, the life in times of Don Quixote, what is it about?
Female College Student: That someone's belief in virtue is more important than virtue itself?
John Brennan: Yes... that's in there. But what is it about? Could it be how rational thought destroys your soul? Could it be about the triumph of irrationality and the power that is in that? You know, we spend a lot of time trying to organize the world. We build clocks and calendars and we try to predict the weather. But what part of our life is truly under our control? What if we choose to exist purely in a reality of our own making? Does that render us insane? And if it does, isn't that better than a life of despair?

You know what's the most interesting part in the movie ? That all what's after the above, culminating with the final consisting of "The Next Three Days", hides under the impression given by that monologue exactly the opposite of it (if you have eyes to see, ears to hear, or to put all those together - enough in the head to get it). All the triumph of irrationality (no matter how "cool" it might sound) has an organized plan behind it. Which, again, no matter how "crazy" is, it's still a plan. And which in all it's craziness is sufficiently well conceived to keep the risks up to some limit. And if the "irrationality" pushes the own limit too far there still is a last "rational" part in it that takes care that at least for the others there still is a failsafe mechanism in place. That's why what's above is full with question marks :) Because the answer to every question is .. well, questionable, from the perspective of the effect for yourself ? or for the others around ?. At least up to the last "?" ;) where all the external dementia should better take care to ensure behind it a single answer for the two perspectives. Which is what in this movie's case ? Well, watch it and you'll find out :D

This id from beginning to the end the movie I'm writing about today. Or more exactly its allegoric interpretation regarding what goes through in front of our eyes for about two hours. I'm sorry I started like this (I have no idea how intelligible was it), and I really hope I didn't scare (for good) the few readers who are landing on this page from time to time. But (for some reasons) I just couldn't hold it :) Eventually, that's the essence (the deepest level, because you have also something above it), and it doesn't happen very often to have something like this on the screens these days (not at the intensity/level you get here), so I would have felt sorry not to point it out. The movie subject itself is quite simple - a literature professor has one day the police swarming inside his house, picking up his wife and placing her in jail for a murder she apparently committed one day before. Left alone, with a 6-7 years old son, the teacher tries every possibility to save his wife from conviction. But every evidence, from her presence at the murder scene, up to the finger prints and blood on her coat incriminates her. From this point onwards, after the last possibility for appeal is exhausted, the guy has only one solution left: illegally getting out of jail, or in other words to "escape her" without any notice :) So, he starts to plan something apparently unthinkable and prone to fail for his status of a normal nice literature teacher. That's the path taken by the movie up to the end where you have two possible outcomes : he succeeds or not ( and now I hope that the intro starts to get some sense :) ).

Like I was saying above, besides "the deepest layer" you also have more on the surface - the movie is after all a romance drama as genre, behind all the thriller, action, etc image. I generally avoid talking too much on this subject, but again, in this case I can't hold (how subjective it might be) not to qualify this movie as a "true" romance drama compared to the bunch of "fake" stuff that displays this as genre, but usually is from "barely touching" to "completely parallel" with the real deal. I don't know .. let's consider "the masterpiece" = "Titanic" which is something like "I met three days ago on a boat the woman who's the love of my life, and now I'm totally and completely sure that I'm ready to die for her, drowned, shot, beaten or all together". Come on ... It just doesn't work like this .. not without second thoughts, in 99.99% of the case. On the other hand, in "The Next Three Days" we have a guy who is married for quite a while, has a kid, and he seems to have reached a level of almost maximum interior peace & happiness with the two near him, from what we are shown in the first ten minutes of the movie. And this makes actually credible (well, I might be subjective, but ...) the attitude of "no matter the costs, jail is not the option for my wife". And this includes also the firm belief in the wife's innocence, which by the way, is the second thing (besides the "escape" result) that you'll get to know for sure only at the end of the movie (I won't say it :) ), although up to that point you might feel already all the time like the main character does.

For the movie making to point out would be the actors, the directing, the script and the music. For the actors, the main role is quite well played by Russell Crowe, and considering the incarcerated = Elizabeth Banks, I would be too subjective :) so I won't say more. What's more interesting is that you have a series of pretty known actors playing secondary parts, some very short = Liam Neeson, Brian Dennehy, Daniel Stern, Olivia Wilde. The directing goes hand-in-hand with the script = Paul Haggis (known for "Crash") and I can summarize the result for both in one word (maybe a bit more for the writing) : "brilliant". You have to options concerning this movie: either to be picky and search for plot holes, which you'll certainly find considering how non realistic is the theme (I observed one flaw just by chance .. so there are present there) .. or .. you can just go with the flow and appreciate what few movies having an action/thriller part try to do = to temperate a bit the "SF" piece transposed into reality by including points that break the smooth flow of events as it was expected to happen. In other words "the escape" isn't after all that easy to execute as a literature professor thought, starting actually with problems in the plan phase, not to talk about the execution. So .. finally, the music ... Danny Elfman is the main composer, and the soundtrack is superb. However, I left this for the end just to say that the movie brings up also some vocal tunes besides the instrumental sound. And considering that maybe the trailer is not conclusive/convincing enough (which is actually good, because you'll have a nice surprise watching the move), I said myself that it might be a good idea to supplement it with something you can hear at the end of the credits. I actually restrained myself to add also this to the "philosophical" piece in the intro to not exaggerate with the length ( which is already done by the way :) ). Nevertheless this has its own place well defined somewhere in the movie behind what you see in clear on screen : "Sometimes all it takes is a walk around the lake ..." ;) Enjoy !

Rating: 5 out of 5

Pontypool (2008)

YAZM ... Yet Another Zombie Movie :) Well .. sort of ... = I include into "zombie movie" pretty much everything that's horror/SF involving hordes of "infected" people (dead, undead, alive, whatever). "Pontypool" is anyway something different from anything I've seen before ...

First of all I should say that we have here an indie production which apparently found a pretty original way to lower the costs. All the action takes place inside a radio station, more exactly around the transmission room. Well, after all it seems that the movie is based on a book, so probably it was implicit to get to this setting. And to be even more cheap on the budget (just to say so), it's a local radio station, with three on place employees, established somewhere at the basement of a church in a minuscule town from Canada. What we have in the movie is a winter day matinee show, hosted by a guy who is apparently a "former glory" in terms of radio broadcasts, but whose agent doesn't seem to be able to find him a better position somewhere else. So, what starts as an usual broadcast session slowly turns into something less credible than every day's news. From some point on, the news from the diverse sources received on the wire are quite the opposite with the normal daily calm of the small surrounding community. For instance, instead of the usual weather forecast info, the correspondent ends up transmitting news about the "flow" of violent people devastating the local doctor's office. Or, in the section "live from studio", some of the members of the familial choir invited to preview the oncoming local musical adaptation of "Lawrence of Arabia" start having unusual behavior (well, more unusual that the one implied by the musical). And so on, what was initially looking as a hoax targeted to the show host, starts getting proportions ...

I can say that up to its first half the movie has an impeccable script, very clever and witty (just observe the repetitions ...), and which keeps you stuck to the screen. After this, the whole "ivasion" of "zombies" (I suppose that the main idea is obvious already) starts to be treated in a way somewhere between surreal and ... stupid. I'm not gonna disclose now what's the "virus" in this movie's version ... but I really doubt that the same idea was ever used in another one. The same for "the cure" (they're related after all). I tried to consider more the originality for this part but I can say that it might become a bit to hard to be believed from some point on, even if you keep in mind it's a movie. Probably that's why you get actually the "surreal" part integrated = in the context of the possible infection combined with the stress, the characters get to some dialogues/behavior which are a bit out of the surrounding context.

The main role is played by Stephen McHattie, probably a guy a bit less known (he's Canadian), but who I was expecting from some time to see as leading actor. And it deserved the wait. I think it's actually one of the main reasons to see the movie. Generally the cast is quite well chosen. Besides that we have the cinematography part which for me was extraordinary. I can't imagine how much further than that you can go in the conditions of the action placed in the same room pretty much of the movie. And the last cherry on top, the sound ... not the score, but effectively "the sound" - effects, editing, mixing. Well, the context of the movie = radio station (& more to see ...) pretty much demands it, but I can't appreciate the quality of what my ears have heard. For all of these, even if the last part of the movie was a bit disappointing, and draws it down pretty much ( I estimate that 3 of 4 viewers to have a final reaction of something like .. "that was stupid ..."), still ...

Rating: 4 out of 5

Devil (2010)

I'm very very tired after four days of walking through other places than my usual residence so I'm not in the very best shape for writing. Fortunately "Devil" is not a movie that takes to much time, at least not with the subject, because if I would say too much I would also spoil too much from what you get to see.

IMDb designates it as Horror, Mistery, Thriller (the usual alphabetic order). I consider that the movie is pretty far from the classic horror definition that you might have in mind, and it's oriented more towards the last two above. Remember "Fallen" with Denzel Washington ? It's probably one of the best movies I've ever seen which is somehow centered on the same theme = devil, demon, etc presence among humans. What we have here is pretty far in terms of quality I might say, but as "horror" level is in the same area. Which is one a bit more particular = I don't think it's scary (the trailer is deceiving) and it also doesn't have tons of disemboweled guts, eyes removed or other possible "dishes" from the classic "Saw" menu (what can I do, I'm giving the same example as usual, it's a reference after how many parts they released). The "horror" itself is just related to the evil presence in the title which here appears in a pretty original context. The idea is the next: one day .. a Philadelphia police investigator gets a new case just after breakfast = a corpse suddenly appeared on the top of a truck. After a short lookup it's determined that the body belongs to a suicidal who jumped from a floor on a high nearby building. In which building ... coincidence (or not .. obviously :) ), 5 persons are trapped into an elevator while going up. Elevator where ...

... the movie will show what happens ;) . I'll just stop at repeating the same boring everyday phrase without saying anything else :). I'm pretty sure that for the most the poster will not raise the interest for the movie and do exactly the opposite. Obviously the reason is the tagline "From the mind of M. Night Shyamalan". Ok, don't run now :) if you didn't noticed it before ... This guy actually succeded in getting out an excellent movie : "The 6th Sense" after which he pretty much messed up everything in which he was involved. Only "Unbreakable" was a bit above average, and "The Village" had some potential but didn't went forward than this. Besides those, worse and worse ... And I'm starting to believer that the main problem was the direction, or the changes the director does on his own script when he's working on the set. It seems that for the mentioned one, this position is not really recommended, because here we actually see the result when he sticks only to the story writing. And the result is definitely better. In most of his productions up to this point (I won't stay to count which one yes and which one not), he really tried to have a surprise factor in the ending, but he didn't make it to get something on par with the first one. It's also neither here, but u have some unexpected factor and the ending at least is not a catastrophe. Even if it might seem that's cut a bit short (and maybe also predictable if you're not very tired), the movie is far from being the mess "Signs" was at the ending. And, repeating myself, I believe that's quite a lot related also to the fact that the directing was left this time for somebody else.

Even if it seems to be distributed by Universal, I don't think that the movie had any big budget, and this actually makes it look a bit cheap on some parts. Even so, the cinematography, the editing and the sound are relatively ok. I especially liked the upside down travelings you get to see also in the trailer. But there is one thing that I liked even more, and that's the casting (maybe it's caused by the experience I had last week, I don't know ...). We don't have any box-office generator in the cast = some ultra known name, but the roles made are sufficiently well done and credible, and the most interesting part is that we have pretty different characters, and you get to see each personality transposed on screen. Ok, I won't get any longer with the entry (because I'm already yawning :) ) and even if down below I have a conclusion which might look partly similar with the last week one, I can say that the general impression was much better.

Rating: 3 out of 5 (more towards 4 .. I think I should start giving with a ratio ...)

Tin Man (2007)

Not very long ago I was praising the SciFi channel mini-series (or newer .. SyFy). It seems that I finally got into something that it's on the opposite side and I don't even know if I should spend the time writing about it .. "Tin Man" (by the way, if somebody sees the movie and has a solid argument for the chosen title, please give me a message). Still ...

Still, the critics were relatively positive if you take a look on the awards & nominations list (especially the Emmy one). I won't enumerate them now, and I'll actually consider there were given due to the lack of options during that year maybe (because the only effectively won Emmy was just for makeup). The only aspect that I think really deserves appreciated in the whole movie is the story. We have a sort of adaptation (which actually turns into a "sequel" from some point on) of the classic Oz story by Frank Baum. "A sort of" means actually "heavily adapted" here, meaning that everything is placed in a context that's a bit more realistic than the original one, and altogether more mature. Besides that, it has enough complexity for the whole three parts of its length. As probably the classical tale is well known already I won't insist with details on that. The trailer will say more.

Unfortunately, the story is pretty much messed up by the directing (by the way, I was thinking to place on my "to view" list also SciFi's channel version of "Alice in Wonderland", but considering it has the same director I think I'll postpone it ...). There are lots of parts which could have been a bit more thoroughly treated and others that probably were better left more superficial. In my opinion, the piece of story that came out really well is the middle, the second part. I could even say that's almost on the same level with "Harry Potter & The Half Blood Prince", which probably is the darkest in the series, and by far also the most dense from a psychological point of view. But again, this similarity comes especially from the story ... Because besides the directing which is flawed we have also the cast ...

The only good part about the actors in this movie is the order in which they are enumerated in the trailer. More exactely there are only two who are effectively acting and those are the first mentioned - Richard Dreyfuss si Alan Cumming. The rest .. are pretty lame. I'm not an expert in drama and generally I consider that this part in what I'm writing is purely subjective. But here ... it's so obvious that even if a part of the cast is so & so, having both good parts and maybe just a few bad ones, for the main character played by Zooey Deschanel, the outcome despite her nice blue eyes is simply horrendous. Either she's "on drugs" as somebody on an IMDb board was saying or she tried a very challenging approach for the performance with the purpose of building a more... different type of character than the classical image. But the outcome is far from interesting, ok, or any other positive qualifications ...

Technically the movie is ok, with the exception of the VFX, which despite all the nominations given sincerely they don't look like 2007, even considering that we talk about a made for TV movie. I've seen lots of better effects in older series. As a final idea, I'm waiting to see on screen something else from the same universe. For who doesn't know Frank Baum wrote more than just one book, but every time only this one was put on screen. I haven't read anything from the rest, so I don't know what potential they have though, but there is also another author. His name was Alexander Volkov, and he lived in the old USSR until the '70s. During his lifetime he adapted the first book by Baum and wrote a series of original sequels. I've read one of these (I think the first) many times when I was a kid. It's called "Urfin Joos & His Wooden Soldiers" in a close to original translation. In my opinion this is far superior as a story to the "Wizard of Oz" and I honestly believe that it would be a hit if properly put on screen. By chance I've seen earlier this year a pretty good trailer (see below) for an animated adaptation. Unfortunately if you dig a bit the web it seems to be pretty much an independent "one-man-effort", so I don't know what are the chances to come out. But who knows ...

Rating: 3 out of 5 ( ... pretty much only for the story)

The Lincoln Lawyer (2011)

I'm going to be more short today - 1. I don't actually have much to write about "The Lincoln Lawyer" 2. the eternal "time tends to be = 0" lack of "resources" . So, we have a thriller, which is adapted after a book, which book I didn't read, but which I think it's better than the movie ...

Well, it's not a bad movie, but it could have been much better. Because of this, probably the best part is the one which comes directly from the book = the story. We have a divorced lawyer (whose wife works at the attorney's office) who uses a Lincoln as place of work, therefore the title of the movie. This means, more exactly, that all day long he is moving from one place of the town to another dealing with the various clients incarcerated in the various police precincts, or even handling some of them on the road between. One day, he receives an express request from a guy accused of beating badly a call girl. Considering that the guy is the son of a filthy rich business woman, offering a payment which is several tens of times larger than the usual fee, the case is accepted even if all this sudden interest for the "mobile lawyer" sounds a bit suspicious to him. But the accused one has also a story which despite being a bit far fetched sounds plausible initially - more exactly he sustains that he's completely innocent and the girl managed to get beaten beyond recognition by her own free will just to squeeze him from money. From here onwards, if I say more, I'll spoil too much. The movie has two major twists (well .. at least they could've been major ...), and the first comes exactly after what's above (the second is obviously at the end).

I don't have much more to say about the movie. The directing doesn't help to much, the first twist I was saying about could have been less obvious as outcome = to keep you wondering at least for a while more. I'll stay silent and say only that from that point until the end the relationship defendant - accused changes consistently from a normal one. And the reason for that is not only what's easy to guess and you see also in the trailer, namely that the "not guilty" one is not that innocent.

The cast is ok. In the lead role we have Matthew McConaughey, but probably the best part is made by the accused = Ryan Phillipe. Oh, and I shouldn't forget a presence that's always likeable (at least for me :-p) - Marisa Tomei. I don't have anything to say about other aspects as cinematography, editing, sound, etc because each of this is pretty much "plain simple". As a general idea, the impression I was left is that the movie is "too american" = everything solves a bit to "ok" in the end and the story itself, which if you put it on paper (and probably in the book is like that) it's pretty tangled with some more "depth" potential, on screen gets a bit too "easy flowing" without giving you much food for thought.

Rating: 3 out of 5

Ninja Assassin (2009)

I took a little time to think on how to rate "Ninja Assassin" (although probably that's the least meaningful part of an entry). Eventually I decided to restrain myself and opted for what's written in the end. Just to be sure nobody will think that I'm drunk in case I would have given a higher rating. Although it still might happen if I'm thinking on the last week's movie. But comparing here, just because we're talking about two movies, is like placing Mona Lisa and the Eiffel Tower on the same balance because both are in Paris. On the other hand, this is the second time in the last period when I have a completely different opinion from IMDb and the critics. Let's see why ...

"Ninja Assassin" is an action movie before anything else. Some say it has to little action, some that it has too much. For me it was the perfect amount. Especially considering that it's backed up by a story, even if it's a simple one, maybe melancholic, with plot holes, again for some too long or completely invisible for others. It was quite ok as a story for an action movie. And we have also something that brings some weight for anything from the genre if handled appropriately (but again the critics were probably blind to see it) - an one-to-one conflict = the ultimate good guy (at least from some point onwards) vs. the ultimate bad guy. I'll be back to this, let me take them one by one ...

I. The story: I started with this part to give a sense for what's next, the movie having the same approach (and it works wonderfully). In the first scene we have a ninja "cleaning up" a room from an entire yakuza gang in an a la Tarantino style. After which we have the context - which is presented through a series of flashbacks with sequences from the life of a ninja trained since a little kid by an assassins clan. These flshbacks (which present a bit more complex story than Van Damme's training in "BloodSport" but I won't get into details) are rolled in parallel with the action from the present placed in Berlin. Here a female Europol agent with a bit too much free time finds some occupation by investigating a series of killings throughout the history. From the vague existing documentation she gets the conclusion that the executor group was the same, and paid with the same amount ... since the middle ages. Of course the whole theory with ninja clans seems like a movie story for her superior but he lets her go on with the investigation. And slowly, as she advances, the things start to get complicated, especially from when this path of action mixes with the other one = the flashbacks told story of the ninja which reaches the present. The only thing I'm saying more is that in the last flashback you're presented with the violent split between the ninja who and the clan, which puts him in the position of the "ultimate good guy" and the clan chief as the "ultimate bad guy" about I was saying before. From a couple opinions which I had the time to read in the half of hour I've granted myself for seeing what's the problem with the IMDb rating, it results that is too much story and too thin just to support a bunch of mindless action scenes. I don't want to start here enumerating action movies which have a thinner story than "Ninja Assassin" because I'm not gonna end today. There are indeed some holes in the script but as complexity, what's above is far from being all you get as a story. And it is coherent enough despite everything is said, and it also takes more than five lines of text to put it on paper. Which is good, because from an action movie, if something sticks to your head for longer than one year it will probably be the story, and ...

II. The Conflict: "Die Hard" basically doesn't have not even a quarter from the story here and it still is a masterpiece for an action movie. But it is a particular case. Why ? First, it has a pretty restrained context in which the action develops this allowing the viewer to be more drawn by what he sees on the screen. Second, you have a conflict between a main character on the good side and a main character on the bad side, which conflict is backed up wonderfully by the restrained context which intensifies it. Well, in "Ninja Assassin" we don't have a narrow context, but we have the conflict. And as from "Die Hard" you'll remember Gruber (or in any case if not the name, the evil guy who "hijacked" Nakatomi Tower), from "Kill Bill" you'll remember Bill, from "Speed" you'll remember .. Dennis Hopper ( I'm not recalling the name, with Bill was easier :) ), the same way here you'll probably remember the assassin clan chief. It's not anyway sufficient to just have two main characters, the story has to "build" them in order to "hit" the viewer with the conflict between them, and especially the negative one because the most impact comes from that side (remember "Darth Vader" ? :) ). Well, probably "Ninja Assassin" is not exactly as "Star Wars" for this part, but it really does a good job on "building" the bad character. And this is basically due to the story .. considered useless by some.

III. The Action: The guy who plays the main character (the good guy), Rain, from what I learned is a professional dancer having lots of shows and a ton of success in Asia. Probably that explains the choreography of the fight scenes, about which I don't know how realistic are considering the martial arts technique but they definitely look good. Most of the time it looks indeed like a dance. And to top it the weapon which get the most screen time (I don't know the exact name, something close to Mortal Kombat's Scorpion chained kunai) is not really often seen in movies and adds more to the "artistic impression". Probably that's also the reason why despite the violence and the blood excess (the movie is clearly rated 18+) I believe it's one of the few cases where I can say it's tolerable and not disgusting (although the amounts of spilled red paint could've been definitely lower).

I have written enough about the good parts. There are also bad ones. Yes, as I wrote above the script has clearly parts that could have been better. Same for the actors. With the exception of the three main ones (and even here not all the time), the rest seem to be just picked from the street and brought to the set. Besides that, the worst part is that it sounds awfully unnatural hearing all the japanese talking in English. There is anyway something good, coming from all of these, at least for me :) Remember the bunch of lines in "Commando" between Schwarzenegger and his "kidnapped" action partner which at some point went so far that were not anymore horrible but funny ? Well, it's not the same level at all here, but there are a few moments though when you might have the feeling that "Ninja Assassin" brings a tribute to the screenwriters from "Commando". Which again, for me is funny :), not bad at all. As a final idea I can say that James McTeigue ("V for Vendetta") from my point of view managed to achieve something with this movie that seems to combine the best from "Crying Freeman" with Mark Dacascos and from "The Hunted" with Cristopher Lambert, another two flicks probably to old and unknown but as underrated as this one.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Blood Simple. (1984)

I've seen so many movies having a quite similar subject with the one I'm writing about, that I honestly didn't remember if not this one is also among them. So, I was a bit undecided if to see it or not because even though I have a series of movies about which I know for sure I watched but I don't recall much from them, I'm trying to avoid seeing again when I have another choice. Obviously due to the lack of time. Well in the end I was more certain anyway that I didn't see it, so despite what's above I've chosen "Blood Simple" from '84, the first movie by Coen Brothers over a newer one. And I can't say that I regret this ( maybe just the hour when I watched it :) )

The similar subject I was mentioning is something like: first, we have a small american forgotten town where the population count is probably a number with 4 digits (or at least that's the impression you get; in "Blood Simple" you don't know more than it's somewhere in Texas .. if I'm not missing somehing). Second, we have a bar in that town, or more exactly a bar owner (or if it's not a bar owner - in this movie he is - is another character with more or less unorthodox behavior who's a bit more rich than the rest of the surrounding cohabitants). Number three, the guy has a wife (younger and good looking) and they don't really get along anymore, or even if they do he's paranoid enough to be willing to put her locked in a cage due to jealousy. Number four, in whole this context appears another guy who eventually gets involved in a reltion with the overpriced object above (= the wife, if it's not clear). Number five, somebody is paying somebody ( not necessarily one of the the three ) to kill somebody, and from here the whole story gets complicated. What's more to say is that usually a variable percent ( between let's say 40 and 99 %) from all the characters have their IQ proportional to the town dimension. Well, I've seen all this context, with some variations, in {Red Rock West", in "U-Turn" and I think also other titles, and obviously also in "Blood Simple.".

I won't say more about how the above "template" fits to the current movie, it just does it almost perfectly. Especially the IQ part, although it's not that obvious from the start. What I can tell, without revealing too much is that it takes a while until all this context is set, but starting from number 5 and after the movie gets into the alert phase. Initially you'll tend to think that it's more a comedy (actually it is in part, a dark one). You have the typical Coen Brothers humor (quite similar with what you have in "Burn After Reading"), which makes that the first part of the movie to be pretty "relaxed" to say it so. Well, what this actually does is to amplify the effect of what's coming. And what's coming starts from a scene which seemed to me pretty hard to digest. I will just say that if you've seen "Casino" by Scorsese you'll know what to expect because we have something somehow similar in there. Still, that one for me, probably also due to the age I was when I've watched the movie, is one of the gruesome scenes I've ever seen, due to the fact that it's pushed to an extreme which doesn't get out from the credible ranges (for instance what you have in "Saw" is clearly unplausible and exaggerated which cuts something like 70-80% from the impact on the audience in my opinion). Anyway, getting back to "Blood Simple" ... for me this is the bad part of the movie = I didn't receive it very well, but I have to admit that it proves effective for what's following. Because what's following starts with the impression created by this scene. And even if it keeps a subtle humor drawn mostly from the mentally healthiness of the character, the rest of a movie comes with a load of tension which grows and grows until it reaches a climax at the end (that's why, how I was saying at the start of the entry :) probably 1 AM is not the best hour to see the movie). It has something from Hitchcock in it, so probably it doesn't quote him just randomly. So, to be more clear, due to the way the action develops the movie becomes (at least for me) scarrier than a horror, and that's pretty much due to the fact suggested above = the violence and the situations are relatively plausible or actually not that much as plausible than as possible (as in not exaggerated).

The movie has a really beautiful cinematography. I've been surprised to see that behind the camera was Barry Sonnenfeld about whom I had no idea that he had done also this in his career. The guy is probably most known as a director ("Men in Black" 1 and 2), but I really think that he should have stuck to the camera. You have a variation of frames + angles which fit perfectly with how "loaded" gets the atmosphere. I think I've seen something similar "Shining", but I don't remember much. The soundtrack is also perfect for the context, and I really started to like Carter Burwell although it seems it's pretty much exclusively for his collaborations with the Coen Brothers (after seeing "True Grit" and the one from here), because for the rest I'm not really of the opinion that he qualifies on the current top line of composers (= Mansell, Zimmer, etc) ...

Anyway, what's the main thing to appreciate is the editing + the directing + the script; it's another example, although chronologically the first that what comes from Hollywood and has written Coen in this 3 places deserves with a rate of 80 % certainty to spend the time on it (it still remains something like 20 % with the way too overrated "No Country for Old Men", "O Brother Where Art Thou", and I hope these are all not to destroy the percentage :) ). What I was saying above about the tension it creates it's pretty much due to the editing and to the directing (and the script brings the humour part which is more than necessary to not jump above the limit with the rest). Even if still a part of the movie seemed to me a bit over the limit, finally I can't to do else than just appreciate that the result is what it wants to be, and fortunately for the viewer it sets a quite high level compared to most of the movies you're presented on a current basis.

Rating: 4 out of 5