What doesn't kill you has alot of potential to be great. It has a solid cast, Ethan Hawke and Mark Ruffalo, but it doesn't do enough with what it has. The characters are pretty bland, which makes it difficult for me to sympathize with them. The story is pretty generic and uninteresting but at least ir provides some scenes that are worth watching. Also the pacing is almost painfully slow, nothing interesting happens for ages. All that happens for almost the first hour or so is a quick scene of a robbery, the main characters either getting high and drinking, or complaining and or yelling to their wife or girlfriend. It gets more interesting after the first hour when the two main characters start doing and selling drugs and doing more dangerous jobs, it never gets to the point though where I am really engaged in the action or drama. The acting though is great, Ethan Hawke and Mark Ruffalo are a good team and they play off each other quite well. I still recommend this film, even if it is slightly forgetable.
Overall I give it a 7 out of 10.
1. City of God
2. Wind that shakes the barley
3. Let the right one in
4. The Fall
5. Waltz with Bashir
6. Amores Perros
7. Letters from Iwo Jima
8. Amelie
9. American Psycho
10. The Proposition
Thats my list for now, what do you think?
My god this film was dull and generic. Its a shame too because it has Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson, who were both great, but the film was just so predictable and lifeless. There was a random and stupid sub plot about a mother thinking her Polish neighbor was a killer which went nowhere, James Brolin was in it too and was as bland as ever. There is nothing really wrong with this film, heck if you want a feel good film and you dont want to think much then by all means see it, but I personally thought it was forgettable at best.
Overall I give it a 5 out of 10.
The Fall is either the most extravagent visual feast made in years or the biggest self indulgence made by any director ever. Either way this film is one of the only films this decade that I would call unique. The director Tarsem, who also did the film The Cell, spent millions of dollars and filmed in 28 countries to make this film, and the effort he made to make it really shows. The film stars Lee Pace as a stuntman in the Silent film era who injures himself while filming. He meets a little girl called Alexandria who wants him to tell her a story.
The rest of the film switches between the story he tells, and in real life when Alexandria lives at the hospital and spends her time bothering nurses and stealing morphine for the stuntman Roy who wants to commit suicide. This is a beautiful film that shows how anyone, no matter how messed up they are, can tell a story to someone and have it interpreted as an epic story. Alexandria will do anything to hear the story and Roy's life is so empty that he is willing to tell her the story even though all he wants to do is die because his girlfriend left him. Roy's story changes depending on what happens to him in real life, characters and stories within his made up story reflect Roy's real life. I really cant describe this film very well, all I will say is that is a film that I doubt you will ever see something like ever again. You will either love it or hate, I happen to love it.
Overall I give it a 9.5 out of 10.
This is a great year for films in general, but for those who like romance films this is an even better year. Benjamin Button is the latest film by David Fincher, and this is a big departure from his usual dark and dreary films about killers of some sort. The story of Benjamin Button is quite tragic and beautiful at the same time, the idea of Benjamin getting younger and he gets older may seem like a blessing for a while, but in time he realizes how he can never live a normal life. Brad Pitt plays Benjamin Button and he is surprisingly good, and after seeing him in Burn After Reading I am impressed by his acting range this year.
This is a long film, not as long as Che, but still more than 2 hours. If you can stand that then I highly recommend this film though it is a bit slow and tends to drag at times. Benjamin's life is facinating yet oddly dull and normal. It's not what he does that is interesting, its the circumstances of his life and how they lead up to these specific events in the film. Benjamin Button is at heart a romance film, not a cliche one but a deep and tragic one. Other films recently have tried to romance genre and tried to be tragic, but most of them fail due to a lack of chemistry, poor acting, and a lack of interesting events. For example, i thought Atonement was dull as watching paint dry most of the time. Keira Knightly was bad as usual and she had no chemistry with James McCavoy at all, nothing interesting happened in that film due to a lack of chemistry and in a romantic film chemistry is important. It doesn't matter how tragic a film is, if you don't care for the characters why bother watching it? Benjamin Button succeds where most fail and for this alone it is a remarkable film.
Overall I give it a 9 out of 10.
Wall-E is a film I was putting off watching for a while since I don't love pixar like everyone else. I think most of their films are fun, but painfully predictable and very forced moral messages. Wall-E finally does away with those cliches...sometimes. There are some parts in the film like the parts with Wall-E alone on earth and him following eve that are done very well. The incredible visuals also help compliment the touching and tragic story for the first half. The second half however is less impressive. When Wall-E arrives on the ship where everyone is fat and on a chair with a hologram screen in front of them the film becomes more predictable and cliche. When the people start talking I started to lose a bit of interest.
The film also seems to show off how pretty it is with many seeminly pointless robots and shiny things moving around, making noises. The last half mostly consists of pixar showing how good they are at making pretty visuals combined with a predictable and slightly silly return to earth story with rampaging robots. I still enjoyed the last half, but I expected alot more after the beautiful and touching half on earth. I would have prefered either the whole film to be set on earth, or to have the first half on the desolate earth as a animated short. I still recommend it, but I was slightly dissapointed. Also the ending was a let down, I thought pixar would have the guts to finish what they started when they show what happens to Wall-E. Unfortunatly this is in the end a film for kids with some more subtle and interesting adult themes.
Overall I give it an 8.5 out of 10.
W is a tough film to review, many will see the film as taking the republican side or maybe they will see it as taking the side of the liberals. I don't see it as taking any side, which these days is a good change. I personally think Bush is a bad president, but this film shows that he is in the end like all of us. He is human, he has regrets, he has emotions, and he made some dumb choices. We all have made mistakes, problem is this guy is the president and any film that has a hint of sympathy toward him is not going to be recieved well.
Judging the film on it's own merits is easy, it has great acting by Josh Brolin, Toby Jones and many others. It takes a neutral view towards Bush while taking the occasional cheap shot. Frost/Nixon is getting rave reviews, difference between that film and this one aside from the obvious is that Nixon is gone, those interviews are over. People see Bush and they see failure, people see Obama and they see change. Or maybe they don't, depends on your political views. This film should not be viewed as a liberal film or a republican one, it should be viewed as the story of a man who made mistakes, who has dad issues, and problems with everyday life. Don't see it as a bush hater or supporter, see it as an observation of a man who like all of us has made mistakes and bad judgements. Sure people will critisize it by saying it is not the right time for a film like this, but you know what screw them. There is no wrong or right time. If newpapers, magazines, TV shows, and people in general can satirize him and his decisions then they can damn well sit back, shut their mouths, and let a film like this be made. I understand that this is not a very comfortable film for some to watch, you may hate Bush and his decisions or you may like him. In the end I don't give a crap what you think, this is an enjoyable film about an interesting yet not hugely intelligent man.
Overall I give it an 8 out of 10 and a middle finger to the critics.
Sorry if anything I said offended anyone, I just think many people view this film with the wrong attitude. If you hate the film on its own merits however or find it dull then go ahead and hate though. I doubt many here will like this film, but guess what? I did:P
I'm sure I will get alot of people who disagree with me here, but I think that Quantom of Solace is better than Casino Royale. Now that is out of the way, on with the review. I liked the casting of the new bond girl, in fact she is one of my new favorite bond girls. One complaint people had with this one was that bond didnt have sex with her. That to me is a very messed up complaint, I find it strange that people expect bond to have sex with a girl who saw her parents die and saw her mother and sister get raped. She is clearly a damaged girl and even bond can see that, and some of you think it is bad that Bond didnt have sex with her? That is not a legit complaint to me at all. Also, I didnt mind the more shaky camera, I thought it worked well.
I usually hate shaky cam use but here it worked. Now on to another complain people had, the story. I didnt think it was confusing or convoluted in the slightest. Sure at first I didn't fully understand it, but soon I did. You just have to pay more attention, I guess people dont like paying attention in action films. My only complaint is the theme song at the start, it sounds good but it seems out of place. Also much to my confusion I couldnt tell who was Alicia Keys and who was Jack White sometimes thanks to Jack White's ridiculous voice. All the changes people complained about to me made the film better and more complete than Casino Royale, I even liked the main villian Dominic. My main problem with Casino Royale is the poker parts, I hate poker and the idea of watching people play it and haveing a poker scene to build tension makes me want to punch babies. I really liked Quantom of Solace, go ahead and flame me and disagree, but I stick by what I said.
Overall I give it an 8.5 out of 10.
QUANTOM OF SOLACE IS BETTER THAN CASINO ROYALE.
Just thought I would say that again:P
1. Benicio Del Toro in Che
2. Sean Penn as in Milk
3. Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler
4. Colin Ferrell in In Bruges
5. Kare Hedebrant in Let The Right One In
6. Dev Patel in Slumdog Millionaire
7. Jean Claude Van Damme in JCVD
If any of these guys win best actor for the Oscars I will be satisfied. What do you think? Agree or disagree with my choices?
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