woensdag 10 juni 2009

Gothika

I wanted to see an old-fashioned scary movie without teenagers (so no 'Scream' or 'I know what you did last summer'-clone). And Gothika delivered.
Sure, the story was not very original (psychiatrist becomes psycho) and the horror effects were quite predictable (be careful! behind you!) but when I left the cinema and went back to my car, I closed the doors careful. And now as I am writing this...i'm looking over my shoulder to see if there is nobody behind me in the corner...so the movie worked!

dinsdag 9 juni 2009

Ennemi Public n°1 - Mesrine part 2

This second part of the life of Jacques Mesrine is even better than the first part. We finally see that the happy-go-lucky Mesrine is no more than a common criminal, who has delusions of grandeur and is obsessed with power. In the first part you still have some sympathy for him, but all that goes down the drain has he becomes more violent and uncontrollable. A great portrait by Vincent Cassel, who really looks the part.

The story of Jacques Mesrine, France's public enemy No. 1 during the
1970s. After nearly two decades of legendary criminal feats -- from multiple bank robberies and to prison breaks -- Mesrine was gunned down by the French police in Paris.

maandag 8 juni 2009

Max Payne

Boy oh boy what a bad movie. Sorry to be so blunt and straight-forward, but after being tortured for 100 minutes I have a right to be honest. This movie was a total waste of good actors and a great video game. Yes, I love Max Payne, the VG (video game). It was great with the over-the-top violence, the pain and the fear... But this movie has nothing. Yes, there is a lot of violence, but it is boring and fails to impress. And the pain and fear is only inflicted on the audience who dread that the movie will last any second longer. Sorry guys, this one is definitely for the garbage bin.

Coming together to solve a series of murders in New York City are a DEA agent whose family was slain as part of a conspiracy and an assassin out to avenge her sister's death. The duo will be hunted by the police, the mob, and a ruthless corporation.


Quote :

Max Payne: There's an army of bodies under this river, people who ran out of time, out of friends. I could feel the dead down there, reaching up to welcome me as one of their own. It was an easy mistake to make.

zondag 7 juni 2009

Pride and Glory

A movie with Edward Norton is always a treat (even the dreadful Hulk was made acceptable by his presence) and here he delivers a very good portrayel as a cop who is torn between loyalty and justice. Co-starring Colin Farrell, the story develops slowly (and a tad boring in the beginning) but quickly picks up pace and ends in a great finale. No over-the-top shoot-outs here or expensive car chases, but a deeper look into the psyche of those who start out to protect and serve, but in the end want in on a piece of the action.

Excellent performances, good script, tense setting and a fight between good and evil. In my book that is worth 4 stars.

Quote:

Ray Tierney: I've done your kind of loyalty, pop, and it's cost me too much.
Francis Tierney Sr: What did it cost you, Ray?
Ray Tierney: It cost me everything!

A saga centered on a multi-generational family of New York City Police officers. The family's moral codes are tested when Ray Tierney, investigates a case that reveals an incendiary police corruption scandal involving his own brother-in-law. For Ray, the truth is revelatory, a Pandora's Box that threatens to upend not only the Tierney legacy but the entire NYPD.

zaterdag 6 juni 2009

The Bank Job

The feedback we got about this movie was quite good: "a wonderful heist movie", somebody said. "Unbelievable that this is based on a true story", was another view. And yes, the movie is very entertaining, and very British as well. It feels a bit like Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and the action is fast and thick.

The actors are excellent, the music is swinging and the way London in the 1970's is recreated is quite realistic. Top dialogues and characters you can relate to. What more do you want on a Saturday night?

Quote:

Kevin Swain: So what are these films you're in?
Dave Shilling: Ah, forget about it.
Kevin Swain: Go on.
Dave Shilling: Technically, it's what you call pornography.

In September 1971, thieves tunneled into the vault of a bank in London's Baker Street and looted safe deposit boxes of cash and jewelry worth over three million pounds. None of it was recovered. Nobody was ever arrested. The robbery made headlines for a few days and then disappeared - the result of a 'D' Notice, gagging the press. This film reveals what was hidden for the first time. The story involves murder, corruption and a sex scandal with links to the Royal Family - a story in which the thieves were the most innocent people

vrijdag 5 juni 2009

Alpha Dog

Alpha Dog was the first movie I ever saw with the Brussels' Movie Monday Group. I started this in Bewelcome, but now it is a weekly event that is also popular in CouchSurfing, Hospitality Club and we even have our own Facebook Group. I liked this movie a lot, and so did the 5 other people who showed up that night. But I guess it is difficult for 'serious' movie critics to like a movie that stars Justin Timberlake.
A pity, because the story is interesting, the actors outstanding (just look at how Sharon Stone evolves throughout the movie), it is based on a real story and it moved me..
Just one word of warning: do not go to this movie if you have a problem with people saying "fuck" all the time, or when you don't like men that look like they walked out of a Calvin Klein ad.

Twilight

Edward Cullen. I will repeat it. Edward Cullen. Do you want me to repeat it? Edward Cullen. Edward is the wet dream of every young schoolgirl, it seems. He gives this average vampire story the necessary hormones and does for Twilight what Cameron Diaz did for The Mask: oozing sex all over the screen. Unfortunately he is not a very gifted actor and the dialogue he has to speak is sometimes bad and frankly often unintentionally funny.

On IMDB they write that the script was finished in 6 weeks, like it was something to be proud of. I'd rather have them spend 3 months on it again to bring it up to standard.

Conclusion: a romantic love-story for the gothic generation with some nice twists but too little action and too much ludicrous dialogue. If you liked stuff like Harry Potter and you are a 14-year-old girl who feels that her body is changing, then this is definitely the movie for you.

Quote from Twilight :

Edward Cullen: And so the lion fell in love with the lamb.
Isabella Swan: What a stupid lamb.
Edward Cullen: What a sick, masochistic lion.

Bella Swan is a clumsy, kind hearted teenager with a knack for getting into trouble. Edward Cullen is an intelligent, good looking vampire who is trying to hide his secret. Against all odds, the two fall in love but will a pack of blood thirsty trackers and the disapproval of their family and friends separate them?

donderdag 4 juni 2009

Madagascar 2: Escape 2 Africa

I never saw the first Madagascar movie, but that didn't stop my enjoyment. Dreamworks show again that they know how to make an entertaining, funny movie. Especially the penguins steal the show, they should get their own movie.
Kids will love the funny moves and addictive score, and adults will laugh at the little inside jokes and the return of the Killer Lady.

I thorougly enjoyed this, and you have to be quite cynical not to take little Alex into your hearts. Great voices also, especially from Ben Stiller and Sacha Baron Cohen (better known as Borat)

My favourite quote : Melman: Listen Moto Moto. You better treat this lady like a queen because you my friend, you found yourself the perfect women. If I was ever so lucky to find the perfect women I would give her flowers everyday and not just any flowers, okay? Her favorites are orchids, white, and breakfast in bed... six loaves of wheat toast with butter on both sides, no crust. The way she likes it. I'd be her shoulder to cry on and her best friend and I'd spend everyday trying to think of how to make her laugh. She has the most, most amazing laugh. Well that's what I would do if were you

The sequel to 2005's "Madagascar", in which New York Zoo animals, Alex the Lion, Marty the Zebra, Melman the Giraffe and Gloria the Hippo, still stranded on Madagascar, start to leave the island. All of a sudden, they land in the wilderness of Africa, where Alex meets the rest of his family, but has trouble communicating with them after spending so much time at the Central Park Zoo

woensdag 3 juni 2009

Australia

Baz Luhrmann is famous for his kitschy musical dramas (Strictly Ballroom, Romeo + Juliet, Moulin Rouge) and now he is back with Australia, an epic adventure/romantic love story with again strong musical overtones (The Wizard of Oz plays an important role). If you like his previous work, you will like Australia a lot. If not, you might want to be careful about spending your money on this movie.

Don't get me wrong, it's not a bad movie. But it is certainly an acquired taste. The use of the aboriginal culture as a 'cute' factor is something i'm personally not so comfortable with, and the characterization of Nicole Kidman's Lady Ashley is a bit over the top. But then again, this is a bit for Australia what "Gone with the Wind" must have been for the United States of America.

There are some good moments as well, especially involving Bryan Brown and the bad guy Neil Fletcher. In the end the movie feels like 2 movies, and it might have been better to have cut them in half.



In northern Australia at the beginning of World War II, an English aristocrat inherits a cattle station the size of Maryland. When English cattle barons plot to take her land, she reluctantly joins forces with a rough-hewn stock-man to drive 2,000 head of cattle across hundreds of miles of the country's most unforgiving land, only to still face the bombing of Darwin, Australia, by the Japanese forces that had attacked Pearl Harbor only months earlier.


Quote from Austalia:

Drover: We're not really used to...
Lady Sarah Ashley: A woman? I suppose you think I should be back in Darwin, at the church fete or a lady's whatever you call it. Well I will have you know, I am as capable as any man.
Drover: Guests. We're not used to guests is what I was about to say but now that you mention it I happen to quite like the women of the outback.

dinsdag 2 juni 2009

Top 100 Movie Quotes - 75

"I have always depended on the kindness of strangers." - A streetcare named desire, 1951

Barry Lyndon

This movie is often overlooked when talking about Stanley Kubrick's work. But I have seldom seen a movie that was so beautifully shot as Barry Lyndon. Kubrick has always been a master in bringing beauty to the screen, but the perfectionist that he was has surpassed himself in this movie..
When viewing the movie it seems like you are watching a painting, and it is no secret that he has tried to capture the light and atmosphere of works by Gainsborough..

We all know that beautiful pictures don't necessarily make a good movie, but I'm glad to say Barry Lyndon scores on many other points. It has a good script, lots of drama, and the actors offer restrained yet moving portrayals.
This movie is timeless, and still feels as strong as when I first saw it, a long long time ago. You will love this movie if you like similar movies likePride & Prejudice, Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre and Tess d'Uberville.

Quote from Barry Lyndon:
Sir Charles Lyndon: Have you done with my Lady?
Redmond Barry: I beg your pardon?
Sir Charles Lyndon: Come, come, sir. I'm a man who would rather be known as a cuckold than a fool.

The film portrays an unusual young Irish man, Redmond Barry, and his endeavours as he is forced to leave his home and tries to make good his life elsewhere. His life away from home starts out as a career in the British Army; only to evolve in surprising ways and lead to as different places as a position of trust within the Prussian Army and later a title of nobility, gained by what our time can only measure as rather disgraceful means.

12 Angry Men

This movie was voted 10th best movie ever on IMDB, and I can certainly understand why. Not only is this one of the best (if not the best) courtroom dramas I have ever seen, but it creates a wonderfully claustrophobic atmosphere by using just 12 actors and one room.

The movie clearly shows a rift between the upper class, conservatives who are unwilling to change and the progressives who are proposing change for the better of all of us; this film, deep down, is a very class conscious and socially conscious film about discrimination and the deep lines it had in American society in 1957.

Also what is interesting is the fact that it is a film that is done with great simplicity; some actors, and a room... It relies greatly upon the pure talent of the actors, and the great direction of Sidney Lumet -- this film is truly unique due to the true minimalism it embraces in its' production tactics, yet this is something that could easily go unnoticed due to the incredible quality of the film.

The defence and the prosecution have rested and the jury is filing into the jury room to decide if a young Spanish-American is guilty or innocent of murdering his father. What begins as an open and shut case of murder soon becomes a mini-drama of each of the jurors' prejudices and preconceptions about the trial, the accused, and each other. Based on the play, all of the action takes place on the stage of the jury room


Quote from 12 Angry Men :

Juror #3: Look, you voted guilty. What side are you on?
Juror #11: I don't believe I have to be loyal to one side or the other. I'm simply asking questions.

Trivia :

Only two jurors are ever identified by name: #8 Mr. Davis and #9 Mr. McCardle. And all but two are identified by job or profession: #1 High School Football Coach, #2 Bank Teller, #3 Owns Messenger Service, #4 Stock Broker, #6 Painter, #7 Salesman, #8 Architect, #10 Garage Owner, #11 Watch Maker, and #12 Advertising Exec

maandag 1 juni 2009

Top 100 Movie Quotes - 76

"Hasta la vista, baby." - The Terminator 2: Judgement Day, 1991

What is the Worst Movie EVER?

Maybe you have heard about the Golden Raspberry Award. The Golden Raspberry Awards, frequently called the Razzies, were created by John Wilson in 1980 (and first awarded in 1981), intended to counterpoint the Academy Awards by dishonoring (or honoring) the worst acting, screenwriting, songwriting, directing, and films that the film industry had to offer. The term raspberry is used in its irreverent sense, as in "blowing a raspberry."

Metacritic.com used this Award to publish its own list of 10 worst movies ever.

10 Worst Movies Ever

1. Bio-Dome (1996)
2. The Singing Forest (2003)
3. Chaos (2005)
4. Vulgar (2002)
5. Strippers (2000)
6. Two of a Kind (1983)
7. Dirty Cop No Donut (2001)
8. National Lampoon's Gold Diggers (2004)
9. Baby Geniuses (1999)
10.The Hottie and the Nottie (2008)

Slumdog Millionaire

This is a great movie, no matter how you turn it. Brilliant actors, great story, captivating images and above all we all care about what will happen to the two brothers and their (girl)friend.
When I originally read about this movie, i was less thrilled. How can you make a good movie about a contestant on a silly quiz. But the quiz element is only a small part (luckily) of the movie, instead Danny Boyle concentrates on life in the slums of Bombay. Gripping stuff, and definitely Oscar material.

After some great movies (shallow grave, Trainspotting) Danny Boyle made some mediocre/average movies (Life Less Ordinary, The Beach), but I'm glad to say he's back on track with his latest movies (Sunshine, 28 Days Later)

A Mumbai teen who grew up in the slums, becomes a contestant on the Indian version of "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?" He is arrested under suspicion of cheating, and while being interrogated, events from his life history are shown which explain why he knows the answers

Quote from Slumdog Millionaire:

Prem Kumar: [starting lines] So Jamal, tell me something about yourself.
Jamal Malik: I work in a call centre in Juhu.
Prem Kumar: Phone basher! And what type of call centre would that be?
Jamal Malik: Excel Five mobile phones.
Prem Kumar: Ohh... so you're the one who calls me up every single day of my life with special offers?
Jamal Malik: Actually I'm an assistant.
Prem Kumar: An assistant phone basher? And what does an assistant phoner basher do exactly?
Jamal Malik: I get tea for people and...
Prem Kumar: Chaiwalah! Well ladies and gentlemen, Jamal Malik, garma garam chai dene wala from Mumbai, lets play Who Wants To Be A Millionaire!