Claudia's Talk

Disney's A Christmas Carol

"Haunt me no longer!"


Director: Robert Zemeckis
Starring: Jim Carrey, Gary Oldman, Cary Elwes, Colin Firth
Running time: 96 minutes
Country: USA


I had exciting feelings and nervous feelings about seeing this one. I was excited because it is a Christmas film and I love Christmas! Also, it stars Jim Carrey and he is returning to a Christmas film. What I was nervous about was that Zemeckis has done a Christmas animated film before and it was quite disappointing. When I saw this film at the cinema, I thought it was an absolutely fantastic film! The 3D experience made it an even better film than it already was. I mean, in some scenes it felt like riding a rollercoaster because of some of the scenes within the film. I have always been a fan of Charles Dickens and I personally think that A Christmas Carol is his most famous novel. A lot of film adaptations of A Christmas Carol are absolutely brilliant but I personally think the 2009 version is the best one so far. However, there was only one slight flaw that this film did have and that was I couldn't quite feel the Christmas spirit within the film. It didn't feel as magical as I have seen in other Christmas films. That didn't affect my liking for the film despite that. A Christmas Carol is a children's book but I find it to be quite a disturbing and terrifying one. Mostly, because of the ghosts that haunt Scrooge on Christmas Eve night. Bit of advice: don't take kids under at least 8 to see this because it did become quite scary on occasions and would be scary for little kids.


Jim Carrey's performance as Ebenezer Scrooge was absolutely fantastic!! Jim returns to another Christmas film playing a character who hates Christmas. Ebenezer Scrooge is an absolutely typical Jim Carrey character because Jim really is that grumpy, cold type but can also be that hilarious and terrified type as well which is pretty much all of what Scrooge is in this film. His performance as The Grinch is unforgettable and so is his performance in this one. When I found out that Jim Carrey was playing Scrooge, I thought to myself "Why aren't I surprised? We've already seen him as The Grinch! He's bound to deliver another hilarious yet quite terrifying performance as Scrooge." Jim also plays Scrooge as a young man and as a little child and all three ghosts that haunt him. Gary Oldman plays multiple characters as well. He plays Bob Crachett, Tiny Tim and Jacob Marley. Cary Elwes, Colin Firth and Robin Wright-Penn have other roles in the film too.


Robert Zemeckis hasn't been a huge director after Cast Away because he is now an animated filmmaker and the previous two he has done haven't really been very successful. I am a big fan of Zemeckis and I have to say that A Christmas Carol is without a doubt his best animated film so far and his best film since Cast Away. I was worried that this was going to be too much like The Polar Express but it is very different! Yes, they're based on the same theme but plot and character-wise they're very different. The effects in A Christmas Carol are literally flawless. In my opinion, it is technically perfect! I am not sure what film Zemeckis is going to do next but I think it'll be pretty hard to beat A Christmas Carol.


Overall, A Christmas Carol is a very successful animated film that I think should be appreciated more critically and publicly. Animation is top-notch, acting is brilliant, directing is great! It isn't one of the best of 2009 but it is a brilliant entertaining film to watch!!

The Box

Weird,Cool,Great special effects,mind beding good time.I really don't know why this movie is getting such a bad rap.I suggest seeing it for yourself,its a wild ride. =)

Armored (Armoured)

Pretty good flick with a great cast,Action and suspense are the name of this game.Check it out!!

Brothers

Not too shabby.Tobey Maguire does really well in this one.Kinda weird seeing Natalie Portman in a "Mom" role but anyway a pretty good flick if you are looking around for something to go see.

Brothers

Not too shabby.Tobey Maguire does really well in this one.Kinda weird seeing Natalie Portman in a "Mom" role but anyway a pretty good flick if you are looking around for something to go see.

The Stepfather

very predictable... Penn Badgley was verrry nice to look at though =)

Scanners

Much like Nolan did with Batman, if you put the X-Men in present society it would be this film. Cronenberg - probably the best sci-fi/horror director around, does a brilliant job on the twisty-turning plot, keeps the pacing tight with plenty of action, and chucks in some fantastic scenes of gore - especially the "demonstration" near the beginning. One to watch.

[Rec]

This movie is catagorized as horror, but I would call it... a thrilling suspsenceful mystery movie. It's definatly thrilling, it's definatly supspense, and well it is 100% a mystery, and even the end leaves you with a dazed and confused after glow. You know what happened, but.... could it be? You don't have the time to really think it over before you know what a great movie you've just seen.

The actors are all superb and fit their roles down to the last detail. Each character was a realistic recomposition of regular people-- some steriotypes, some not. The over character was a selfish and relentless character striving to survive. But like in life there was one who was trying to save everyone else no matter what the cost.

The horror was great because it showed up, as was gorey, but not to the extent where you have to look away in utter disgust. It was done tastefully for the style of movie. The mosters are scariest because in some sense you can see them really coming to a fruition.

The plot was magnificant! Each scene brought new terrors, new questions, new deaths, and more questions.

The writing, direction and costumes were all done into the style to movie was going for. Each character wore what they would really wear, the directoin was definatly better than Parnormal Activity and Cloverfield yet it had the same affect. The writing was done in a realistic yet chilling way that gave the effect maybe one of them knew what was happening.

I loved this movie. It was great and there will never be a movie that lives up to, although both Quarantine and Paranormal Activity try, they don't live up to a single percentage of this wonderfully profound and inspired horror classic.

DON'T WATCH IT IF YOU AREN'T GOING TO WATCH IT IN SPANISH WITH SUBTITLES. THE SPANISH IS WHAT MAKES IT SO REALISTIC.

(500) Days of Summer

"People don't realize this, but loneliness is underrated."


Director: Marc Webb
Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Zooey Deschanel, Geoffrey Arend, Chloe Moretz
Running time: 95 minutes
Country: USA


I didn't really know what to expect going into this film because it seemed like a very beautiful romantic comedy and I had not seen anything from the director or the actors within the film. It is a very beautiful film to watch because of young people and love itself and how it affects people's lives but at the same time, it does get psychologically tense when regarding the heartbreak that Tom goes through within the film.


Joseph Gordon-Levitt's performance as Tom Hansen was good. What I think was slightly flawed about his performance is he didn't always act like he's absolutely in love with Summer, just acts like a drooling puppy towards her and that did get a bit annoying at times during the film. I don't know whether it is just me but he looks just like the late and great Heath Ledger. Zooey Deschanel's performance as Summer Finn was really brilliant!! Summer is a young woman who works with Tom. She is the assistant of Tom's boss and is Tom's love interest. Tom falls in love with her and starts to have high hopes to begin a relationship with her but things keep changing around between the two and it gradually either gets better or worse. There are a lot of eventful twists and turns in this film which is what I like the most about films in general. I can guarantee her performance is worthy of a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress Musical/Comedy if not a win for her extraordinary and awesome performance!


Overall, (500) Days Of Summer is a romantic-comedy that isn't precisely as awesome as I was expecting but it was still very enjoyable. Marc Webb goes off to a flying start with a great debut! Not one of the best of 2009 but isn't that far off.

Diabolique (Les Diaboliques)

This must be one of the best thrillers I've watched 'cause the storyline is simple and the acting is great, the twist unexpected. It made me sit on the tip of my chair while holding my breath. Very good French oldie. As many other Flixster users write (and I must agree with them) this movie could be a very good competitor to any Hitchcock thriller.

Duplex (Our House)

Hey, Danny DeVito still got humour!
I was pleasantly surprised because for once Drew Barrymore doesn't do a romantic comedy, but just a comedy. Of course if you have the famous Ben Stiller on your side you can't go wrong. Eileen Essell is also great.
Sometimes the humour seems a bit exaggerated (like the police mixing up a first aid help situation with a sex assault) but at the end of the movie it will all become clear to you. Nice little twist! I liked that!

Cashback

I can't imagine any male NOT liking this movie. I have never seen so much tits & ass in a movie!
Anyway, the story was worth hearing and Emilia Fox has definitely not stolen her last name. Lovely to see Sean Biggerstaff in an other movie than Harry Potter or The Winter Guest. He was perfect in this role. Oscar nomination was maybe a bit exaggerated? Decide for yourself!

Encounters at the End of the World

I swear Herzog could turn a camera on a brick wall for nine hours and still produce a fascinating documentary. Here he heads to the South Pole and does his usual trick of examining every single thing. He doesn't take the easy, Oscar-baiting route and bleat on about climate-change and penguins - though both do get a mention (the "deranged" penguin bit is really sad), instead he's like a child in constant awe, letting the camera linger, interviewing the people he finds there and watching the bizarre alien-like creatures beneath the ice. It's a brilliant documentary even if you hate ice and the very sight of it makes you sick - such is the greatness of Herzog.

Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire

5 Stars Solid!! This movie is like the little engine that could.I hope this sweeps at Oscar time cause the entire cast is Well deserving.If I had to pick only 3 movies this year to make my UBER top 3 list this would be in there.Emotional ,raw and hard to watch because of the powerful performance by Monique,this is gonna be one of the tops for 2009,Oh and Lenny Kravitz is super hot...still =)

The Final Destination

Same plot different death scenes.Time to end this though.

Lost Highway

I saw this movie in theatre ten years ago. Everyone around me asked the question What the hell was it about? I didn't understand shit! (Myself I was equally confused).
I decided to watch it again today and my concentration was maximum from the very start until the end. I thought I got it about halfway the movie but there must be several ways to interpret this film. To say at least it is a very confusing plot which is also a bit scary. The movie is generally very slow and this time it is not so bad because the brain must follow.
Conclusion: Having watched David Lynch's "Inland Empire" I now have understood that this director is exceptional. He clearly loves porn to start with and this is definitely shown in Lost Highway: it is filled with hot sex scenes. Then you have the great soundtrack of this movie.
He's done a great job here but again it demands concentration. You will either love it or hate it. I loved it!

Mifune

Seen this movie tons of times since it has been in my movie collection for several years. Today I watched it for the first time with Danish subtitles, the movie is spoken in the Danish language.
It is the most wonderful love story you can imagine. The performance of Jesper Asholt who played the elder mentally disabled brother Rud is just beyond brilliance. His character is funny, soft, sweet and serious at the same time. He received two awards for this role, totally deserved.
The story itself is a very beautiful one. It never goes down to the Hollywood level of romantic comedies. Why not? Because this is a Danish movie made according to the Dogme certificate, which was signed by a bunch of skilled Danish directors. The director of this masterpiece is Søren Kragh-Jacobsen.
As you can see is the first Dogme movie Festen on number 4 of my all time favourite movies. This one is definitely into the top 10.

2012

" Today we are one family."


Director: Roland Emmerich
Starring: John Cusack, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Amanda Peet, Thandie Newton
Running time: 158 minutes
Country: USA


I had no interest in seeing this film at all for two reasons: because it was a film about the end of the world in 3 years time and I hate Roland Emmerich for the films he has done in the past. One night very recently, I just decided to watch it because it looked entertaining and I wanted to check out what it would be like if it does end. When I did watch 2012, I was both blown away but also mildly disappointed and sort of relieved as well. The visual effects in the film were absolutely magnificent. The Best Visual Effects category is a tough one this year because there have been a lot of action/science fiction/fantasy films with amazing visual effects and I reckon that 2012 will nominated for it alongside Star Trek and Moon. It will be absolutely amazing on Blu-ray especially with a big screen. Where I was disappointed was that it didn't have enough specific detail regarding the Mayan Calendar or the Mayan's themselves and because of this, the film lacked the believability. It just felt like a random end to the world. At the start of the film it was very realistic regarding what could happen but when the disasters came in, it fell into the science fiction genre and I fell for the enjoyment of the action within it.


I have never been a big fan of John Cusack but his performance in 2012 was absolutely brilliant! I really liked his character. His character is a lot like Ray Ferrier in War Of The Worlds. Only difference was Cusack was great but Cruise was dreadful. Jackson Curtis is a middle aged man who is divorced from his ex-wife and has a son called Noah and a daughter called Lilly. Chiwetel Ejiofor's performance as Adrian Helmsley was good as well. His performance wasn't as good as John Cusack's but wasn't far off. Amanda Peet wasn't good at all as Kate Curtis. She was a good mum but I didn't think her role was as serious or has heroic as Cusack's or Ejiofor's performances were.


After the ultimate disaster that was 10,000B.C., I had absolute pure hate for Roland Emmerich for making such a crap film. After watching 2012, it is definitely Emmerich's most successful film so far but I still don't like him very much. I still can't forgive him for bringing us 10,000B.C.! 2012 is an absolutely typical Roland Emmerich film. He usually does disaster films and I think that this is pretty much the only disaster film that didn't turn out to be a disaster. The action sequences were brilliantly directed but some of the non-action scenes weren't very good. The script was ok at times but it did have its flaws like a lot of films like this have.


Overall, 2012 is a very enjoyable action-thriller than nobody should be afraid to see because it is totally filled with science fiction action. 2012 is Roland Emmerich's best film so far and he is starting to get back on track with making entertaining films.

Letyat zhuravli (The Cranes are Flying)

Emotional Russian drama from the early 1960's about a young couple that is separated 'cause Russia enters World War II. I think this movie was very beautifully made and the emotions in the very last scene I think were very sensitive. This is really a must see movie!

Los Cronocrímenes (Timecrimes)

exellent film, a man, enjoying a piecefull day at his countryside home, spots a naked girl in woods behind house, he investigates, and is atacked by a masked man, he runs, and comes across a lab, and generously a lab tec helps him out, and hides him, but what apears to be a time machine, he comes back out, a few hours before. and so begins a great story and plot devices, just like marty in back to the future 2, has to put right, andalso set up events to guide his other self to carry on timeline, and from there a great adventure, great suprises, and not at all complicated, great scenes again seen from other him, filling in all the mysteries, set up before, this grabbed me from beginning to end, with great central performances, the film never gets stupid, or over top, as even though itstime travel, the situations seem real, a superb, film anda exellent suprise