| Movie | Rating | Review | Date | Your Rating | Match | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brothers - R | November 25, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| Pandorum - R | November 22, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| The Private Lives of Pippa Lee - R |
I must say, even though it's not a fascination, I'm an admirer of Rebecca Miller's work. She's a bold filmmaker who doesn't fear to take on difficult themes, always demanding viewer's full attention, in exchange respecting one's intelligence. "The Private Live of Pippa Lee" may be her finest work to date - she gathered a wonderful cast, wrote a thought-provoking story, giving us a mature, contemplative piece of cinema, filled with laughter, sadness and pain, reflecting the life, as we experience it. Robin Wright Penn deserves much, much more praise than she's usually given, being somewhat in the shadow of her famous husband. Beautifully written character Pippa Lee must've been a dream come true for a grown up actress and Penn made the best of it! |
November 16, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Terminator Salvation - PG-13 | October 31, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| Gomorrah (Gomorra) - Unrated | October 23, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| Where the Wild Things Are - PG | October 18, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| Changing Lanes - R | October 18, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| Das weiße Band (The White Ribbon) - R | October 13, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| Zombieland - R | October 6, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| Elegy - R |
It certainly had to be difficult to adapt "The Dying Animal" onto the screen. First-rate American writer Philip Roth usually writes from first-person perspective, in a manner of inner monologue and he doesn't leave much air while he does that. His writing is rich with description of emotion and thought and, as we know, these are the two main things one can't show on screen since they have to come out from the events and interaction between the characters. Screenwriter Nicholas Meyer took his chances few years ago with "The Human Stain" and failed miserably, the result being a messy, unconvincing drama (with both Anthony Hopkins and Nicole Kidman miscasted). Now, adapting "The Dying Animal" by the title "Elegy", he seem to recognized some of his past mistakes, but his script is still far from perfection, which, when dealing with Roth's work, seems to be an obligation. "The Dying Animal" is a powerful 120 page novella. It's as frightening and disgusting as it is fascinating, truthful and, ultimately, sad. Really, a hard to put down one. The level of Roth's human understanding is remarkable. With full complexity he draws a inner life of an 62-year David Kepesh (in the film, mostly convincing sir Ben Kingsley) who, upon starting an affair with 24 year old student Consuela Castillo (fairly good Penelope Cruz) starts to contemplate issues such as aging, death, the power of the female beauty, the fear of being left alone, sexual desire and loneliness. It's understandable that with that amount of themes, one have to make choices. The picture then focuses much on fear of being left alone and aging. The matter of sex isn't one bit as nasty and nearly as graphic, in fact is mostly stiffy, which makes the character of Kepesh lack certain level of emotional desperation, I believe, crucial, in Roth's book. There's a brilliant thread in the book-- secondary yet important for deeper understading of Kepesh, about relation with his son, Kenny, in the film played by Peter Sarsgaard. Sarsgaard, a fine actor, does what he can as an angry, frustrated son to make a relation with his father look convincing, but the structure of the script won't allow him since he shows up out of nowhere in the middle of the picture and whole meeting, full of resentment and anger lacks nessessary energy, turning out to be a wasted oppurtunity. Isabel Coixet impressed me with her "The Secret Life of Words" and she certainly was as a good choice to direct the story since she's good at building the whole picture upon two characters. She effectively plays with shadows, drawing the intimate, almost dark atmosphere of a relationship, uses wide, static shots and edit them minimalisticly, focusing our full attention on the interaction of the two. "Elegy" may be one of those films that makes you turn your attention to the book, but there are great moments here. Dennis Hopper is wonderful as Kepesh's friend and every scene with him is fantastic. Same goes for every minute of Patricia Clarkson's time on screen. It's an elegant, intelligent drama and, thankfully, it doesn't take itself too seriously. But I'd strongly recommend you to read the book first. |
October 6, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Love Streams - PG-13 |
John Cassavetes' final film, "Love Streams", may not be his best work, it may not even come close to such brilliant pictures like "Faces" or "Woman Under the Influence" that he's made in the past, but the vitality of the vision-- the energy and wit of it, stays the same. What is always great in Cassavetes' cinema, here remains untouched: the truthfulness of the characters, free-floating plot, openness for the moments of honesty, humour turned constantly into tragedy and backwards with the speed of light. "Love Streams" is uncompromising in a way it deals with the form, and it is acted brilliantly throughout. For instance, you won't forget the scene in which Cassavetes, playing a father, drunk and angry, talks to his kid son. It may be the most powerful scene he's ever done as a writer, director and actor. It is indescribable, one just have to see it. An exhausting trip into humanity served by one of the greatest of humanist filmmakers. |
October 6, 2009 | N/A | |||
| World's Greatest Dad - R |
Note: A picture so disgusting it deserves to be buried under the ground for no one to see. I could stay up for three days for four nights and never come up with such a story, plot and characters. Only a deranged mind could thought up and decided to translate to the screen such a garbage with intention to make us laugh and be emotionally involved with it at the same time. It was suppose to be absurd? Oh, I'm sure it was. But where there're too many pricks and deluded morons, it doesn't leave one much room except to deride them. ...And even that doesn't last very long. |
October 5, 2009 | N/A | |||
| The Proposal - PG-13 |
Note: Wonderful, it brings back the hope that great storytelling and genuine laughs can still go in pair, being close to the level of Billy Wilder's great comedies. I loved every minute of it. Sandra Bullock outdoes herself here and Ryan Reynolds proves once again to have great talent for comedy. See how the two deliver the brilliant lines of the script, creating the best chemistry I've seen this year. Forget what critics say, this is the comedy with one hell of a class! |
October 5, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Klepto - Unrated | October 1, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| Spalovac Mrtvol (The Cremator) - Unrated | October 1, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| Parasomnia - Unrated |
Note: Making a low-budget horror with cheap special effects nowadays is like wanting to make a porn with a interesting story and characters. From the first moment, it is destined to failure. No different it looks when it comes to "Parasomnia", which, from looking at its concept, had some potential to be fairly entertaining. No special effects are better than cheap ones, everyone should know it by now. |
September 29, 2009 | N/A | |||
| The Other Man - R | Note: Even talented cast can't save it from total mediocrity. | September 21, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Diabel (The Devil) - Unrated |
Watching Andrzej Zulawski's second feature, "The Devil", is like looking from the distance at the group of people riding on a rollercoaster. You can feel, because of the screams and exicitment that something highly emotional is going on over there, but the moment you try to imagine yourself riding with them, it immediately reminds you where you standing; "The Devil", from the moment it starts-- in a highly hysterical environment of a madhouse, unintentionally creats a distance between the viewer and the screen and goes by that course till its very end. Turning out to be an awful mess, supposedly highly symbolic and ambiguous in its story "The Devil" takes us through series of loud, chaotic, over-acted scenes which don't add up to anything comprehensible. As much as I respect Zulawski as a intellectual and as a director of a distinctive, individual vision of cinema-- after all, "Possession" is undoubtedly one of the greatest movies of all-time - I just can't applaud "The Devil" with the rest of its fans. Maybe it's a dream that too quickly became a nightmare? |
September 2, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Needful Things - R |
Stephen King adaptations're usually not worth a shit ("Misery" and "Apt Pupil" being the exceptions) with awful Kubrick's "Shining" in front row and I can understand King's frustrations he expressed in many occasions throughout the years. Is it really so difficult to catch the essence of King's writing? Appearently. "Needful Things" doesn't do a full justice to its source material, but it is throughoutly entertaining. Decent drama about human nature with its greed, selfishness and jealousy, superbly acted all around with my favourite J. T. Walsh's performance. |
August 26, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Adventureland - R | Note: While it never find its balance, a wonderful cast does a great job in bringing the best of the material here, especially Kristen Stewart, whom I saw first time on the screen and loved every second of her performance. | August 26, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Inglourious Basterds - R | August 22, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| The Cake Eaters - R | August 22, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| Knowing - PG-13 | August 17, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| I Love You, Man - R | August 17, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| The Last House on the Left - R |
As bad as remakes usually go, "Last House on the Left" surely didn't promise much of a revolution in the first place, but it had a potential to be a good, old-school ride. Instead, it is rather a picture that awakes a brief reflection of how mediocre contemporary horror has become. Because it's been a while since I saw a horror this bad. The torture and terror here are presented on such a high level of determinism and in such a deadly serious manner that it leaves you hopeless, as if you were one step from walking out to hang yourself on a nearest tree. Is that what entertainment should do to a man? Right... What happend to all the fun? I guess the world gets older and older and soon we'll have to look at horrors as a sign of our messy times-- lacking perspective, supposedly pushing barriers of presenting how violent an animal like man can be. Or maybe I got it all wrong, maybe that's what is fun right now and I'm taking it too seriously? Well, be that as it may, with that level of unmotivated brutality and mindlessness, mixed with poor direction and bad acting, I believe it would be better if I excuse myself, leave and act as if I haven't seen the damn thing... ...but I thought I should warn you. |
August 14, 2009 | N/A |
642 ratings
133 reviews
