Rick's Talk

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

G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra

Idiotic action thriller pits an elite counter-terrorist team code-named G.I. Joe against the evil forces of the organization known as Cobra. This noisy special effects extravaganza bears little resemblance to the Hasbro toy of the 60s and is based rather on the Marvel comic book series, G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, which ran from 1982 to 1994. No one expects the script based on a toy franchise to be Shakespeare. Let's face it, the cartoon series had better character development. What's so shocking, however, is how bad the computer animation appears. There are a lot of visual effects in this film and most of it looks fake. Two positives: The hilariously affected style in which Cobra Commander delivers his lines throughout the film and the amusing way complicated problems are presented and solved within seconds. These make the film tolerable, but just barely.

Taxi to the Dark Side

I've watched this three times now and it has got to be one of the finest docs I've ever seen. A chilling indictment of the Bush administration's war on terror and use of "enhanced interrogation techniques" (gag) on enemy captives. Not an easy watch but a must watch-a socially significant and horrifying glimpse into the policies/procedures of those 3 war criminals-Bush,Cheney and Rumsfeld...

The Ox-Bow Incident

The movie reminds me of 12angry men and to kill a mockingbird, movies who show the true meaning of justice in a very clear way. To long ive been waiting to see this masterpiece with one of Henry Fonda's most perfect performances. The characters are written and directed with extreme exellence, all diffrent personality's which give us the needed conflicts and arguments whom bring the message of justice out even better.

Act of Violence

There are better film-noirs around but this one is still one of the better ones. Altho i think they could have stretched the mystery a bit longer to make it more suspencefull but it was great anyhow. The chase scenes are very suspencefull. Some of the characters are shown pretty human but that counts only for the leading roles, the supporting roles had to do it with less humanity and feelings. But overall its a pretty good film-noir with great acting performances, a great story, suspence, mystery and good directing except in some scenes.

Fantastic Mr. Fox

Charming animated film based on a Roald Dahl book about a sly fox that tries to outwit three feeble-minded farmers who want him killed. Utilizes exquisite stop-motion puppets that recall the Rankin/Bass productions of the 60s. Its quiet charm sucks you in and holds you for the entire 87 minutes. This intelligently written, well acted comedy is captivating. Director Wes Anderson (The Royal Tenenbaums) has a surprising talent for this type of material. In fact, his quirky style invigorates the story and elevates the source material to something wholly unique: a family film enjoyed more by adults than children. You'll be smiling throughout.

Year One

Rambling mishmash about a pair of cavemen who go on a journey after being banished from their primitive village. Disorganized mess is a lazily written buddy film without cohesion. No plot, but more or less a series of tepid jokes united by biblical events. Frequently wallows in disgusting gross out humor. Makes director Mel Brooks' similarly vulgar spoof History of the World, Part I seem like sophisticated satire by comparison. Only actor Oliver Platt as a high priest manages to illicit a few chuckles. Director Harold Ramis, who also co-wrote this dreck, hits rock bottom. Desperate.

Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans

Actor Nicolas Cage's loopy performance highlights this interesting portrait of a New Orleans Police officer investigating the murder of a family of African immigrants. Not a sequel to director Abel Ferrara's 1992 film, but rather a variation on the same theme with different characters. Certainly director Werner Herzog's most mainstream picture, it starts out as a rather scattered crime story, jumping from one vignette to another. As it progresses however it develops into an enjoyable caricature of the genre, a portrait of a renegade cop without a moral compass. No one one plays crazy like Nicolas Cage, and when he does, it can either entertain or irritate. Luckily, this time, his offbeat behavior enlivens the action considerably.

Law Abiding Citizen

Law Abiding Citizen

A Serious Man

michael stuhlberg i feel will get nominted for a oscar for his breakthrough role here,as larry gopnik going through family problems in the latest coen brothers film, as usuall, thecoens trademarks are on show, and im guessing will infuriate non fans,but coen fans willget a lot out of this, like turtorro in barton fink, and william macy in fargo, stulberg has created a marvellous sad charactor, and the film telling so much, watch this andwatch it again, i feel ill get a lot more out of it

The Informant!

matt damon is exellent as the informant of the piece, letting the f.b.i know of a price fixing scam in his company,and from there getting inway over his head, damon is this film, but some superb direction from soderdberg, using his loose style seen in his films like traffic, the limey and oceans films, the film flys by as we watch damon bumble his way, through plot,and also we learn not all is what it seems, a exellent score, which adds a lot, and nicely set early 90s setting, even scott bacula coming back from the dead, as the f.b.i agent in charge, is exellent to watch, soderdberg has shown with this type of material, a great film can be made

A Hard Day's Night

An influencial film starring and revolving around the much more than just influencial "The Beatles".

A comedy on one level and a stark depiction of rebellion and newly found freedom in the 60's on another. The four Beatles members; John, Paul, George and Ringo not only have a laugh on screen and invite us along to laugh too but help portray a serious message the film is gives out. It shows that you should be yourself, do what you want and not answer to anybody who tries to control you.

The screenplay (although not ad-libbed as thought) by Alun Owen (who is almost certainly using lines the members would have said as he hung around with them as he wrote it) is fun and wild and nver gets boring as the pace is nevr slowed. Being chased on foot by some uptight policemen is one classic scene that is a good example of both the comedic side and the anti-establishment side the film presents to us.

The four members act well, as they are ffectibly playing themselves and I would havr to say Ringo gets the best scenes. When he has a conversation with a young boy by the river about getting out and living life is both touching and observent of the times and what was changing.

This is a great film. It helps to have prior knowledge (and I mean more than just knowing the four members) to enjoy this film and should have at least sampled some of the songs first (I can't see why you would watch this film before doing so anyway) and is a real delight to watch and has some great use of Beatles songs throughout. Who doesn't love the title song A Hard Day's Night and that immortal guitar cord that starts off the song AND the film?

Othello

The difficult thing with a Shakespeare adaption is that it is often hard to tell what it is you really love.The fantastic dialogue or the film itself. Although I'd say this is a pretty good mix, I believe the reason why I am rating it slightly higher is because of the Shakespeare's script. However, the actors are cast finely and they speak the hard lines almost fluently.

Othello is one of the most famous stories and tragedies of all time, that is as relvent today as it was 400 years ago. Although the actual context may not be clear for everyone today, since the story is set in a conflict between Cyrpus, Turkey and Venice (then not Italy) that happened in the mid/late 16th Century, the gist is easy enough to follow. Besides, this is very much belittled by the powerful tragedy that unfolds.

The relevence may have changed slightly. Some may view the story as portraying racism and the effects it has. Yes, this works today but back in the 1600's it was not as rife and therefore I doubt that was the main point. This is very much second nature to how the classes are portrayed. Othello is not turned against for skin colour but because he is of a different class, especially compared to his rich and younger wife, Desdemona (the age difference seems to have been overlooked in this version, instead focusing more on jealousy). Although his age is dismissed for the other, more prominant themes (he and his wife could be the same age for all we know), Othello's insercurities at his class status are still adressed and from this we see how easily he can be manipulated, which all appears very clearly in the film, avoiding much confusion that often comes with Shakespeare adaptions.

The centre villain, Iago, a cold man who acts nice to fool everyone close to him to continue his plan to bring down Othello, is portrayed in this way perfectly by Kenneth Branagh and is the way Shakespeare probably envisioned him. This unpleasent two faced mixture of personalities makes Iago seem even more hatable and a heightens sense of dramtic irony is effectivly achieved through this portrayal as we get to see both sides and how manipulative he can be by constantly changing his person; he is nice to the characters but evil when he has soliloquies, giving hints to the audience that his character is not what he is or as he famously quotes "I am not what I am".

The rich dialogue and fantastic story is what makes this film. The directing is above average but is nothing spectacular and some of the performances aren't that noteworthy. Only Fishburne and Branagh stand out amongst the main cast and some people in minor roles (Michael Sheen is Lodovico is fantastic) and Michael Maloney as Roderigo is great.

The high rating is for the script adaption, some well cast actors, intense editing (when Othello has a fit is highly memorable in this aspect) and a score that suits every scene from calm to loud and menacing. A great adaption for many reasons and a poorer one for others but definitely worth a watch for the story alone, of which it stays mostly faithful and does good justice.

The Twilight Saga: New Moon

Ambitiously titled sequel to Twilight (it's a saga now?) follows the continuing adventures of Bella and Edward, with a third key character, Jacob, thrown in for good measure. Stale soap opera plot is just like every love triangle story you've ever seen. I kept thinking I was watching an episode of Days of Our Lives except with vampires and werewolves, of course. On a positive note, the cinematography is stunning as the whole film has the look of quality. However, as in the first story, there are several unintentionally funny parts. Apparently Jacob and his crew seem to be allergic to wearing clothing. Fans of the series will probably be interested in these characters, but all others will be bored

Mishima - A Life in Four Chapters

"Poetry should be written in a splash of blood." Anyone who enjoys a challenging, highly stylized movie about the intersection of art and life should see this. It's a superbly directed film from Paul Schrader about infamous Japanese writer Yukio Mishima, who committed seppuku in November 1970. Schrader entwines Mishima's fiction with his personal life, his need to express himself not only in prose but also through his body. Mishima tried to live the ancient way of the Japanese samurai in a culture he thought was becoming debased by Western modern values. MISHIMA has a stunning climax, a fantastic score by Philip Glass, terrific acting from Ken Ogata in the lead role, and a cool (uncredited) voiceover narration by Roy Scheider. It is truly one of a kind, and Schrader's personal favorite among his films.

Daens

A gripping story about politics, religion, poverty, corruption, greed and society. The directing is just outstanding, you really get into the movie, you feel real hate, compassion, understanding,.. and allot more due to Stijn Coninx's fantastic directing job. And the movie has Jan Declair's best performance, i might even call it one of the best performances ever! It was really amazing. Definitely one of the best Belgian movies ever !!

The Tenant

a dark , psycho dramatic film ...maybe the only film , i had nightmares after watching ...

Kramer vs. Kramer

What a performances by Dustin Hoffman and Meryl Streep even the boy Justin Henry was terrific ! They definitely deserved they're oscars. And the editing is great to, they didnt got stuck to long in a scene but they jumped at the right time to the other which made it very amusing to watch. The fantastic screenplay and the great directing turned this into one of the best drama's ever !!