SV's Talk

A Serious Man

The Coen brothers have created THE NEW FIDDLER ON THE ROOF! Here are the reasons I say that: first, the trailer in its own way presents a musical composition to us; second, the opening scene presents roughly the same time period and place; third, the story takes place in an almost exclusively Jewish community; fourth, the main character Larry is dealing with comparable family troubles and trying to find answers from God; and fifth, look at the poster.

Now the Jefferson Airplane song Somebody to Love figures prominently into the movie too as does ceremonial Hebrew music for Larry's son's bar mitzvah. The opening Yiddish scene is darkly humorous and I suppose it is there to suggest the ancestors of the Gopniks may have caused a curse on the family. I have heard that the movie portrays a very authentic Jewish community especially in the way the characters speak and interact. Professor Larry Gopnik lives in America in the 1960's, so he only has two children, a son and a daughter, but his family and professional troubles turn his life on its head with divorce, marijuana, gambling, bribes, and seeking tenure. Wishing he were a rich man hasn't changed though! Being an educated man from the 20th century means Larry doesn't have conversations with God in the same way. He seeks three rabbis as links between him and God because the religious institution is really the only connection to tradition anymore, and being a mathematics/physics professor he is more versed in the Uncertainty Principle. Larry does actually venture up on his roof too, but not to fiddle. Well, wait... yes, by another definition of the word fiddle, Larry Gopnik is a Fiddler on the Roof. He tries to adjust the TV antenna for a show his son likes to watch and then he notices he can see his hot neighbor sunbathing nude.

Sy Ableman is Larry's Lazar Wolf, but as with every other parallel to the old musical, there is a twist. Sy is the one described as a serious man and Larry through all his questioning and trying to fix his life crisis wants to be a serious man too. The cast is awesome! I think the Coen brothers have mixed tragic troubling moments with darkly humorous moments excellently. Like in No Country for Old Men, you may think the plot is being wrapped up all nice and neat, but then the story continues briefly and leaves you realistically (in a way fatalistically) hanging. So well constructed! I loved it!

Fireworks (Hana-bi)

An ex cop tries to spend time with his dying wife during her final days, but a Yakuza loan shark refuses to leave him in peace. A typically understated marriage of violence and poetry from Beat Takeshi, Hana Bi examines loss and mortality in a deeply personal way. It shares many of the themes of Sonatine, but is not as brutally nihilistic; there is much warmth in the often wordless scenes with his wife which have far more humanity than the contrived schmaltz we are used to from most mainstream film making. Takeshi's laconic persona is taken to the extreme in this film as he silently deals with the loss of his child, his wife's illness and his guilt over his suicidal ex-partner's crippling injury, although he still manages to find humour with the use of some oddball supporting characters. In other words another typically brilliant and artful Beat Takeshi film.

Amelia

Traditional inspirational drama, though lavish and immaculate production, lush aerial landscapes, lovely sepia-tinged art deco style, and captivating scenes of Earhart's journeys to Africa and the Middle East. Hilary Swank's performance is as good as it gets. She has a tough job but she makes her portrayal look easy and shares a great chemistry with Gere.

The Tiger's Tail

john boorman teams up again with brendan gleeson, as a wealthy dublin businessman,who starts to see a double of him self, events take a turn for the worse, when said double, doestake over his life, leaving him, trying to prove himself, with questions to be answered. gleeson is great to watch, and the story runs along nicely, with some great moments of drama

Boku no kanojo wa saibôgu (Cyborg Girl) (Cyborg She)

a interesting film throughout as a lonely young man, trying to get over a great night with a atractive young women,befriends a robot from the future 1 year later again on his birthday,with super humen powers, and robot skills she makes his life happier,and there is a reason she has contacted him. full of suprise moments throughout, romantic moments, some violence, and even a great sci fi, action last 20 minutes involving earthquake and the future, all directed with style. great acting from the leads to. full ofcharm and emotion

From Hell

From Hell

Blood Diamond

A fisherman caught up in the civil war of Sierra Leone reluctanctly teams up with an amoral smuggler to retrieve a precious stone in the hope that it will secure freedom for his family. Edward Zwick has made a career of making worthy adventure-with-a-message movies which have tended to be a cut above the usual Hollwood action blockbuster fodder, and Blood Diamond is very much in this tradition. Rather than a deeply insightful analysis of the political situation, it is more of a straight action adventure that uses the conflict as a colourful backdrop to the story. Not that it doesn't have any points to make; it highlights the cynical complicity of the West in the conflict diamond trade, and the "politics" of the warring factions whose ideologies extend no further than greedy and corrupt self interest. Zwick's penchant for dewy eyed sentimentality does rear its head towards the end of the film, but no more so than most other films of its type; personally my favourite moment was when Hounsou wordlessly eyed the absurdly ostentatious bauble that has been the cause of all his woes, destined for the necks of the idle rich in a jewelry store window. Not in the same league as the likes of The Killing Fields, but if you want something more in the way of rousing adventure rather than emotionally harrowing, this is a fine choice.

Låt den Rätte Komma In (Let the Right One in)

Genre; Romance, Horror, Fantasy, Thriller, Drama

**********PLOT**********

Oskar is an introvert twelve year old boy, who has problems in school with some of his classmates. One day a girl at his age moves in next door and he falls in love with her. Well she is not exactly a... girl...

**********REVIEW**********

I honestly don't know how to rate this movie... I heard so many great things about this, so I guess it was a fact that I would be a little dissapointed (the expectations were big.) Besides that it was a good movie indeed... Especially if you are a fan of movies with vampires (yes lol the little girl is a vampire). I liked the fact that some different views about vampires were presented (***SPOILER***SPOILER***SPOILER***DON'T READ THAT ONE IF U HAVEN'T SEEN THE MOVIE*** For example Eli couldn't enter the room unless someone invites her in, so I guess it makes sense why they named the movie "let the right one in"!Cool lol!)
U CAN CONTINUE READING lol
The soundtrack was good enough. The performances were fantastic (of course Kare Hedebrant as Oskar and Lina Leandersson as Eli stand out). The atmosphere was great. Yup, overall seems this movie works well.
PS. It's not a scary movie, but there are some cool and bloody vampire scenes ;D

Saturday Night Fever

The music movie that irrevocably changed music movies and pop culture astutely balances galvanizing dance numbers with a gritty sense of contemporary economic malaise, with its dance numbers, the Bee Gees soundtrack, and John Travolta's white-suited presence, Fever crystalizes the once-underground disco movement forever into late-'70s mainstream pop phenomenon.

An Education

carey mulligan is exellent as the oxford hopefull,getting charmed by a older man played by peter sarsgaard, still in school she hastodecide if the relationship, is needed,with oxford so close, butwith himshowing herthebest time of her life,andher parents liking him, he could be the one,a charming 60s set london drama,and showing what it was like forwomen in those days, career or housewife

The Age of Innocence

Beautifully acted, impeccable period romance from Martin Scorsese. Repression and sexual longing are the order of the day, but also dwells on the themes of sacrifice, and social and familial responsibility, as well as passion. Terrific cast and gorgeous production design, plus has a discernable depth.

Dead Man Running

enjoyable caper,and a fine leading role for hardman tamar hassan, and interesting idea as a guy has to buidup a 100 grand from nothing in 24 hours, aided by ofcourse his good friend played by cockney geezer andnational treasure himself, dany dyer. some good moments and sometimes logic out the window, but never looses its entertainment value

The Men Who Stare at Goats

mcgregor and clooney are exellent together, in a interesting war satire,mcgregor is a bored reporter, wanting to get into irak, here through some fate set up earliar, he meets lyn, a former soldier of the first earth betallion, sort of hippy trained andnon lethal techniques,brought into us army in the 80s, hes in irak also, a bit unclear why,sothe two hook up, and go on a adventure,and throughflash backs see how this came to be, a interesting story, possibly true, and in parts funny,clooney reliable as ever,and mcgregor,shock horror good as a american, the story is engageing throughout. with a great cast. bridges, and spacey rounding it off. another great thing and funny thing here. cloney telling mcgregor that they were jedis, and mcgregor once a jedi knight of cours, trying to get a grasp of this concept, makes the film film funnier, just because of the casting ofewen mcgregor, exellent

Jennifer's Body

from the mind of diablo cody,who wrote the really good juno, comes another winning script, amanda seyfield plays a geeky girl,whos has a bit of a crush on her sexy schoolmate played exellently by megan fox, but one night her mate,while making it witha up and coming indieband, disapears into the night,and reapears all bloody and acting rather strange and strangethings happening, she has turned into a demon women,due to the band trying to sacrifice her for fae and fortune, as indie bands do. and now she must feed, prefably on young high school males, now its up to the gekky one to get sence ofall thisand put a stop, to it, or not let her feelings destroy things, like heathers some 20 years before, the script by diablo is razorsharp liketarentino, diablo, has a signiture, and throughout, you see her words comeout, speaking the mind of todays youth, the filmis also a great atempt at teen horror, and although not all out gore, there are some moments, andcertainly the best ofthe bunch these.days. fox and seyfield, play there roles well, and shows foxisjust not a object to look at, andthe band also, tell me dont you think they are inspired by the killers, especially the lead singer. so much crap teen horrors come out these days, its good to se one can come along that has great writing andhorror elements

Mouth to Mouth

Bit of a strange one. Not entirely sure I liked it that much, but interesting idea. Most of the characters are pretty unlikeable, and the whole thing is quite ugly to look at. Even Ellen Page looks freaky. But it apparently is semi-autobiographical which gives it a bit more credibility. Definitely not on the list to rewatch in a hurry, but worth a look.

Paranormal Activity

What on earth was that?? Really really NOT scary. Who got scared with this movie!?!? Why does everyone compare this with the Blair Witch project?? Nothing even close to "The blair witch project", which is by the way INDEED SCARY and the best film presented as a documentary pieced together from amateur footage. Paranormal activity is the new Blair witch project? Yeah right! Who dreamed of that? (the fact that I talk more about the Blair witch project than Paranormal activity on a review which is supposed to be about Paranormal activity in the first place does convince you that this movie was stupid and without any reason to exist?)
Ok my opinion(which I think I made pretty clear lol); Paranormal activity was boring, slow and I repeat NOT scary at all (unless this is the first thriller you watch, then I accept it). What a crap...

Traitor

terrorist attacks lead back to samir horn played by don cheadle,a american citizen but with ties in middleeast, we see him deep in it, working for a teror group,planning there latest attack on the u.s,andgetting in closewith the headsof the group,on his tail, is fbi agents lead by guy pierce, aentertaining film dealing with currentevents in the world of terrorism, cheadle is watchable,andalso guy pierce some good moments throughout

Le Donk & Scor-zay-zee

shane meadows follows up somerstown with another slice of british life, here concerning 2 guys, one arap artist wannabee,and another aloudmouth guy taking charge,as they are invited to aarctic monkeys gig, with a chance to perform, while bbeing filmed for a film,again like somers town, a very slim running time which flies by, and paddy considine doing great work, ful ofenergy and dialogue, and like meadows filmsbefore a great improvised script flowing, it be goodto see more of these guys

Colin

shot for a a parent 45 english pounds, on camcorders and mobile phones,we see britain overrun by zombies,and colin recently bitten, now a zombie walking the streets of london, with a past telling him to go somewhere, a fresh look at the zombie genre,and the viewpoint from a zombie is certainly diferent, the low budget on show, you see some interesting moments and production, and the pace and story is enjoyable,and dark and moody, exellent soundtrack also. this is director mark price calling card,and certainly looking forward to anything else he does in fuuture