SV's Talk

The Broken Hearts Club

A very interesting cast for a mostly average film.
Nothing ground breaking here, but it was an enjoyable little journey.
Seemed to enforce stereotypes (there is always at least a little truth in them) while giving a fairly realistic look at some of the (internal) issues that the gay community has to deal with.
A bit like a gay version of one of those "Lifetime" movies.

The Blind Side

a feel good story that rings true......recommended.

Burn After Reading

Coen Brothers' black farce written like a screwball comedy but paced like a drama, with the kick of a morality tale. All the characters are realistic grotesques whose selfish, vulgar actions have ramifications that extend far beyond their myopic self-interest. Simultaneously despairing and full of belly laughs.

Rumba

What makes this movie unique can also be considered as a problem: it's a slapstick comedy with some original and funny scenes and unlike other slapstick comedies, it has real characters and as the story goes, really bad things happen to these characters and you feel for them, you feel uncomfortable to laugh when a handicaped woman falls down or their house burn or they get beaten for bread.

Abel, Gordon and Romy, the writer-director-actor trio, did a very good job coming up with ideas and executing them, they are probably good friends, you can see the sincerity, the passion and the love in this little movie they made together.

Red Cliff (Chi Bi)

A grand epic piece of entertainment. The editing seems a bit rushed in scenes other than the battle scenes. This may be because of the cutting down of the two part version released in China. I'm going to go out on a limb and predict that the theme song, A River that has No End (?), if eligible, will be nominated for an Oscar. CGI was used to expand the horizon of wide shots and navy boats on the river. There really were massive numbers of live soldiers in the battle scenes though. Unlike Ninja Assassins, which I saw recently with its fighting sequences heavy on the CGI, this historical epic allows you to see the martial art skills of the lead figures in the battles. This is like China's version of War and Peace. Based on the 14th century novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the story is set roughly in the 3rd century CE.

Prime minister Cao Cao (Zhang), who has conquered many warlords of northern China, bullies the young emperor into sending him to defeat two "rebel" armies to the south. Liu Bei (You) leads the smaller force and Sun Quan (Chang) is lord of the southern kingdom. Liu Bei's military strategist/diplomat/reader of signs of nature especially the weather, Zhuge Liang (Kaneshiro) travels to form an alliance between the two armies in preperation for Cao Cao's attack. Kaneshiro is awesome in this wise scholarly role. This is the type of wise adviser role usually played by an old man with a white beard, but he is young and easy on the eyes according to my wife. Sun Quan's viceroy Zhou Yu (Tony Leung) is the other major military strategist, who really appreciates the art of war and the beauty of music. Leung is also excellent in a strong heroic role. Sun Quan's sister wants in on the action too and serves as a spy for awhile. Zhou Yu's wife Xiao Qiao seeks peace and is willing to do what she can to further the success of the Alliance's cause. Other generals and skilled fighters in the Alliance include Zhao Yun, the ex-pirate Gan Xing, and Guan Yu. Some of these men are hard to keep track of in the heat of battle. But the military planning and missions each man takes on does a lot for making the elaborate clashes accessible for the audience. The brief moments of humor, the romance between Zhou Yu and his wife, the carefully planned attacks and counter attacks, the kinetic and disciplined hand to hand combat all add up to a historically epic story worth seeing!

Psycho Beach Party

An amusing little homage to 50's/60's beach party/surfing & horror b-movies.

Lauren Ambrose is great (as usual) and the rest of the cast seems to be having a lot of fun with all of the silliness and sexual undertones.

Nothing ground breaking, but it was enjoyable.

The Limits of Control

slow, repetitious, minimalistic..... yet strangely intriguing. too bad the ending failed to deliver a much needed crescendo.

Léon (The Professional)

Professional killer Jean Reno reluctantly takes in a 12 year old girl after her family is murdered by corrupt police detectives. Luc Besson's mix of offbeat characters, humour and high octane action tends to be a little hit and miss, but in Leon he found the perfect balance between sensitive character study, emotion and tense action sequences. Pot plant loving, milk drinking loner Reno is the antithesis of the usual testosterone-soaked, gung-ho action hero and with no glib one liners or macho posturing, he takes no pleasure in the mayhem he induces; he's just very, very good at it. His relationship with a young Natalie Portman is sincere, funny and touching, and although emotionally ambiguous (at least from her adolescent point of view), it never crosses the line into sexual creepiness. Complimented by an excellent supporting cast, especially pill popping psychopath Gary Oldman who is the perfect foil for Reno's solitary hitman, and wonderfully scored Leon is easily Besson's best work and one of the best action thrillers around.

Dancer in the Dark

Bjork, an Icelander, plays a young Czech woman who has immigrated to the United States in hope of a better life for herself and her son.

A most unconventional film. One that draws from old styles yet remains avant garde. Sad and utterly mesmerizing.

Small Town Gay Bar

While very thoughtfully made, this has to be one of the most depressing films that I've seen in a long time.

As if the blatant homophobia and prejudice were not depressing enough...the fact that the "bars" that these folks relish and take refuge in are often little more then rundown houses or shacks with a strobe light, beer cooler and a CD player was just heartbreaking.

So desperate for a place to "fit in" and make some sort of honest connection with like minded people, these folks were just happy to be anywhere where they could be themselves. But I was more then a little amazed that in such a repressed part of the country that nearly every gay or lesbian shown in this film was "off the charts" on the gay meter.

We are talking Flaming Boys/Men, Raging Drag Queens, and some pretty Butch Lesbians. Not that I'm advocating hiding who you are. I just feel that if I were living in an area where my life could be at stake for "being who I am" I think I would make more of an effort to "blend in" or move to somewhere more civilized. Let the bigots and the Jesus freaks have the backwoods!

My main problem with the film is that I didn't feel that the point came across as clearly as it needed to, about how all of the negative aspects of "gay lifestyle" that the bigots and hypocrites always seem to focus on (promiscuity, infidelity, drugs, etc.) are for the most part just a prevalent in "hetero lifetyles" as well.

I guess as documentaries go...it does it's job for the most part. It makes you think.

The Mothman Prophecies

One of the few movies that becomes better and better everytime I watch it.

I loved the plot and the atmosphere.

The performances were decent. Especially Richard Gere's performance was pretty good.

This movie is like a wine, which you have to taste many times until you decide if you like it or not and in the end becomes one of your favorites.

1408

Disappointing...

A Stephen King adaption, which had the potential to be be much better.

Gomorrah (Gomorra)

A disturbing, thought provoking and totally bleak look at the city of Naples and the crime/drug lords that wreak havoc there.
The film does a good job at creating a very "fly on the wall" feeling and the acting and vilolence is very realistic.
While initially I felt that the film was a little rough and unpolished, I can not help but think that perhaps that was the intent.

The Road

The thinking man/woman's post-apocalyptic film.
While the biological, geological and structural devestation is ever present and ominous, the film focuses mainly on the deeper horror of such an event; the social, psychological and physical deterioration of society,
This film is Intense, bleak and at times horrific. But always deeply thought provoking and very complex to spite it's simplicity.
WIth the exception of Mortensen and Smith-McPhee, screen time is minimal for the rest of the cast. But everyone does a really good job with the time that they have and over all the acting is pretty amazing.
One of those films that you will think (and talk) about for awhile after seeing it.

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

Impromptu

Just rewatched this film, after not having scene it in years and I have to say it still holds up very well.

I really enjoyable romp with a cast that is to die for.

Interesting character studies of some of the artistic greats of the period as well as a look and the strange realtionship between the aristocracy and the artist of the time.

Not sure how historically accurate it is...but it is well written, excelently acted and very enjoyable to watch.

Ravenous

Great cast.
A good movie especialy if u like horror/thriller movies about cannibalism (nooo c'mon it's not as scary and creepy as it sounds)

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

Frenetic thrills, melodramatic performances and impressionistic design, boasting a script true to the structure of the novel. Stellar cast with John Cleese almost unrecognizable, Kenneth Branagh complex, strangely likable in the title role, and Helena Bonham Carter wonderful, though Robert De Niro steals the show.

Volver

There are few things that I enjoy more then a trip to "Almodovarland". A place where the line between past and present is always a little blurred. Where the visual style is always a colorful melange of retro-modern details.

And the women...oh the women! They are always a delight to watch. With the women too the line is blurred, between staunch determination and utter insanity. And whichever side of the line that these ladies fall, they are always a pleasure to watch. Full of humor, passion and love.

With Volver, Penelope Cruz really gets to show the world what she can do. She is breathtaking to look at and her performance here is both heartbreaking and at times heartwarming. And as is his style Pedro has surrounded her with a cast of brilliant actors (some new faces and some old favorites) and together they are brilliant.

The story is the usual combination of absurd chracters in crazy situations held together by strained romantic and/or familial ties that (to spite their quirky absurd nature) are oddly relatable, because so often they are more close to reality then we would care to admit.

Not to be missed for Almodovar fans.

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