Adi's Reviews

thanks for reading....it was the most interesting film week of my life....but i'm quite exhausted now, it's not easy going to the theatre every day for 8 days in a row....

__________________
http://www.last.fm/user/diezelpower/

Blasphemy!

__________________

have you tried it?

The woodsman – Nicole Kassell

This is a film about a pedophile who comes back home after 12 years in prison and his struggle to get his life back together, to be normal. It gives you a very good inside look into the mind of a child molester, a person that is obviously sick and has a hard time controlling his urges.

Throughout most of the film, you see him as a normal guy and you start to relate to him and feel sorry for him, then suddenly the monster within him shows its ugly head making it rather hard for me to connect these two very different sides of him, even though that's probably realistic.

I had a slight problem with the casting, why was Eve in the film? And in such a relatively insignificant role? It was rather distracting because i kept waiting for her to make a more significant impact. Also, even though Kevin Bacon is brilliant in some cases, in certain scenes, mainly the scenes with the therapist, there was something off with his performance. On the other hand, he was outstanding in the scenes with the cop, where he turns into this stereotypical image of a sad,pathetic,disturbed individual ("you can't talk to me like that!"), as well as in the climax of the film. Still, i wonder if someone else would have been better for the role.

The way his brother-in-law interacted with him was a tad strange from my viewpoint, i don't understand why he was trying to be nice with him, as if nothing had happened and everything was normal...i know i would stay clear from a convicted child molester, wouldn't you? He did show what he really thought of him in that short but very powerful and awkward scene at the diner . The music reminded me a lot of Mary full of grace, very minimalist and cold, as is the cinematography, which suits the subject perfectly.



It was an intense viewing experience, but somewhat flawed , at least for me, because the way certain people interacted with him ( the brother in law and the girlfriend ) seemed unrealistic and made him look better than he really was. Is that even a flaw? Everything else is great.

Thanks for the review, I want to see this movie when it comes out here.

__________________
Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship.
Buddha

A home at the end of the world – Michael Mayer

This movie is based on a novel by the Pulitzer winning author of The Hours Michael Cunningham. It's about two boys, Bobby ( Colin Farrell ) and Jonathan (Dallas Roberts), who become inseparable friends in highschool.After Bobby's father dies he goes to live with Jonathan's family and their friendship turns into love. After highschool , Jonathan goes to live in New York while Bobby is left behind. He joins him a few years later and moves into his apartment, where Jonathan lives with Clare ( Robin Wright Penn ) and soon, a threesome is created.


For the first half of the film i had a feeling this was one of those average ( bad ) films based on a screenplay that won one of those screenplay contests, a feeble attempt of an untalented writer to reminisce on his childhood ( it's set in the 70's and early 80's ). One thing i found very distracting about the movie was the awful wig Farrell was wearing, it made him look ridiculous, like Wayne's world or something, like the movie was meant to be a comedy, which it really isn't. But ok, eventually he cut the hair.

Another thing that was way off, the casting. Colin Farrell, worlds biggest womanizer, was cast as Bobby, a shy and slightly confused character, innocent and simple ( sorta like Forest Gump, but a tad smarter )....i just couldn't identify him with the role, his face and presence simply screamed alfa male. The last half hour definitely redeemed the film because you get sucked into this vortex of sad/happy emotions and the central motif ( home is where the love is ) starts to brake through, but at the end, i regretted not reading the book, i have this feeling that much of the charm and vibe of the book was lost. Still, it's a fun watch, and hey, Roger Ebert says it's one of the best films of the year, now who am i to disagree with the great Mr. Ebert

I enjoyed the Woodsman, but I agree with you on most of your points about where the film didn't work or struggled. Haven't seen A Home at the end of the World, I didn't fancy it when it was on genaeral release, and judging by your review, I didn't miss much. With regards to Colin Farrell, I'm not 100 % convinced by him as an actor, I can't think of too many of his roles that I've been that impressed, for me, he's a chancer who got lucky, but fair play to him, he's living life to the full, and he has had a slew of beautiful women on his arm, Rosaria Dawson and Angelina Jolie to mention the main two I'm jealous of!!!

__________________
Hey Pepe, would you say I have a plethora of presents?


Toga, toga, toga......


Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbour?

He is more of a star than he is an actor, for sure, but that's due to what? His looks and Irishness? Yea, he will be in the star role for a while, he, being an actor, won't occur until something big hits him, such as Alexander, but that kinda bombed out, although I thought he did a great performance.

So far, I would say he is only average as an actor, but he doesn't turn in BAD work like so many people do, and tigerland performance was convincing, which shows that he could end up like a Bruce Willis or John Travolta character.

What I mean by that is less versatility, but more bang for your specific buck.

Hey, Paul Muni's been dead for 40 years, versatility is dead (Hillary Swanki, Johnny Depp, possible exceptions).

Yeah, for me Tigerland is his best performance to date, even more amazingly, it was directed by Joel Schumaker!!!
SWAT and Dare Devil were both appalling, I haven't seen Alexander yet, I'm not a huge fan of Oliver Stone, and I'm not exactly excited by the Miami Vice remake he's working on just now.
Still, he's a fellow Celt, so the best of luck to him, although he seems to have the luck of the Irish already when it comes to bagging hot mamas!

Watch Intermission and see if you feel the same. I think the guy can act, but I also think he's an arse...

__________________
"Critics are like eunuchs in a harem; they know how the Tatty 100 is done, they've seen it done every day, but they're unable to do it themselves." - Brendan Behan

He's actually pretty nice, he's not arrogant, but he is demanding of himself and others on the set of his works.

People call him arrogant because he drinks, smokes, and womanizes like there is no tomorrow. But that is because women love him, and love what he does.

Is he shallow? Not really. are the women shallow? Not really. It's just the way things are.

I'm Irish as well, so it's nice to see some rep besides Brosnan.

Inquiétudes ( A sight for sore eyes ) – Gilles Bourdos

This movie is based on a novel by Ruth Rendell, a clear-cut criminalistic thriller. The story revolves around Bruno and a Elise. Bruno is an art student with a troubled past and an obsession with pure white walls and empty space. After his father's death,he gets kicked out of college because of his problematic behavior and one day he decides to kill his abusive alcoholic uncle. Elise, on the other hand,witnessed her mothers murder at the age of 7.

Her father marries her therapist who becomes overprotective of her step daughter because she thinks who ever killed the girls mother could come back to kill the only remaining witness. Elise , sick of her mothers over protectiveness ( and a somewhat psychotic behavior ) searches for escape through Bruno. The psychotic step mother tries everything to keep them apart, while on the other hand, Bruno while trying to hide his uncles body gets himself into even more trouble. But that's not the end of it.

The movie is filled with people with murderous intentions and the music makes even the most benign behavior sinister and dangerous. The story is relatively clear so it's rather easy to follow it and to decipher the motivations of the main characters ( and their devious plans ). An interesting psychological thriller, beautifully shot, cold,and slightly claustrophobic ( especially when you figure out what Bruno's intentions are ) .

I read a very detrimental review about this film on european-films.net, the guy who wrote it is either stupid ( because he couldn't follow the plot ) or was on heavy drugs when he watched it. I say see it, it makes for a good watch as far as i'm concerned.

actually, i kinda liked SWAT, a fun action flick ( for the most part, the ending is rediculous ), never saw dare devil or alexandar, i don't think he's a bad actor, he just needs to stick to roles that are closer to his real character

So am I...

I'd put quite a few irish actors above Farrell, and none of them are Brosnan: Big Liam, Colm Meaney, Brendan Gleeson, Gab Byrne, Stuart Townsend, Cillian Murphy, Stephen Rea......

....and *cough* Omagh's own Sam Neill.

Thanks for the review Dassy

The machinist – Brad Anderson

Well, i’m sure most of you have seen this film already, but for those of you that haven’t and actually reed these reviews here’s a brief outline of the story: Trevor Reznik ( a machinist in a factory ) suffers from insomnia , he hasn’t slept in a year and because of it is losing weight on a daily basis which makes him look like a scarecrow ( or someone dying from aids…. man, it was really gruesome seeing Bale so mutilated ).

One day, while taking a smoke brake, he meats a mysterious man called Ivan who claims he works in the factory but Trevor has never seen him before. While working on a machine, Trevor gets distracted by Ivan which results in his colleagues hand being cut off. When he says that Ivan distracted him, noone seems to know who he’s talking about which makes Trevor believe there is a mass conspiracy going so he goes on a frantic witch hunt to get to the bottom of things.


It’s a very good psychological thriller with the classical twist at the end.It's full of wonderful symbolism ( when Trevor is in the amusement park on the road666 ride, and the kid chooses hell instead of salvation ...and many others...) that give you a clue to what's going on.




It bothered me a bit that the film was shot in Spain , maybe it would have been better if i wasn’t aware of that fact because the entire film seemed a bit off, in the back of my mind i knew that everything i saw in the film was Spain but i was supposed to think it was America ( they did a fantastic job in recreating America but still, it just wasn’t the same ). It’s a wonderful little study of a man who’s guilt and his reluctance to deal with it is disrupting his mind and body.

P.s.:the title of the film was translated into Disappearing in Croatia, which suits the movie even better and the music is almost identical to the music in Inquiétudes, the director himself said that music wise they were trying to create a Hitchcock feel to it.

Great reviews all around, and good to see you liked The Machinist. We have memories of Murder at home right now, and can hopefully get to it tonight. I have had it there for a while, and have been dying to see it, but have been so damn busy since returning from vacation. Glad you liked The Eye, as well....

__________________

bravo for the good review!

__________________
We're a generation of men raised by women. I'm wondering if another woman is really the answer we need.

thanks...

That Penis is Irish?

More love from the ladies