Christine's reviews

I've never been a fan of Pedro Almodovar. Everyone always tries to convince me how great a filmmaker he is, but I've seen at least five of his films and they don't impress me. Talk to Her is probably his best, I think so at least.

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"Don't be so gloomy. After all it's not that awful. Like the fella says, in Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love - they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock."

I was referring more specifically to actual Spanish movies. I've seen everything from the "Three Amigos" and don't care to see much more Mexican cinema for the time being. I've heard of all the movies you listed but haven't seen them all. The Exterminating Angel was one I was particularly interested in, but Netflix didn't have it. The only living Spanish director I know of is Pedro Almodovar and I've only seen one from him. So yeah, I feel like I got some catching up to do.

You might wanna check out Alejandro Amenabar too...

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

Try Intacto, The Devils Backbone, Los Sin Nombre, En la ciudad sin límites and the brilliant Spirit of the Beehive, and then there's the films of the great director Julio Medem. They're the ones that pop into my head immediately.

I love the Spanish attitude towards the mature Spanish actresses, they seem to be celebrated and given plenty of work which is absolutely great

I'm with you on that one. Carmen Maura was the first actress that sprang to mind when I read your post; probably because she is phenomenal.

The Chaser

directed by Hong-jin Na

A first feature from the director, this is a tense serial murder thriller which tells the story of ex-cop turned pimp Jung-ho. When his girls start disappearing he suspects that another pimp is kidnapping and selling them. When a regular client calls for a girl Jung-ho gets Mi-jin up from her sickbed to attend, but after she's left he suddenly realises that this client has been the last customer of those missing girls...

This is a proper bloody murder film, one with no special effects or smartass camerawork, just one man tramping Seoul's mean streets and doing the detective work that the police seem incapable of. I don't want to give too much away but the tension is cranked up by the timescale Joong-ho has. The police organisation is a total shambles, and is racked by infighting and plain incompetence.

The director takes some brave lines in the story, but this makes for a more believable film. We see Jung-ho crack from hard bitten pimp to more revealing human being when a child gets involved. A satisfyingly rounded film, real edge of the seat stuff, much like Memories of Murder from a few years ago.

Glad you liked it...

Yes, Spirit of the Beehive was indeed brilliant. And anything by Bunuel (The Exterminating Angel) is usually worth a shot, I always liked Viridiana myself.

Bunuel sucks d!

Hey Bunuel, I like your movies. F.U.! (is what I would say to him if I saw him irl).

Yeah, I'm with christine on Julio Medem, though. See Vacas!

I was going to write "So does your mom", but that would be something I'd say to a friend and I don't really know you.

Medem, meh. I had to look him up to see if I had seen any of his films, he didn't really leave much of an impression on me I guess.

Go ahead and add me so we can start dissin each udder's moms. Let the dozens begin.



.... or not (I'd probably just end up humiliating myself anyway).

Hilarious, that's exactly what I was going to write but you beat me to it. I was going to say, "well now that we're friends can I dis your mom?" But really, the sign of a true friend is when you can make fun of their mom and they know it's nothing to get upset about, and vice versa. You'll only have a few of those in a lifetime.

but seriously folks, we love our moms.

It's no laughing matter.

My Mom's a saint, no matter what you heard!



* Okay no more Mom talk on Christine's thread for me. Sorry Christine.

lol thanks kids

Gran Torino

Directed by Clint Eastwood

The story of recently widowed Walt Kowalski, a curmudgeonly guy who lives in what was once a smart white working class neighbourhood. Over the course of his lifetime this neighbourhood has become rundown and a place for immigrant families. He gets on with no one, not even his sons who also have no empathy for this gruff old man. His racism is a lifelong inbuilt one, but Walt hates just everyone who doesn't fit into his world. The lives of his neighbours, mostly ethnic Hmong people, don't touch him at all, he's happy to drink beer on his porch and talk to his dog, until the day when the next door neighbour's kid (Thao), is bullied by a gang and forced into trying to steal Walt's beloved 1972 Ford Gran Torino...

This is rumoured to be Clint Eastwood's last acting role and it does feel like a swansong to his own tough persona. This is a man at the end of his life who really doesn't have to like anyone or have any social niceties, but who is drawn into counting himself back into the human race by Thao's sweet faced sassy teenage sister Su. Su and Thao mightn't be played by the most adapt of actors, but these two first timers together with the other non professessional Hmong actors, bring a lovely natural feel to the film.

Walt taking on the shy Thao's education into Walt's world of working men, with the emphasis on macho men, forms the base of the film and has its laughs as well as pathos. Clint Eastwood could only have directed himself in this film, no one else could've made such a spare character and still made it work without knowing that man down to his sinews.

I can't say that I didn't sit there and cringe at the racist remarks that drop easily from Walt's mouth, but my own dad came to mind so many times during the film that Walt's character felt real, and thus his actions at the end had the ring of a moral code set in stone - an old school stand against injustice that takes inner natural courage.

If this is his last acting role, then this is a just end to a singular career.

JCVD
directed by Mabrouk El Mechri

Jean-Claude Van Damme in the role as a Jean-Claude Van Damme persona, with the same problems : previous drug abuse, alimony problems, child custody battles. He unwittingly walks into a hold up at a Post Office back in his home country of Belgium where hostages are being held and confusion leads to him being identified as one of the perpetrators.

What a shame this film didn't get a wider release, it's a little gem. There's an astonishing soliloquy from Van Damme in the middle of the film - I never thought I'd be sitting there watching a Van Damme film with a tear in my eye that didn't come from boredom or laughter. This guy gave us pathos with a really endearing humility. This film deserves to have cult success, and I hope everyone involved makes money from the dvd sales cos it doesn't look like it made much from the box office



3.5/5