Cinemaafficionado's Movie Portraits

I think that's the first, truly positive review, of the film that I've read.

Still not seen it myself, but as it's Stone, it's something I'm sure I'll get around to. I seem to remember Mark Kermode saying it felt as if it was two films. A great exploitation flick, with Travolta, Hayek and del Toro and a far less interesting drama about small time drug dealers.

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5-time MoFo Award winner.

^ I missed it at the cinema but after reading in here I've ordered it from America because it's not out here until February. I believe it's unrated from America too, so look forwards to it and know who to blame if it's rubbish.

Yes, you can spank me, but I think you will like Savages. It just comes together very well, even though you have three novices alongside some really good actors.

Not too "small time" drug dalers. Big and sophisticated enough to get the attention of the Baja Cartel.
See the movie and tell me how you experience it. I think you will definitly like it.

84 Charlie Mopic

One of the forgotten gems of the VietNam war, this movie is about a tight knit special ops group on a search and destroy mission behing enemy lines being filmed by a Stars and Stripes crew.
This movie is as much about the psychology of men engaged in war as it is about the bonds that unite them.
It gets close and personal as they start taking casualties and every man exibits the personality traits that ties him to the group and also makes him unique.
War is hell.

Excellent

The Ogre (1996)

Volker Schlondorff's sublime WWII war epic is all that as it delivers an era that was etched as much in fantasy as it is in brutal reality.
John Malkovich shines as the gentle giant who witnesses astonishing events around him. As a wrongly accused Frenchman of a crime he didn't commit, he is sent to combat the invading Germans and becomes a prisoner of war.
Through blind luck and sircumstance he encounters FieldMarshall Herman Goering and is enabled as a servant at Kalteborn castle, an elite training camp for the Hitler Youth, where he evantualy becomes a recruiter ( the Ogre ) snatching young boys from the surrounding countryside and replenishing the camp with much needed fodder at the later stages of the war.
The boys are almost nostalgicaly portrayed in their purity and devotion to the Fatherland and Scholendorff is able to evoke a feeling of a whole generation wasted and lost and innocence totaly corrupted and misused.
Armin Mueller-Stalh gives a brief but unforgettable performance as Count Von Kaltenborn, who is aware of the wasted youth and Hitler's inevitable doom, and is one of those implicated in the assassination attempt on the Fuhrer.

Excellent

Wu Dang

A fantasy Kung-fu movie about a father and daughter search for a miracle cure in mistycal Wu Dang mountain.
This movie is entertaining for it's cinematography and kung-fu coreography.
If you are able to abstract realism, you will no doubt find this movie

Enjoyable

The Bourne Legacy

I always felt that Mat Damon was miscast as Jason Bourne.
Although he portrays a different character (Aaron Cross ) in this sequel, Jeremy Renner would make a much better alternative. His hardness, and at the same time, vulnerability are for all to see.
Rachel Weisz is excellent and I enjoyed Stacy Keatch and Scott Glen cameos.
Even though the script is somewhat muddled and leaves one wondering at times " what the hell is going on? ", the cinematography is superb and the action sequences are great and for that alone I go against the critics and deem this movie:

Enjoyable

The Paperboy (2012)

Man, Keith Urban most have his hands full. Nicole Kidman is one hot momma (especially in this movie). Worth watching for her hotness alone.
John Cuscak gives an uncharacteristically sleazy but fine performance, supported by Mathew McConehey (as a gay lawyer, of all things ) trying to free a death-row inmate. The principal cast is rounded off by Zac Efron, an idealist southern boy infatuated with a woman old enough to be his mom.

Enjoyable

End Of Watch

The blue brotherhood is explored here, through the tight relationship between a Latino and an Anglo police patrolman that ride together.
They are certainly there for each other, as they navigate the gritty and violent South LA.
Jake Gyllenhaal gives a likeable and realistic performance and the realism is somewhat enhanced by a hand held camera, which at times got on my nerves just a tad. Other than that, I found this action flick to be riveting and:

Enjoyable

Hara Kiri: Death Of A Samurai (2011)

I've been waiting for some time to see this re-make and now that I've seen it, I'm kind of dissapointed. But, then again, Takeshi Miike's movie making inconsistency really shows. Hard to believe that this is the same director who gave us 13 Assassins.
Hara Kiri's tempo is lacking and it just plods along.
The story centers around fake Samurai ritual suicide and one family's tragic envolvement in it.
Kobayashi's perfect black and white 1962 version makes this attempt look like someone going to film school and directing their first feature.

Dissapointing

Will be seeing End of Watch and The Paperboy soon. Thanks for the reviews!

You are welcome. Enjoy the movies!

Flight

The crash sequence in this movie was very realistic and riveting.
Denzel was his usual good self but the story line was uber unrealistic
and the whole premise of the movie self-serving and pretentiously moraly correct. It was like, really? Really? Without giving too much away, the ending just didn't make sense based on everything that went on before it.
See it for yourself and let me know what you think.

Dissapointing

Sleepless Night (2011)

A French thriller about a couple of cops that decide to do a drug heist and things go bad when one of their sons gets kidnapped as a consequence.
The pace of this movie is intrepid and well worth the watch.

Enjoyable

Silenced (2011)

Based on real events, this heart-wrenching Korean movie depicts abuse and sexual molestation of students by the faculty at a school for deaf children.
A newly hired teacher discovers the ugly truth and the resulting social injustice that follows leads to more tragedy.
It was hard to watch this starkly realistic portrayal of social depravity.
It's not hard to imagine how such a perversion of justice can lead to vigilantism.

Punch Lady (2007)

I'm not much for dramedies, but since it's Korean, I gave it a look.
Think of it as a funny remake of Rocky with a twist.
The twist is that Rocky is a an abused housewife, with no martial arts experience, who challenges her husband, an MMA champion, to a fight, live in the ring, after he kills her former boyfriend in the ring.
Allready sounds absurd, right? Well, it is.
The director Hyo-Jin Kang liberaly mixes slapstick humor with real drama.
The problem is, he couldn't even make the very serious ultimate fight scene realistic enough.
I mean, what's the point?

Skipable

The Missing (2003)

Ron Howard directs this atmospheric western.
The cinematography is great and creates this spooky feeling in the great New Mexico desert.
Tommy Lee Jones and Cate Blanchet give notable performances as does Eric Schweig as the creepy villian.
The theme of the movie is a grandfather's search for his kidnapped grandaughter as he deals with indian witchcraft.

Excellent

I loved this movie; I didn't connect with it as much as I did with Leaving Las Vegas, but I did feel it. I'm an ex-drunk and I understood the ending. Sometimes when you have a serious problem, the only form of relief is giving in and coming clean. It usually happens suddenly at rock bottom.

What Doesn't Kill You (2008)

On the gritty streets of South Boston, two pals work for a local crime boss and deal with the every day grind of that life.
Mark Ruffalo as Brian Reilly is a family man and as such gives a nuanced and excellent prformance caught up in choosing family over a life of crime.
His sidekick, tough and reckless Paulie Mcdugan, believably portrayed by Ethan Hawke, puts a great strain on their friendship. Above all, he wants to cut ties with his boss and encourages his friend to do the same, so that they can do their thing on their own. What stands in their way is Brian's wife Stacy, played to the hilt by Amanda Peet.
I loved this movie.

EXCELLENT