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The Mayor of Casterbridge (2003)
Can't understand how this show can be rated this high
OK - the acting is actually good. The atmosphere is good. In fact, this should have been a good mini-series, when it is not. The story is full of flaws, clichés, stereotypes, predictable events (such as Mr. Henchard getting drunk exactly 21 years after his oath of not drinking alcohol for 21 years), and unnatural jumps making the story incoherent at times. I haven't read anything by Thomas Hardy, so I don't know if this is his fault, or the fault of the scriptwriter or the director. The story simply strikes me as not credible. The story jumps way too fast at times, causing me to laugh in stead of believing in it. Perhaps the best example is when Donald Farfrae meets Lucetta Templeman for the first time. He is madly in love with Elisabeth Jane and has been for a long time (this has been decently made clear for us for some time already). Within five seconds he has forgotten all about Elisabeth Jane and is completely mesmerized by Lucetta Templeman - and this is portrayed in a way that is simply not believable. They hardly speak or do anything other than a two minutes chit chat, and all of a sudden they have thoughts for nothing but each other, ending the scene practically married. I laughed and shook my head. Also the characters are all dull and either not truly portrayed at all, or portrayed as stereotypes. All except for Michael Henchard, the only character that is truly interesting in this story. As for the dialog I simply can't ignore the late meeting of Michael Henchard and Abel Whittle. Henchard having been his former boss, and a bad one. I can't remember it word by word, but it goes something like this: "How is it, working for Mr. Farfrae", Henchard says. "Oh, it's good. He's not beating me the way you did," Whittle answers, not in a matter of irony. And they are both smiling and almost laughing. What's this? It'simply not believable. The story is full of that. Then again - the acting is good, the atmosphere is nice, and there are enough elements in here to make a really good story. Yet somewhere it all goes wrong. It's simply not coherent. Sorry to say so, cause I wanted to like this one.
The Lake House (2006)
Interesting idea, but full of holes and all too predictable
Well that pretty much sums it up. The idea is intriguing, the actors are OK, the filming is nice and the music is splendid for the movie. I don't care that the whole time gap thing is impossible. I like the idea. It's just that I saw myself getting more and more impatient as the movie went on. Why didn't they just agree to meet earlier on in the movie? *Spoiler* And I knew the second this guy was hit by that bus - that it was him. From that moment on - this was the answer to most questions risen later in the movie: "because he was hit by the bus". Too obvious. This accident clearly made an impact on the Sandra Bullock character - yet she never recognized the name, or even the face of that architect-stranger she so passionately kissed and connected with earlier on... All in all an OK movie that should have been great.
Helge
Giving It Up (1999)
Unnecessary crap
This movie is also known as "Giving it up", and in Norway as "No sex 4U". It is the most shallow and unnecessary piece of crap I have seen since - I don't know when. The plot is a cliche, it's utterly unrealistic and a thinner story hardly exists. In fact - there WAS no story. The predictability rate was sky high, and the acting was terrible. One of the rare 1/10 rates. Stay clear of this one!
H.Iversen
Halloween (1978)
Disappointed
Even though I have been a horror fan for two decades I still hadn't seen Halloween until now. No special reason, it just didn't happen before. I was excited and expected a lot from this pioneer movie that taught later movie makers so much. I was utterly disappointed.
Spoilers ahead. The movie starts off really well and is quite promising for a period of time, though weaknesses are displayed from the very beginning. Let's take the opening scene when we are introduced to the child murderer. Little details go wrong like why do you pick up a knife and automatically raise it above your head when you know that your victim is upstairs. In this real-time scene when you (quite originally at that time) see the world through the eyes of the murderer, things simply moves too fast. The young couple goes fully clothed upstairs to have sex. The killer then moves into the house and pick up the knife he lift like a zombie and moves toward the stairs just in time to see the boy come down the stairs while buttoning his shirt. If you withdraw the time of undressing and redressing - the young couple MIGHT have had sex for 10 seconds...logics fail already. Then the murderer proceeds upstairs to kill his sister with this big knife that he stabs her with. The sounds she makes are undescribable. It sounds more like she's having sex than being killed...this happens again later in the movie. OK - that was only the opening scene...it goes on and on. A major glip is how the autumn leaves always falls down right in front of the camera when there is basically no movement or even leaves anywhere else in the town...or how the knife logically must have turned into a sword to be able to hold a grown man stabbed, hanging from the wall...
Apart from these glitches there are other things to consider. The constant appearances of the murderer through a window, down the street, inside a house, outside a house - and always simultaneously with an overdramatic musical boom sound - was interesting at first but grew old really fast. It becomes like "yeah - we know he's scary by now, let's get down to business!" Boring. And then in the final scene when the murderer FINALLY encounters Jamie Lee Curtis - she stabs him twice - both times leaving him there with the knife. How stupid can a person get? Not that stupid. One good thing about the movie was the absence of explanation. The psychiatrist played the best part, and his describing of the murderer are quite thrilling. Also the fact that the killer disappears in the end when he really should be dead and the lack of explanation for this is quite intriguing. WAS he some sort of devil in the flesh? I don't know, and I can assure you that I won't see any of the seven (?) sequels to find out. This movie grew old after twenty minutes. A 4/10, rescued by the importance of the movie in displaying certain exciting movements which later movie makers used without using them up the way Carpenter did with this one. The movie is now a historical curiosity. Nothing more.
The Changeling (1980)
Finally
I first saw this movie at some point in the eighties and was stunned. I'm a big fan of horror movies eventhough I usually get dissapointed in them as most horror movies are, in fact, bad. I have forgotten most of the movies I've seen at this early age, but this one stuck to my memory. When I saw it again in the mid-nineties it was even better. Most people don't know about this film and a girl that watched this movie with me at that point recently said to me "do you remember that movie The Changeling? It still haunts me". Believe me - the title is difficult to remember for Norwegians and she still remembered it. Now I have finally purchased this wonderful movie on DVD (thank you IMDB and Amazon) and will enjoy it again with friends tonight. This film is right up there with The Exorcist and The Shining. And I just love the subtleness of the horror. No greasy mess or loads of blood. Just plain chills like "WHAT was THAT?"
The Fast and the Furious (2001)
A dangerous movie for kids
*MILD SPOILERS*
Once in a while I see a movie that really provokes me. This was such a movie. First of all the plot is not only bad - it's as good as absent. Second comes the moral of the movie that we are all good guys - we just drive recklessly risking the lives of - well anyone - and rob trucks with the most stupid method in the world (they would get themselves killed in the first attempt). But we're good guys, our leaders dad died in a car crash and that's why we are the way we are. And the truck drivers that get robbed are the bad guys of course - along with the cops. And what's with the cars???? Why are they all basically Asian or Asian-looking in America??? And those colors...yuck. What about the green light from under car....kinda cool in the races maybe, but when robbing a truck??? Get real! Everything sucked about this movie...including the actors. Since some braindead action at least made it not boring, and because there ARE in fact a few movies out there that are even worse, I give it a 3/10. But that's only because I'm a real good guy - no matter what.
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998)
Peculiar
To me this movie is quite unique in a special way. I bought it about a year ago as it seemed "interesting" and I had wanted to see it for some time. Twice have I tried to watch it without being able to finish it...and I hardly ever do this no matter how bad a movie gets. And this is the peculiar part because Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is not the worst movie I've "seen". My experience has been this (twice): I start watching it and it's hilarious for about half an hour. Then it flattens out. It doesn't change after this half hour, it just gets old really fast and I get the feeling that it's not moving forward. After about an hour it's like "enough already - get on with it!" and "OK OK - I know now that you have a lot of different drugs with different effects, will anything actually happen soon?". The acting is good, and Depp is...well he's different than how you usually see him, and yet the same - he always gets a part in those mystical movies. I'm actually close to being a Depp fan, but I'm sorry to say that I still haven't been able to keep this movie rolling to the end, or at least I can't remember an end to it. My advice is to see for yourself. The movie is unique to say the least. Helge
Max Q (1998)
My God, how pathetic can a movie get?
Stay away from this movie! It is terrible in every way. Bad acting, a thin recycled plot and the worst ending in film history. Seldom do I watch a movie that makes my adrenaline pump from irritation, in fact the only other movie that immediately springs to mind is another "people in an aircraft in trouble" movie (Airspeed). Please, please don't watch this one as it is utterly and totally pathetic from beginning to end. Helge Iversen
The Calling (2000)
Not all that bad.
Let there be no mistake: The Calling is not a very good movie. But then again, how many really good movies are there in this genre? Off hand I can only think of a few...The Omen, The Exorcist (the best of them all), The Shining, Poltergeist, The Blair Witch Project and The Changeling amongst a few others perhaps (I also liked The Ninth Gate). I can think of a lot more titles that REALLY stinks, and this is my favorite genre! As for The Calling I think it is an OK movie for the genre, and well worth seeing for those who enjoy this type of movie. It is nowhere near as good as any of the above, but it's still not all that bad. And even though we've all "seen this story before" I find the ending quite original. Helge Iversen
Dykaren (2000)
An unnecessary film
This film is not worth seeing. I saw it without reading anything about it in advance and it took me more than half the film to understand anything about the plot. This is not a bad thing in itself if the movie manages to catch your interest, but this film far from managed to do so. It was just plain boring with an extremely thin story and no surprising turn of events. When it was over I asked myself "was that it?" and yawned. The acting is not too bad, but the movie is.