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Reviews
Le premier cri (2007)
Pathos overload
As my wife is in an early phase of pregnancy, her hormones force her to shed tears to sentimental comedies and pictures of cute babies - so we thought this would be the proper movie for a Sunday evening.
Wrong, awfully wrong. We only made it through the first ten minutes (so I cannot say if it's going to get better. I heavily doubt that). It was our own fault: We should have sent a few prayers to the goddess and let a shaman clean our house from bad spirits and cobwebs before inserting the DVD with this solemn kitsch. But if you plan to prepare for birth by painting your body and going to a place where there's no electricity and no doctor or to a sacred Indian river which is also used as an overcrowded city's sewerage, this is your movie. People like us just don't want no dolphin in the delivery room.
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)
Too much, too fast
Harry Potter goes to Hollywood ... this movie is a two-hour-rush full of "special" effects. Large parts of it have the tempo of advertising or music videos. Alas, Harry Potter III lacks the charm of the books, it lacks the wonderful atmosphere of Old England so beautifully captured in the first two movies -- it lacks everything that made the previous films of the series something special, lovely.
I would not recommend this movie to a 12- or 13-year-old, not only because of the many horror scenes (don't know what they watch on children TV today, but I think this is way too much for a child) but also because I wonder how many of the young watchers who are so keen on Harry Potter get the story right (if they didn't read the book which should not be a prerequisite for watching the film) -- e.g. the side-story of Harry not being allowed to go to the village and getting the map as a help.
My conclusion: the director was not interested in the story, not in the characters, not in the atmosphere. All he tried is to make you shed as much adrenaline as possible. I hope they will make a more old-fashioned movie next time. It would suit Harry Potter much better.
3/10
Mystic River (2003)
Rather Mythic than Mystic
Although there are strong and interesting women in this film, this is a truly male movie, full of rough buddies and small jokes, drinks and stories. Things that count are left unsaid - they are told by the (thoroughly great) actors and a close, intimate camera. Yes, this is a western, just as "Unforgiven" was. All the figures are bigger-than-life, telling the myth of strong winners and born losers, of cruelty and the way life ignores our sense of justice. Very moving. 9/10
Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003)
For pseudo-cineasts and manga-lovers only (1/10)
This is supposed to be one of the 100 best films ever (as presently in the IMDB poll)? I don't understand this - actually, I did not expect to ever watch such an awful movie in my life.
So, why is it so bad? Because it leaves you completely cold. The story (if you want to call it story) is ridiculous. Yes, there are some surprises, beautifully arranged scenes and laughs, some original moments too. Tarantino obviously was in command of many tricks and means and links to other movies (as you expect), but to what end?
I guess that any film is bad that does not show real characters. I guess "Kill Bill" is utterly inhuman - not due to its excessive violence (which is annoying nevertheless), but because it's not about human beings.
Surely, Tarantino had lots of fun when making this movie. Watch it if you like stupid mangas.
Scanners (1981)
No story, no characters, no meaning
This surely is one of Cronenberg's weakest movies. There is this "The evil guys want to rule the world and you're the only one to stop it"-story, which just can't be taken seriously. Even worse, the figures are mere schemes and fail to raise interest. The story is twisted, confused and not logical - and it has nothing to say. Other Cronenberg films give you stuff to think about man, the media or the fiction of reality, this one is only remembered because of some special effects and the cool late-70s-design.
The Ring (2002)
A classical horror movie
I was sceptical at the begin because I was afraid of some teenage-girl-slaughtering (you know, "Scream" etc pp), and the first scenes seemed to direct into that way - although it kept the suspense by the haunting atmosphere of the clean, lonely house ("Shining"?). What followed created more and more shivers: the gloomy pictures in foggy, rainy landscape and the well-wrought plot giving you no clue where it all ends did not fail to make this quite a frightener.
The video itself is a fine, morbid piece of art, the clues in it are so hidden that one does not think that there is actually a story hidden in it. And the end was a really cynical surprise.
This is a modern version of the classical subtle haunted-castle horror. Stay away if your nerves are thin - or if you lack sensitivity and only go for splatter blood-baths. (9/10)
Nostalghia (1983)
Disappointing
The great about Tarkovskij films is the poetry in the pictures, the melancholic beauty which is almost too hard to bear. A lot of it is in this one: the water, the garbage, strange, haunting sounds in the background, the dogs, the empty rooms with metal beds and rotten walls, the rain, the warmth of pure, shy love, the static, photography-like pictures (sometimes even filmed pictures), the poems, the philosophical discussions.
The failure of "Nostalghia" shows the fragility by which these ingredients are held together in films like "Solaris" or "Stalker". The thin plot line is torn apart, there is no connection between the plots of exile (what a great plot for Tarkovskij this could have been!) and the plot of saving the world by sacrifying yourself. Domenico the lunatic is just not fascinating. You feel that Andrej cannot understand Eugenia, just as Andrej the director can't. The dialogues are awfully pseudo-intellectual, the fixation on Christian faith just penetrant (compare "Stalker" which is all about faith, but without the churches) - even God himself speaks. The story of carrying a burning candle through a pool and thereby saving the world can hardly be told without exposing it to ridiculousness. Andrej's death is hardly prepared, as young and healthy as he looks this just feels like a deus ex machina. In a word, "Nostalghia" is boring and self-indulgent. Maybe it is not a good idea to name your protagonist like yourself (although there was no problem in "Andrej Rubljow") and letting him read your brother's poems. What could have been great scenes in great films look here like mere self-plagiarisms. And there are scenes where Tarkovskij's genius rises: drinking wodka in the bath arches and talking to a child (one of the few scenes where Andrej comes to life); the final scene with the candle; the scene in Domenico's house. If you have never seen a film by Tarkovskij before, don't watch this - it might keep you from seeing his masterpieces. Three stars for a blundered film in respect of the artist.
Panic Room (2002)
Product Placement Room
Everybody has accustomed to product placement in movies, and where it does not hurt the film, it is no problem with me. But Panic Room enters a new dimension in film sponsoring. While the technical environment by S**y is the kind of acceptable product placement, the annoying appearance of E***n mineral water in the film overshadows it completely. I simply do not want to pay 7 Euros for watching advertisement. So, without soft drinks it would have been 6/10 for a solid, but often overrated thriller. But I give 1/10 for commercial depravity.
Yôjinbô (1961)
Mother of the Italo Western
The man with the wildest eye-rolling on earth, Toshiro Mifune, acts rather cool in this samurai western. Did you ever want to know where Clint Eastwood's cigar in the corner of the mouth stems from? Where Sergio Leone took all the sandy desert wind as background of the lonesome hero, facing a violent crowd? Where the nameless heroes had their debut, cynical, silent saints and killers in an evil world where only the victims deserve sympathy? A fine, twisted plot (sometimes confused ... or did a few scenes miss in the rotten copy I saw?) keeps the suspense until the showdown. Not Kurosawa's most intelligent movie, but really entertaining and brilliantly filmed. 9/10