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Bosnia Express (2022)
A personal account of the war in Bosnia.
There are of course many political views that motivate an opinion about this documentary, if you want to call it that.
It's more a poem than a document. It reflects the director's opinion about what happened during the war in Yugoslavia. But there are moments of balance. How religion stokes the fires of hatred and violence: always and everywhere, even though these faiths pretend to promote peace and justice. Everybody suffered in this war, but the "muslims" (Q: do you have a Koran? - A: yes, somewhere in a drawer, I think) most, by far.
We have to call the things by their names. That is what this film does, in a beautiful way.
Infinite Storm (2022)
Not a search and rescue film??
This film pretends to be based on real events. The main character has a name corresponding to the person in real life. Also the mountain is called "Mount Washington". And so on.
People call the film a metaphor about people interacting under difficult circumstances. Fine. In that case: abandon the effort to recreate reality. Because obviously Naomi Watts doesn't fit the bill of an experienced climber, Mount Washington doesn't remotely look like the peak in the film and a broken ski-pole cannot be repaired using gaffer tape. Make up your mind and tell the story, but don't drag your audience through the fourth wall unnecessarily.
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014)
The least convincing animation in film.
I have seen quite a few animation/hybrid films. Usually , as a viewer, one gets absorbed by the story and we are willing to suspend our disbelief and go with the flow. I have sat riveted watching the apes thrash it out in 2001 A Space Odyssey (1968), I have been spellbound viewing the 1934 production of Donald Duck. So one wouldn't expect that a 2014 instalment of the Planet of the Apes series is so incredibly unconvincing in the rendering of the simians. I doubt if the creators have ever seen a chimpanzee at close quarters, seen it move and seen its facial expressions. Something might have been done with what these animals have to offer. They are not supposed to be robots, I am led to believe.
Haven't even yet reached a scene with people. Away!
The Devil's Own (1997)
Abyssmal on all levels.
I had seen this movie a while back on a Saturday night, with a snack and a beer. It was OK, sort of...
I just started seeing it again on NF, not remembering the flick from before. And today I was in another mood. Blown away by routine stereotype American filmmaking, ignorance about the social and political background of the story and the toe-curling imitation Irish accent by Pitt. Of course there weren't any Irish actors that could have played the part. Screenwriters had probably seen a (Hollywood) film or two about the Troubles. And Bob's your uncle.
It is to be hoped that future generations will turn to other sources than Hollywood films in order to learn about history.
Det norske hus (2017)
Eloquent parody.
A beautifully made film about the Kafkaesque (sur)reality of immigration bureaucracy in Norway. Made (mainly) by Norwegians, which means a lot.
Being an immigrant in Norway myself (albeit "white" and of North European origin), I can testify to the spirit of the story.
While entertaining and comical, the film addresses important issues that are definitely not limited to Norway.
La chute d'un corps (1973)
Sympathetic and imperfect..
Apart from the actors, this film looks like a failed film student project. The story (if you can call it that) is a combination of improbable, often toe-curling scenes, that, if you succeed in suppressing your spectator scepsis, works quite sympathetic. The so called "Fourth Wall" however, is constantly broken by the period sound track which sounds like a 4-year old trying to imitate the Soft Machine, without attaining the intended tension or even atmosphere. One meets one's viewing partners' eyes in sympathetic bewilderment. But you struggle through to the end, not entirely without being entertained.
The Unforgivable (2021)
Ruined by the script.
This is a really good movie, with a fantastic role by Sandra Bullock. Were it not for the totally unnecessary plot angle featuring Steve and Keith, the story would have been a gem. I fear that for commercial reasons that angle had to be included, in order to create extra excitement: a cliff hanger and the the obligatory tearjerker. Open goal. Ball out of the stadium.
22. juli (2020)
Most honest and eloquent account of the terrorist attack in Norway.
This series portrays in a most intelligent manner the effects and impact of the terror attack in Norway in July 2011.
The choice of actors, in my opinion, has been excellent. To some they may seem amateur, perhaps because people are used to Hollywood actors' interpretation of realism. In my opinion the actors in this series appear very credible and natural, helped by a very effective and natural way of directing them. At no time was I reminded of the fact that I was watching a film.
Very impressive, hats off to all involved in the production!
Jack Reacher (2012)
Suspend my disbelief??? Hahahahaha!!
How can anybody over 4 years old suspend his/her disbelief watching this joke of a movie. Absolutely nothing appears plausible, especially not mr. Cruise.
The Irishman (2019)
Extremely boring
I fail to see why this is a film. Extremely boring. I blissfully slept through most of it, happy to say. You Americans are barking up this tree for way too long.
Darkest Hour (2017)
Disappointing in the end..
"Darkest Hour" reduces (as films must) a very complex reality to a few minutes of entertaining visuals and sound. The visuals and sound are excellent, but the story also gets reduced: into improbable scenes, culminating in a ridiculous sequence in the London Underground, with people shouting "Never", which later gets repeated in the House of Commons (not writing more detail in order to avoid spoilers).
So utterly unreal and bombastic that I am tempted, now that I'm writing this, to change my rating from 4 to 1.
Victoria (2016)
Amazingly improbable.
I was just toe-curlingly amazed at how little convincing all of this production works. To me, it looks cobbled together on an insufficient budget, quickly and sloppy. Doesn't even look nice.
Haven't got further than episode 1 and half of episode 2 though. Will give the rest a wide berth.
Manchester by the Sea (2016)
Devastatingly depressing
I honestly fail to grasp why anyone would would want to confront their audience with a relentless and uncompromising torrent of sadness and depression like this movie.
The film is well made, which only makes it worse.
I wish this film didn't exist. I am angry.
The American West (2016)
Pompous, bombastic, stereotypical, uninspired: unwatchable.
I started the first episode with enthusiasm and appetite for a high quality documentary backed by the esteemed Robert Redford. I got through the first half hour, with the sound turned way down in the end, not believing what I was witnessing.
It was like those disaster "docudrama's" about aviation accidents and freak waves: repeated images, rubber stamp exaggerated dramatic commentary and a pompous, badly executed sound track.
I could absolutely not stand another minute of it. I fed the cat instead.
Publieke werken (2015)
Posh broadcasting accents in Amsterdam and rural Holland...
Very irritating: the diction of the actors, especially their accents, which is typical of people working for national radio and TV in the Netherlands. "Bekakt Goois". In Hoogeveen.
I Don't Feel at Home in This World Anymore. (2017)
Another gun-obsessed film.
Oh my, one more movie about everybody wounding or killing everybody.
Even the Indie scene loves their guns so much.
That on top of the fact that I didn't get immersed in the story for a single second.
The Execution of Gary Glitter (2009)
Unsentimental and provocative.
Let me start off by saying that I'm not a British citizen and I'm not up to date on the discussion in the UK on the subject of the death penalty, nor do I watch British TV or read British newspapers. I do get most of my world news from the BBC news website though. So I may not be sufficiently biased in order to give a fair opinion on the film. I definitely did not experience the film as pro death sentence. On the contrary. It is an outcry against abuse of children and an exploration of what it would be like to have capital punishment return to a civilized country. An outcry against child abuse is not necessarily a call for the death penalty.
The force of the film lies in the way these arguments are projected on the screen: powerful, convincing, raw, devastating. Nothing less will do in treating with issues of such gravity. The choice of Gary Glitter as the main character is brilliant: it captivates the public (even a foreigner like myself) and brings the story home with the persuasiveness of a 10-ton lorry. There is no sentimentalism in the film, especially not towards Paul Gadd, which may be the reason why the film is regarded as being pro capital punishment, but the cinematic development of the story towards the end, showing the clinical process of the execution and its preparations and the hysteria of the press and the public in the streets, provokes one to make up one's mind: will the death penalty bring anything positive to society?
Døden på Oslo S (1990)
Charming failed flick
This is a sympathetic film, with many, many weak spots, such as the crew members that are starring in one of the scenes, perfectly reflected in a dark car window. The dialogue is often forced, so it's very difficult to really get into the film. But visually it is not bad at all and generally has a very authentic feel. The characters are never far away from reality and Oslo, back in 1990, must have been a terribly depressing place, according the portrait that this film paints of it. Oslo S (the Central Station), still is a gathering place for junkies, 20 years later. For a teenage public it is a very nice coming-of-age film with a good introduction to the darker side of growing up in a big city.
Der Rote Baron (2008)
Fast forward movie
One of the worst movies I have seen recently.
The main interest in films such as this one, are the aeroplanes. Especially in this movie, because the story is so embarrassingly bad and I am surprised that at this moment in film history the Germans still speak English! I had hoped that practice had disappeared with Eastwood's Japanese double. And to have German actors speak English just makes it worse. A travesty.
To come back to the aeroplanes: they look like toy planes (totally rigid when flying, for instance). There isn't a single scene of flying which convinces intuitively. It seems very difficult to get this right, the digital artists haven't figured it out. Even in "Band of Brothers", the more than excellent series about the US 101 Airborne, the scenes with the Dakotas flying to drop the men in Normandy look like moving romantic paintings and the same happens here. With even more silly unnecessary details added, such as the camshafts moving on the engines (sometimes not), to add credibility (or to distract from the fact that the guy is sitting in a studio looking angrily into a wind-machine). Razzie nomination for bad story (who had thought Richthofen's legend was about a nurse?), bad language (English) and bad images.
En kärlekshistoria (1970)
Such a lovely film!
Beautiful film! I saw it on DVD from Lovefilm in Norway. The DVD has directors comments as well. Roy Andersson speaks about how for him the most important aspect of the film is the world of the parents, the difference in social class of both families. This is certainly valid. But what hits you in the stomach, especially if you were young in those days, is the "deja-vu" of the relation between Pär & Annika and the way that developing relation is portrayed here. I thought it was a recently made film at first (had not looked at all at what sort of film it was) and thought: "Wow, where did they get all these authentic 60's cars???" The film has a very melancholic taste to it, for me at least, born in 1954. And Ann-Sofie Kylin would have absolutely been a girl I would have totally fallen in love with. The film is funny too at times, like when Pärs' macho moped gets overtaken by a bicycle rider, eating an ice-cream. Lovely film, just lovely!
En tu ausencia (2008)
An unusual and touching film.
The film "En tu Ausencia" is the debut of composer/filmmaker Iván Noel. I have personally witnessed from relatively close by the ongoing battle to get this film shot, edited and distributed and I can bear testimony of what a nightmare the process has been for Noel. He sold his house and used the money to make the film (and not starve whilst at it), but this is only a minor detail compared to all the disasters that befell on his way to having a feature film under his belt. If I had known, I would have shot a "making of", which would have compared well with "Lost in la Mancha", the main difference being that "Ausencia" finally made it to the theaters and on DVD's. And what justice is being done by allowing people to see this film! How talent and perseverance have resulted in a lush and utterly moving work of art. Where Almodovar captures from within the decadence and surrealism of Spain's capital Madrid, Noel has fallen in love with down to dry earth Andalusia. He offers us a unique and intimate view of real Andalusian people in their isolated world, while at the same time touching upon universal themes such as friendship, parenthood, coming of age, sexuality and betrayal. Set in the Arcadian landscape of springtime Southern Spain, the local actors (most of them young first time performers) behave as their own nature dictates, within the parameters of the story, closely directed by Noel. It is here that Noel excels: the visuals of the film are well above average of most Hollywood shows, the story is ingenuous and captivating, but the performances of the actors drawn out by intense direction are so direct and real that they touch the viewer as if he were participating in the story. Music (composed by Noel, who started pro life as a musician) beautifully accentuates and supports emotions evoked by the scenes, where impressionist images are followed by starkly realistic ones, although the film always draws upon our own imagination and experiences to complete the picture. A highly original film!
Before Sunset (2004)
Just slightly better than Before Sunrise
I saw Before Sunrise last night and wrote that I was going to see Before Sunset today (they were standing next to each other in the video store), just to check whether Linklater shared my views that the first film was boring etc.
Only marginally so! Boring again: enough said. The drama never comes across, not for one second. Probably none of the three (Linklater, Delpy and Hawke) has ever lived through a real heartrending romantic affair, witness these two films.
SPOILER:
Silly Hawke laughing politely on the couch when Delpy sings her waltz (nice). He should have fainted, have a stroke, tear his hair out in torment (he's going to make his little son very unhappy), to be true to the character: so desperately in love!
How pathetic and impotent. What a feeble way to paint love is this film.
Pharaoh's Army (1995)
No heroes, no villains..
It is characteristic that this film is not better known. It obviously lacks most elements that a successful theater film needs: heroes, villains, conflict and resolution, romantic love interest..
Everything is topsy-turvy here, nothing works out as it should, everyone is clumsy, sad, angry, hurt and hungry and nobody has a solution for anything. In short: it is war and it is hell for everybody involved. People try to do best, but interests, allegiances and so called duty interfere. The picture transports us back in time to the Civil War with an intensity seldom seen in today's cinema. Straightforward honest images of an intense beauty. The actors are very well cast for the story and they make the characters come truly alive in front of our eyes.
A silver dollar in a heap of nickels!
Before Sunrise (1995)
Dreadful dialog
This film is 90% dialog. And the dialog is not at all convincing in the given situation. It is too contrived, too pseudo cleverly intellectual, it is irritating and not at all romantic. Whenever Linklater switches to body language (the looks between the couple in the music booth) and purely visual shots (the morning scenes without actors) one begins to feel the deeper emotions that would be present in the given situation. But these moments are way too few and they are drowned in the veritable deluge of "adolescent" conversation between the two main characters. Now I will go and see the next episode "Before Sunset", to see if the director himself has picked up on this grave shortcoming of "Before Sunset". If he has, part 2 might well be a really nice film....!
The Notebook (2004)
Dry eyes at cheap sentiment.
The very fact that this film has a higher rating in IMDb than "Driving Miss Daisy" demonstrates the limitations of the ratings system (any ratings system). But if I take one step back and compare the story, direction, cast and acting in both films, I arrive at the conclusion that Notebook compares to Daisy as a mouse dropping to Mount Everest. The story of Notebook takes us through turn after turn of cliché and improbability, ending in (for those who have not timely walked out or switched off) twist-my-arm sentimentality. I never have much defense against a good tearjerker, but this film left my eyes dry. Worse: it left me angry at the attempt at invading my emotions with such third rate movie drivel.