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Evil_Hobbit
Reviews
Hook (1991)
The Greatest celebration of Happiness one can imagine!
Hook is absolutely the most underrated film of all time. Hook is a film that reminds us of the fun it is to be a kid, to have adventures and to live in imagination. It shows us what great times we had when we where young, when we didn't had to work or cope with financial situations.
Robin Williams journey to become Peter again is one of the greatest cinematic joy. A miracle of film that works on every level; the cinematography, the direction, the action, the script and above all; the music. Hook is a search for happiness which turns out not only to be found in childhood; but in adulthood alike.
I rate this film a solid 10
Hostel (2005)
Horrible film. Not disturbing. Not extremely gory.
The trailer promised us a new standard in modern horror. A new wave where extreme violence would be shown uncompromised, with characters and situations that disturb you so much it gets you vomiting your way out of the theater. A horror unlike anything you ever saw before. And what a horrible film it was.
Never ever did I saw a film so uninteresting and so boring before. A film that has no idea what genre it wants to be. The amount of gore in this flick is extremely low and the gore that is supposed to be gory is so ugly and comic style it isn't disturbing at all. It makes you laugh.
After 40 Min's of tidies you don't give a f*** about the characters. For the good and worse. Normally you feel for a character so you don't want them to be tortured or you hate them so much you can't wait to see it, well, this had none of both. And the concept is so awesome! What is that place? The only good thing of the movie, the place itself, but what do we know or find out about it? Nothing, we get a cheesy escape flick. I want to find out why they are tortured and what the intention is of the people involved. This film has some good moments but those are just not enough to make this a total failure.
Waste of our time. Hostel 2 better be much better or I never watch a Eli Roth film again.
Mission: Impossible III (2006)
Instant Classic!
Let me clearly state that I had no ultra high expectations of this flick. The teaser was extremely cool but then again, that's what teaser is supposed to be. What really got me excited where the samples from Michael Giacchino's score on soundtrack.net. They where so marvelously complex in orchestration and so perfect in execution that it thrilled me to the bones. It also clearly stated that we where going to see a real spy film.
And what a film it is! This is without doubt one of the best spy films I have ever seen. It kicks True Lies from his throne. This film is the Incredibles of the live action spy-films. The script is awesome, focusing more on Hunts personal live which gives him a depth the character didn't had in the previous films. The overall acting in the film was from a extremely high level. Hofman shines as bad ass Owen Davian. Shaun of the Dead star Simon Peg steals the show in the scenes he's in and Cruise gives away his best performance to date.
The emotion in this film is tremendous. From heartbreaking till terrifying till adrenaline pumping. The action scenes in this film are so breathtakingly awesome that they really squeeze your throat only to let go when the show is over, leaving you gasping for air. The cinematography was top-notch. The gritty movements made the most spectacular sequences feel so realistic that they never became over the top.
So no negative points on this flick? Yep, one, the Kanye West song in the credits. What a horrible way to end this film. Specially when you have a score so brilliant as this one.
I can't recommend this high enough! It's one of the greatest spy/action films ever made! It has scenes unlike any you saw before. Thank you Mr. Abrams, Cruise, Giacchino and the rest of the production team for delivering an instant classic that'll be remembered amongst the great Bond films like Goldfinger and Goldeneye.
RATED: 10/10!
Takeshis' (2005)
Takeshi and Kitano in a film called Takeshis'
In the review below I shall refer to the real Takeshi in the film as Beat and the alter ego as Kitano. I shall call Kitano 'Takeshi' when I talk about Kitano directing the film.
Takeshis follows Beats alter ego named Kitano. Kitano looks a lot like the real Beat and he tries to become an actor himself, with no success.
Once Kitano meets Beat, Kitano becomes obsessed in becoming Beat. He dreams about it day and night. When he is once again rejected for a part he starts to practice his skills by impersonating the characters Beat played in his movie.
It's an awesome film, but very complex and hard to judge after a single viewing. And I think that without knowledge of his previous work the film is even less accessible then it already is.
Takeshi starts the use of flashbacks, flash-forwards, fantasy and reality structure at once. Therefor you're never quite sure if you are watching a flash-forward in reality or fantasy. It makes the film instantly confusing. Once you get in to the rhythm of the film it starts making sense. But even as a confusing film it is surprisingly funny. With loads of typical Takeshi humor and Getting Any or Kikujiro like sequences.
spoilers The film starts out with several sequences from Beat's films. Not real Takeshi films but films Beat played as an actor in the film. Laughing After that we follow Beat for a while. He goes to a studio where they are rehearsing a stage play. Here Beat meets Kitano we switch sides and start following Kitano. The alter ego of Beat who tries to become an actor.
Kitano dreams about being Beat and starts acting like the persons Beat played in his films. Double gunning all the persons down who where the cause he never got a part for an audition. After that, all those persons keep haunting him and Kitano keeps shooting them. After a magnificent dance scene ala Zatoichi the yakuza shows up again and another massacre follows, Kitano 'Beat'ing them down one by one until a final showdown at the beach.
In this extraordinary scene he sums up all his previous films in 1 big sequence. Starting poetic and extremely touching like Hana-bi and ending with a complete army of police, samurai and yakuza who all open fire at him. A magnificent action sequence not to be taken serious, or maybe you should. It is very hard to put in to words for I haven't figured it out myself yet.
end of spoilers Takeshis' goes trough so many genres and dreams within dreams that it's hard to figure out what is really going on. Even when the story itself is pretty simple. The execution is insane. Highly amusing but also haunting and irritating when you can't figure out why it is there in the first place. Some sequences also continue far too long but it has to be said, no one can stage a bloody shoot out like Kitano.
In the end it looks to me as if Takeshi tries to say that when you have everything as a star in Japan, people are trying to steel it from you. Or as Yoda would say: fame leads to jalousie, jalousie to greed and greed leads to suffering.
Rated: yesterday 3/5, today 4/5
Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001)
Atlantis the Island in the Sea
The first time I saw this film was on the airplane. At this flight it bored me to dead. Considering the fact that almost every film is boring on an airplane and the fact that a friend of mine kept telling me this really was a good movie made me watch it again.
I absolutely love the work of Hayao Miyazaki. It is obvious that his work inspired this film a lot, and I mean A LOT. Thank god the filmmakers admitted this for else it would be a shameless rip from Laputa: Castle in the Sky. There are some major element from this film that has been slightly altered and placed in this movie.
Fortunately the film is not a rip from Castle in the Sky. It has his own story, his own characters and movements. The first half of the film you can barely notice the influence. But it is the climax of the film that has the most resemblance. The crystals, the stone guards etc.
So to wrap it up, this is a good film. If you loved Castle in the Sky you will probably like this one to and if you loved this one you will adore Castle. Like Castle it does not have the compelling story or highly developed characters, it is a simple film, with a simple script. Good direction, stunning animation and a great musical score and that makes it a fun ride.
7/10.