Friday 31 July 2009

Snatch.

A classic cool and funny gangster movie with an ensemble cast made by Guy Ritchie. I remember that I surely laughed in my sleep after watching this movie for the first time several years back. This didn’t happen this time, partly because I think I’ve watched it too many times.

But still good entertainment for those who haven’t watched it earlier.

Rating: 5 of 6

Bad Santa

An attempt to make a funny movie has resulted in a movie called Bad Santa. The jokes and humour is repeated over and over about a drunkard Santa and his associate.

Rating: 3/2 of 6

Taken

Surprisingly good action thriller. The story deals around a former CIA-agent whose daughter got kidnapped on a trip to Paris.

The movie is probably a cooperation between French and American film business.

Rating: 5 of 6

Ocean’s Thirteen

A really funny movie with a funny and enjoyable background score!

Last time I commented it.

Rating: 5 of 6

Ocean’s Twelve

I regarded this movie as the least best in this trilogy, but when I watched it this time, I did enjoy it much more. The charming criminal gang is highly enjoyable in this trilogy.

The movie has an excellent background score which enhances the funniness of the movie.

Rating: 5 of 6

Ocean’s Eleven

Funny movie. I regarded this movie as the best one in this trilogy, but when I watched it this time, I didn’t enjoyed that much as last times. Perhaps I’ve watched it too many times or has this movie become not so up-to-date according to today’s standards? Anyhow, it has given various good laughs earlier and will therefore be regarded as a classic in my eyes. Maybe I should watch this with commentaries of makers next time…?

Rating: 5 of 6

Matchstick Men / Førsteklasses Svindlere

Funny drama movie with Nicholas Cage and made by Ridley Scott (American Gangster, Kingdom of Heaven, Hannibal, Gladiator etc). Actually, the Indian movie Bluffmaster has various elements of this movie and has used this one as inspiration.

Matchstick Men is a funny movie, but not that funny when you watch it for 3rd time (which I did). Time to get rid of the DVD….but still good entertainment for those who haven’t watched it and like such con-movies.

Rating: 5 of 6

Public Enemies

Public Enemies is the latest offer from Michael Mann who has made several good movies earlier, i.e. Miami Vice, The Insider, Heat etc. This time, he has gathered two of the hottest stars in industry; Johnny Depp and Christian Bale. The question is how the result has become.

The movie is a periodic crime drama thriller set during the Great Depression. John Dillinger and his gang are hunted by FBI with Melvin Purvis (Christian Bale) as head for this hunt. Johnny Depp has again proven himself (I think I am fan of him). His portrayal of John Dillinger is amazing. He shows the brutal -and soft side of the character with great success.

Michael Mann has his own style of making of movies and creating the atmosphere, and this has mostly been used in non-periodic movies. Therefore, it took some effort to get used to this style for this periodic movie. In addition, it also took some effort to get used to the regional accents of Johnny Depp and Christian Bale’s characters. It wasn’t that clear what the rating should be of this movie right after the ending, but after “digesting” it for some hours later, it was apparent that it has given over-all good experience and thereby deserves following…

Rating: 5 of 6

Blow

An amazing movie. The first time I watched it some years ago, I knew that I have to watch it again. As “preparations” for the promising Public Enemies with Johnny Depp, I watched this one again with great satisfaction.

The movie is based on the real life story of George Jung, who made lots of money from drugs in its early lifetime in US. The movie gives you great drama and fun, and makes you feel for the main character. The main is portrayed wonderfully by Johnny Depp who has proven himself.

Rating: 5/6 of 6

Funny Games U.S.

This was a surprisingly good thriller, which a remake of an Austrian movie with same name and director. Often you see so-called thrillers which lack suspense, but this wasn’t case for this film. The story deals around a well-to-do family who arrives at their lake house. Neighbours arrive and ask for some eggs, but they wouldn’t leave. This starts a thrilling experience for the family and watcher, where you’ll also see interesting characters based on a remarkable screenplay.

Rating: 5 of 6

No Country for Old Men

This movie won various awards, so I was looking forward to watch it. In addition, it’s made by Coen-brothers, who have given several good movies.

The story deals around a guy, Llewelyn Moss, who finds a truck surrounded by several bodies and lots of cash. He takes the cash, and provokes chain reactions which cannot be controlled. A sociopath assassin (exceptionally portrayed by Javier Bardem) is hired to recover the money, which are taken by Llewelyn. A cat-mouse game is started between them and the brutal assassin will destroy everything which comes in his way.

The movie shows the hunt very well and has an intense atmosphere which a thriller should have. But the thrilling experience slows down during the climax, and rather changes to drama. This was surprising and boring. The makers removed the biggest plus of the movie. In the ending, you’ll understand the message, but I think this could have been shown better than what the makers did.

Rating: 4 of 6

Sweeney Todd – The Demon Barber of Fleet Street / Sweeney Todd – Demonbarbereren fra Fleet Street

I wasn’t that excited for this movie when I saw the cover, but after watching a trailer of it, I got motivated to watch it. It turned out to be a good and interesting musical thriller.

The plot deals around Benjamin Barker (Johnny Depp), a skilled barber, who is falsely charged and sentenced to a life of hard labor abroad. 15 years later, he returns to London under the assumed name "Sweeney Todd” and seeks revenge.

Johnny Depp has given a good performance. In addition, the movie has succeeded to create a good atmosphere and visual style to tell the story. The music isn’t that bad either.

Rating: 4/5 of 6

The Bourne Ultimatum

Superb movie!

The previous reviews of this movie.
First time
Second time

Rating: 5/6 of 6

The Bourne Supremacy / Gåten Jason Bourne

A cool movie. As for the previous movie in this series, I think that I’ll watch it with the commentaries of the makers next time when I watch it in order to make it more interesting for me.

The Bourne Identity / Hvem var Jason Bourne

The summer is here (at least according to the calendar despite the weather isn’t that summer’ish), and guess what’s on agenda? To watch the Bourne-trilogy again. But this time, I noticed that I have watched this movie too many times because it wasn’t that interesting anymore. In addition, it seems like that the story evolves slowly compared to later movies in this series and today’s action thrillers with lots of clips and high speed. I think that I’ll watch it with the commentaries of the makers next time when I watch it in order to make it more interesting for me.

Still, this movie is a classic piece of work in the field of action thrillers and spy movies, so it will always keep a special place in my list of favourite movies.

I bought this DVD edition as well because it was supposed to include so-called extended and explosive scenes. This is totally crap. This edition only had an alternate non-explosive ending, which wasn’t included in the bonus material of the first edition. And there weren’t any other explosive scenes either.

The previous review of this movie.

Rating: 5 of 6

I am Legend

Unnecessary movie. The concept is, again, that human kind is attacked by a virus which transforms us to monsters, vampires, etc, and this time they are called Darkseekers in the movie. The concept is pretty much the same as earlier in similar movies, so I really don’t understand why the makers made a such movie with some minor modifications in the story.

The movie is partly based on a novel with same title, and the DVD included an alternate ending which is more in line with the novel. The novel has a more philosophical and interesting ending than the typical and Hollywood’ical ending which was in the movie. Unfortunately, the makers of the movie haven’t even succeeded to make the alternate ending that interesting either and failed to show the essence of the ending in the book.

It was cool to see New York empty which otherwise is full of people. T design department of the movie has done a good job to shape New York in order to create the right atmosphere.

Rating: 4/3 of 6

The Office (An American Workplace) – Season 2

Funny series. The start of the season was all right, and it picked up afterwards. The description of the different characters in the office environment is really interesting and funny.

Rating: 5 of 6

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince / Harry Potter og Halvblodsprinsen

All right movie. The only interesting part in the movie was its climax. Otherwise the movie was too slowly and relatively uninspiring. It was like a typical movie where story takes place is in the middle of the overall plot, which sometimes will lack substance.

Tom Felton’s effort as Draco Malfoy was remarkable.

Rating: 4/5 of 6

Monday 6 July 2009

The Day after Tomorrow

An average movie with some clichés in typical Hollywood manner. But the topic and its treatment is extremely thought-provoking, and let you think afterwards what we are facing in these days related to climate changes and how it can affect us. Despite the orgy of CGI effects, they are very good and used very well to tell the story.

Rating: 4/5 of 6

The Island

After Transformers 2, I was really in mood to watch another Michael Bay action flick so I landed on this movie which I actually have watched earlier (surprise, surprise). I was positively surprised how good it was when I watched it last time. But this time, the surprise was gone, and it turned out to be an average experience. Probably, the huge doses of action in Transformers 2 outperformed the relatively smaller action in here…

Rating: 4 of 6

Friday 3 July 2009

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen / De beseirede slår tilbake

What a superb hell of an action movie. You’ll experience action from the first to the last moment. Action movie of the summer which is better than the first one, thumbs up!

Rating: 5 of 6