Sunday, 31 January 2010

RocknRolla

Cool action flick by Guy Ritchie. The movie is in the same genre as some of the director’s earlier movies, i.e. Revolver and Snatch. Despite that his earlier movies tend to be very cool, this time he has treated this one repeatedly. The humour, making style etc is almost the same as earlier, and the only difference is the story.

Rating: 4 of 6

Generation Kill

Interesting drama series made by the makers of The Wire. This series is about the new generation of soldiers in a war atmosphere, and the story deals around US’ invasion of Iraq. The series shows, as The Wire, a realistic picture of the events as possible, and you’ll see young soldiers who suddenly are put in a war. A number of these soldiers are close to brain dead, and their leaders are a big question of wonder on why they have been put in charge without any leadership qualities. Based on this, there wouldn’t be difficult to understand why the American war in Iraq has gone the way it has gone.

The events showed in the series will engage you, and will confirm a lot of things you hear in the media. On the other hand, it also shows how the new generation thinks and acts.

The series is based on a book, written by a reporter in Rolling Stone who was with the military during the invasion.

Rating: 5 of 6

Changeling

Interesting drama made by Clint Eastwood about a woman (Angelina Jolie) who loses her son. The authorities reluctantly try to find him, and the movie is about the woman’s struggle to find her son. The movie is based on real events in 1928 in Los Angeles, and the makers have done a good job to show the Los Angeles of that particular time.

Rating: 4/5 of 6

Monday, 25 January 2010

Frost / Nixon

Interesting movie based on true incidents. Here is the synopsis, grabbed from the DVD:

From Academy Award®-winning director, Ron Howard (The Da Vinci Code, Apollo 13), comes the electrifying, untold story behind one of the most unforgettable moments in history.

When disgraced President Richard Nixon agreed to an interview with jet-setting television personality, David Frost, he thought he'd found the key to saving his tarnished legacy. But, with a name to make and a reputation to overcome, Frost became one of Nixon's most formidable adversaries and engaged the leader in a charged battle of wits that changed the face of politics forever.

Featuring brilliant portrayals by Frank Langella and Michael Sheen, Frost/Nixon is the fascinating and suspenseful story of truth, accountability, secrets and lies.

Rating: 4/5 of 6

Sunday, 17 January 2010

Robert Wilson: De skjulte morderne / The Hidden Assassins

All right novel. Robert Wilson has written several interesting novels, but I’m disappointed with this one. Again, the story deals around terrorism and Muslims are off course involved in some kind. Do authors lack creativity that most off them have to write at least one such novel?

In addition, the first 250 pages are too boring with almost no story evolvement. I think that I rather will like to give chance other authors. Probably enough of this author for some years now.

Rating: 4/3 of 6

District 9

Incredible science fiction movie! This is one of the most exciting science fiction movies in years with an original and new story. The story deals around that some aliens have arrived Earth and are living side by side with humans.

The start of the movie wasn’t that thrilling, but it picked up a lot not so long afterwards. Actually, this is one of the few movies which I look forward to a possible sequel.

Rating: 5/6 of 6

You Don't Mess With The Zohan / Ikke krøll med Zohan

Hilarious funny movie about an Isreali super soldier, who fakes his own death in order to pursue his dream of becoming a hairstylist in New York. The movie sometimes shows Palestinians / Middle Easterns as “un civilised” in the humour, but otherwise, the movie is a funny ride.

Rating: 5/4 of 6

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford / Mordet på Jesse James av den feige Robert Ford

Boring Western drama movie, based on a novel with same name. The movie is well made and has good cinematography. But the story in itself is very uninspiring.

Rating: 3/2 of 6

Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life / Livets Vugge

Cool adventurous action movie, just the like the prequel. But the story is too similar to the first movie, for instance, the heroin, Lara, has again an ex boy friend to cooperate with, and again, bad people are hunting for something which will give them power to gain control over the world and the heroin has to save the world. Despite the repetitive script, the movie is hugely entertaining.

Rating: 5 of 6

Lara Croft: Tomb Raider

Cool adventurous action movie based on the well known computer game, Tomb Raider. However, the movie has its own story in order to fit for the movie viewing public.

Despite that the movie came in 2001 and thereby has somehow slowly pace compared to today’s movies, it succeeds to entertain a lot.

The story deals somehow around Illuminati, and it’s irritating that the group is mentioned as “The Enlightened” (“De Opplyste” in Norwegian). What about simply calling them Illuminati? Sometimes, Google Translate can do a better job than these so-called interpreters who make subtitles.

Rating: 5 of 6

The Battle of Red Cliff

This is the most expensive Asian-financed film till date, with Chinese roots and made by John Woo. John Woo has made several remarkable and memorable movies, i.e. Mission: Impossible II (M:I-2), Face/Off and Broken Arrow. After some not so successful movies after M:I-2, he has made this record breaking Chinese movie.

The Battle of Red Cliff offers the story of battle of Red Cliffs and events during the end of the Han Dynasty in China in year 208. After watching several breathtaking Chinese movies, I had huge expectations for this movie which fell apart. The movie has several good action sequences and is all right made. But as the director has shown in some of his earlier movies, there is lack of use of feelings, which reduce the involvement of the viewer. However, the most interesting part of the movie was several aspects of strategy, and particularly war strategy.

Rating: 4 of 6