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Reviews
Kingdom of Heaven (2005)
What an experience!
I saw this in the cinemas. I thought it was OK, bordering on the average. I was disappointed, as I was expecting a lot more. Then I bought the DVD. The Blu-Ray DVD. And what an experience it was! The soundtrack came out beautifully. And the vivid colours. The specks of snow flowing across the screen. I've watched it now 5 times in the just the last 3 months, and it has very quickly become one of the more treasured movies in my wide collection. Buy it! The movie takes on a whole different dimension. The dialogue is not great, and is probably the part which let's the movie down. Edward Norton is great, under-stated as usual, but powerful. Orlando Bloom was crap, as usual. Eva Green was likewise, but good eye candy.... Enjoy.
Spy Game (2001)
Just gets better with each viewing.
An incredible movie. You've got to watch it over and over to get all the subtleties. Plots and sub-plots. It's not easy to catch all the nuances, but once you do, everything falls in place. Not the best of acting from Redford and Pitt (but seriously, what would you expect?) but they pull off enough chemistry to make this an excellent partnership. There is great drama, an intelligent storyline and a little bit of romance thrown in. I would recommend you buy (and not rent) this movie. Cos it just gets better with each viewing. It's funny how Tony Scott is somehow so inconsistent. I loved Top Gun (at least at the time it came out), and Crimson Tide is one of my all-time favourites. This certainly belongs in the "top".
Mei man ren sheng (2006)
At last, a realistic portrayal of life in Singapore
I thought this was the best movie coming out of Singapore that I've seen. I define "best" not in the arty cultural way of Be With Me (which I found really boring, especially the second half). There was no pretentiousness. At the same time, the "typical Singaporean" family is shown to be multi-faceted. The stereotypes are not drawn out like in some of Jack Neo's movies. What was most impressive was the spoken language. It was absolutely authentic. Singlish and mixed languages (English, Mandarin, Hokkien) were used throughout, but not through exaggerated accents. The acting was great from all the lead actors; and there was even a guy from the funeral parlour who was a great amusement.
Der Name der Rose (1986)
Unforgettable.... after all these years
I first saw this film 20 years ago. This was in the cinema when it first came out. I was too young at that time to fully comprehend some of the subtleties of the movie. Whilst I enjoyed the whodunit aspects, I was disturbed by some of the images that were presented. The self-flagellation by Savaltore is an image which stays in mind till today. Since then, I've watched it every 2 years or so, and the amazing thing is that each time I get more and more out of the film. Sometimes, it's the greater awareness of the religious issues of those times; sometimes it's because the actors have since become more recognised (eg Christian Slater, Ron Perlman (Hellboy!)). The cinematography is excellent, acting superb. An unforgettable film and highly recommended.