knutsindre Reviews

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023)

Caught me off guard

[10/10 · 8 February 2024]

Man - was this a 10/10, or what? In some ways I was not aware animation could be this good. At an early point Gwen gives her father a hug, and the colours and art conveyed such an immense flow of emotions that you feel the very heart of the characters right in your own. This movie is beautiful, powerful and a glorious victory for animation.

Gwen and Miles are also wonderful characters wit beautiful interplay. They should portal over to us, and get oscars.

If you are not into animation (like me), this is still worth a watch. I'll be thinking about this movies for a long long time, and find myself anticipating the next one greatly.

Alita: Battle Angel (2019)

An achievement

[9/10 · 18 September 2019]

Short: Underrated. 9/10 for what is does in this space between animation and acting, and the world it builds. We've come a long way since Roger Rabbit.

Long: This movie feels like a real technical achievement. Seeing it makes me want to know more about the locations and the history it beautifully renders. The light is just spectacular and adds so much to the atmosphere. The liveliness of the acting also truly flows through the CGI on Alita, and creates an amazing sense of watching something unique. You will suspend your disbelief and feel Alita is real, this alone makes the movie worth seeing. The other androids too are masterfully created.

Beyond this, the movie is simply fairly paced and entertaining and tries to send a message about typical "sexy-born-yesterday" characters (I hear this is even more prominent in the manga the movie is based on). I'm not sure it delivers fully on this. This is the thing I wish is that they would have taken even more time to explore, along the relationships, people and locations. I wish the poverty they speak of was more explored as well.

But everyone is a critic. I think you'll like this one however. Or at the very least be fascinated by it.

Pacific Rim (2013)

God concept, bad acting

[5/10 · 11 August 2013]

Like many other recent movies I've seen, I came out of the teather with a feeling that this movie had allot of potential, but got messed up in editing. Or maybe the recent growth is TV/streaming-series has make me more picky on character building.

In summary, Pasific Rim has great concept, excellent effects, decent action, decent pacing, lack of character building and horrible acting by Rinko Kikuchi. Her character could have been good, but it fails to deliver and is simply poorly executed.

It's a good action movie overall, but severely dragged down by bad acting and not taking enough time to get to know the characters involved.

Signs (2002)

Creepy, symbolic and well done, but it's message has problems

[6/10 · 10 November 2012]

I sort of like this movie. Taken as a horror or science fiction movie, it might not live up to many of its peers, but if one takes the plot as a symbolic exploration of the struggle with faith, it has some value. This is a spiritual movie.

Visually it's well done in an old fashioned style, and at times really scary. Sudden violin bursts and reveals makes for brief tachycardia episodes with good effect. The entire presentation gives a sense of isolation of it's characters, and the house where the main plot happens, which plays on the feelings of the protagonist. The suspense is good too, and the viewer is left wondering what will happen. Also, the gradual reveal of the past is well done, and not too overstated.

But for me, the "punchline" of the movie, as it is revealed, is oversimplified and overstated. Without spoiling, I can say that things come together well - too well. Also, the final message of this movie looses itself in the mistake that the same message has when provided elsewhere by people of faith: it ignores the massive suffering outside of the single event that is valued and taken as a sign.

All in all, worth a watch for the suspense and occasional thrill, but be critical of its message - this movie adds nothing in that respect.

Troll Hunter (2010)

A ten of ten, but maybe not for foreigners?

[10/10 · 31 October 2010]

This movie deserves allot of praise, simply for how well it plays on the Norwegian cultural memes. Visually it is also quite good, as it show of the landscapes and places in which the folklore of trolls actually arose, and of course spices it with lovely computer graphics when needed. The graphics merge very well with the mockumentary style, and the movie itself falls between categories, mixing comedy, action and fake amateur documentary style.

The bad sides are simply that it lacks a bit of flow at times, and of course, the biggest drawback of them all, one which only applies for foreigners: it's a very very Norwegian story. I saw it with my Portuguese girlfriend, and she thought it was okay. I briefed her on our fairy tales before seeing it, but jokes like the three sheep on the bridge are hard to catch, or appreciate, without being marinated in our culture for a long time. One other issue for me was actually the cameo appearance of two Norwegian comedians, something which slightly spoils the illusion. Others might disagree.

I suspect this movie would be a seven or six of ten if I was not Norwegian, simply for its concepts, but because it is so rich to me, I give it a ten despite its flaws. You'll love this movie for its visual side, and some of the drama is also great. For Norwegians, this is a must see. For everyone else, it might be exotic and neat, and offer you some relief from classical Hollywood monster depictions.

And should you get curious after seeing it, Google for "Theodor Kittelsen", and "Asbjornsen and Moe" (: Enjoy!

Manhunt (2008)

Loads of stunning makeup and effects, thus thereby utterly disgusting

[4/10 · 20 April 2008]

The movie received great reviews here in Norway, and I was looking forwards to seeing it. Being a Norwegian production, I guess the critics put on their patriot pants, because this is not that great a movie.

The story we've seen before. Some young people gets captured, are hunted, with blood and gore following in ample amounts. The only thing that differentiates this movie from its many siblings is the betrayal within the group, and the charters being somewhat interesting and real. They lack depth thought, and are quite frankly not that well played or presented.

The biggest exception to this is the villains, and their behavior. Without giving any spoilers, let me just say they are a bit to evil and cold. A tad more insight into them would make the movie allot more interesting.

What does deserve praise is the visual side of the movie, with the effects especially in mind. The movie is well shot, and really drags you into it by virtue of this. The effects look so real it's frightening. So frightening in fact, that it is one of the movies greatest flaws. It's just too much.

Now, I'm not a very gentle soul, and enjoy the odd horror movie without problems, but this movie is not that enjoyable. That said, I'm sure if I went hunting moose this autumn, I'd probably not sleep very well having seen it.

Ugly, scary and outright ultra-voilent? Yes.

Exciting, interesting and progressive? No.

Transformers (2007)

Despite it's flaws, a stellar movie

[8/10 · 6 July 2007]

I must confess I did not feel much smarter leaving the cinema yesterday evening, but despite this, the rush the movie gave by pure action and spectacle was more than enough to keep me not just interested, but excited about the movie for it's 144 minutes, craving more at the end.

Script wise, the movies may not be worthy of a Nobel price, but succeeds greatly in transforming the original material from the series into a working movie. Clichés are however to many for a European audience to handle very well. The movie also spots loads of great humor, something which magically blends with what is probably the main feature of the movies: it's spectacular to watch.

In terms of special effects, Transformers is beyond state-of-the-art. It literally shines, and the action sequences are incredibly well pulled off. The Autobots also look amazing, despite some weird changes in their size from time to time. Also, the sounds works very well, and nowhere better than in the voice of Optimus Prime, which for some reason gives the robot a character unlike any computer-created actor I've ever seen seen.

The movie is quite simply a great experience. It mixes humor with amazing visuals, giving you a rush that screams for a sequel.

If they manage to make the inevitable sequel carry the same level of action, but spiced with more depth in the story, this could be the beginning of something truly great.

Spider-Man 3 (2007)

Messy cut and sad end of a great series

[6/10 · 6 May 2007]

The Spider-Man films have been amongst the better of the flood of super-hero movies to come out of the US after 9/11. Peter Parker was always a refreshing, nerdy take on the super-hero, and decent characters combined with lovely effects, art-direction, lovable cast, and dialog made the first movie great, the second a bit less so.

Sadly, the third installment of Spider-Man fails to impress as much as it's predecessors. Here, we meet a new and interesting Parker and company, but it somehow feels constructed. The characters reasoning becomes clichés, uninspiring and hard to relate to. There are also allot of new faces in this movie. Whether it's setting the stage for a follow-up, or just a means to trying to top the previous movies, they simply become to many in too little time, making the movie in some ways resembling Parker's own way of swinging through the city from action to action.

Probably, there will be a director's cut of this movies at some point, and if it adds another 30-40 minutes of film allowing us to get to know the characters better, Spider-Man 3 might as well score as high as eight. But for now however, with all it's swinging about, it's a six.