Change Your Image
sammyl2002
Reviews
Motherhood (2009)
A nice close up of the comings and goings of an urban mom
Before I saw it, I was just interested in how Ms Thurman handled this specific role of a tired "urban mom". But the film turned out to be a bit more than just about acting. Being a father of two kids of similar ages to those shown in this movie, I got pretty quickly involved into the action on the screen. While it didn't strike me as a comedy, it does contain some very typical situations you can laugh about, when looking at them as a stranger. What did strike me is cinematography, which seemed odd at first, because I didn't expect anything of the kind. Almost every shot feels sort of cramped and closed. It was literally painful to watch at certain moments. It made me experience this claustrophobic feeling, when you can't stop doing what you're doing, when you can't find a way out of this routine you feel your life has become. And I think this is brilliant. Regarding Ms Thurman acting I can only say that it fits perfectly with the pace and feel of the film. The ending seemed a bit soapy. And still, this is a movie worth watching.
Pride & Prejudice (2005)
Folly & Noncompetence of authors
This is the poorest adaptation imaginable. The authors would have done well if they'd placed the action in some other historical period, e.g. in contemporary times. This would have at least spared the picture from many serious blunders concerning the way of life and mores of Regency England. Still it wouldn't make the whole picture much better: the characters they are absent at all. Elizabeth is subtle, and Knightly is an ever jeering ninny. Darcy is proud and haughty and MacFadyen is like a log. Both Elizabeth and Darcy characters are developing as the action evolves, and nor Knightly neither MacFadyen are not, let alone all other personages. P&P is a brilliant, wise and subtle novel. The film is dull. I'm going to once again watch BBC miniseries to wipe out the dusty effect of this picture.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005)
a tasty movie this is!
I was a bit skeptic about the movie especially after I saw the trailer. It seemed to me they followed the way of the awful Lord of the Rings stacking separate episodes of the book in a senseless sequence and filling screen time with enormous special effects. Well, now I should admit I was completely wrong. Goblet is a quite tense movie. It has its own pace, breathing deep and breathing hard running intact with the action. And then
the details are what pleased me most. They are the point of any movie, "words" of movie language. And the creators of Goblet managed to put the book into this language and not to spoil the main plot line. The only weak point I noticed is that maturing of the heroes goes somewhat apart of the action. Still this does not spoil the movie much. I rank it 8 and believe Goblet is keeping on the way Cuaron had chosen with his Prisoner of Azkaban.