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joannaoman
Reviews
Gone Baby Gone (2007)
After a long wait for and hyped reviews of the delayed directing debut from Ben Affleck Gone Baby Gone was simply an anticlimax.
After a long wait for and hyped reviews of the delayed directing debut from Ben Affleck Gone Baby Gone was simply an anticlimax. The movie drips with moral high ground and wooden speeches of main characters, some of whom although cast from the top layer of Hollywood, still do not manage to make us believe the candy sweet, naïve dialogues.
Casey Affleck playing the main lead is cast well if not through his family connections. He plays the young and street-wise detective on a search for a little missing girl. We are supposed to believe (unsuccessfully) that the case is solved in the middle of the movie, just to see it unravel in the next hour. A poor attempt at bad guy-good guy dilemma, Ben Affleck's movie stinks of American mass-denominator, though-shall-not-sin preaching.
The motive of child welfare seems to time well with Ben's own new baby theme, perhaps this was the reason why the story was so black and white. Great potential of this movie could have been exploited so much better in the hands of say, Clint Eastwood, but Affleck, like his protagonist, still has a lot to learn.
Visually the film is nothing special either. Sweeping shots of horizons, close-up speeches to lame music, sit more comfortably in 1998 than 2008. In some shots, the actors actually move away from the group as the camera moves onto their face and the music swells, and they proceed to give the God-bless-America-ish speech.
I do believe Affleck, the actor and director, rubbed enough shoulders in Hollywood to know better. Lets hope his next movie will prove that.
Once (2007)
A feast for music lovers, this award winning movie is a must see.
Wow. If I say that I am beating myself up for not getting tickets to the special screening with live performance and cast Q&A, followed up by hours of searching online for tickets to the next Frames gig, will that tell you what I think about this movie?
Documentary style love story between a young Irish busker, a "Hoover-fixer, sucker guy" and 19 year old Czech immigrant will leave you longing for the unrequited love in your life. He plays guitar and writes songs trying to earn a few extra Euros in his father's Hoover fixing shop. Playing people's favourite during the day he delivers an emotional performance at night performing the songs written with his lost love in mind. This attracts the sympathetic ear of a lonely Czech girl who works in Dublin trying to make a living for herself and her daughter, after her own marriage broke up. The story revolves around their respective search for healing of their broken hearts and when they pair up in a powerful and soulful duet for the recording of his demo CD we see them find hope and rekindle their prior relationships. The music is beautiful and the great performances from Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová are truly wonderful the actors are actually the band members the story is about. Their acting and the movie format make it such a truthful experience that you cannot escape but feel the emotions the movie is dripping with.
A feast for music lovers, this award winning movie is a must see. It would not be a surprise if we hear about it again closer to the Oscars or Grammy awards. Not only that, but the band The Frames, should better stock up on their delicious, heart-warming musical jewels because they will have people knocking doors down to get a piece of them.
London to Brighton (2006)
Dirty and brutal as the reality of a Kings Cross toilet cubicle
Watching the first few minutes of London to Brighton you get thrown into the midst of action as dirty and brutal as the reality of a Kings Cross toilet cubicle. What appears to be a mother and her daughter and a tale of domestic violence turns quickly into a strange tale of friendship between an all-knowing cheap prostitute and a (almost) victim of a paedophile crime. As the two friends run for their life travelling on the train from London to Brighton where they think they have a safe house for the day at least, they top up their money in the only way they know possible.
A disturbing picture of a 12-year-old smoking fags like an old-timer and a fairly realistic portraits of her older friend, it shifts from London search action by the baddies and Brighton haven for the girls.
The woman playing the prostitute does not glamorise the sex trade (nor herself, with poor teeth, bad hair and the shortest skirt possible paired with trainers), on the contrary, we get a glimpse of her thoughtful and bitter outtake on life from time to time. She is aware of the ugliness of her task as she carefully grooms the little girl on the way to her "first job" and there is the theme of innocence lost.
We are spared the gruesome details of the actual encounter as actions moves back and forth in time, but seeing all this violence against these two women is not easy. This is not a pleasant family movie or a good feel chick flick, but nor does it lack any hope or naivety, depending on your point of view, as we see the bad guys get punished or turned into philosophical saviours.
The ending is almost happy with one life restored and two lost. The film ends with a reality check for all those of us who expected a happy ending, as live goes on in the streets of Kings Cross, as if one life saved was indeed insignificant in the ocean of those with no hope.
Death Proof (2007)
Quentin Tarantino is on a mission again
Quentin Tarantino is on a mission again. The ass-kicking, boobs-bouncing, long-legged gals are in town and it's going to get messy. Two groups of girls going about their normal business: drinking, smoking pot, talking sex and cars, lap dancing for older dudes in their hot pants... hang on did I say "normal"? Only in Tarantino movies. It makes you wonder, after Kill Bill and now this, what mother issues the genius Quentin is battling with.
Good pace, original Charlie's Angels feel to the movie, good old American landscapes... a very watchable movie indeed. Men will enjoy the eye candy and the dominatrix innuendoes and girls will feel empowered even if they don't identify with the butch behaviour of these "average" women. In this man's view of the "girls only" world, Tarantino gives you glimpses not of the emancipated generation of women, but more of the used, confused and a little bitter modern man's world. Good fun though!
Shoot 'Em Up (2007)
What were they thinking?
What were they thinking? Clive Owen plays mysterious, brothel regular and a hard man with some fresh ideas of using carrots as a highly deadly weapon. Is this the modern take of the constantly lit cigarette dangling out of the corner of the baby boomers generation movie stars? Cringing, rather than crunching, is what you will do while watching this movie. Monica Belluci's beauty is not enough to distract the viewer from the terrible acting and the poorly pronounced Italian swearwords, and boy oh boy, was it hard to take the guy from Sideways seriously in his role of a baddie.
Not only does Owen kills with his carrots, which happen to come out of a plant pot nice and clean not a good way to teach our children about where vegetables come from and what are they good for but he then kills at least 50 guys... wait for it... while carrying a heavy-metal-loving new born baby!!! The famous scene where Owen has sex with Belluci and kills (simultaneously of course) another eight guys is just beyond ridiculous. While she jumps up and down on him apparently coming to.. well, just coming he doesn't seem to be enjoying any of this, regardless of his terrible comment at the climax (pun intended) of the scene: " Talking about shooting your load". The only thing he was shooting it seems, was his career in the foot.
Evening (2007)
Evening is a beautiful tale of the lives and loves of four women
Evening is a beautiful tale of the lives and loves of four women; a story of learning to be happy regardless of the pain we all experience in life. In her dying moments the protagonist relives some of the moments in her live as an aspiring singer in what appears the be the early 50s American suburbia. As her story unravels we learn more about her life, and the life of her now grown up daughters and their failing attempts at happiness and the search of fulfilment in life.
Beautiful scenery of New England in Autumn, beautiful costumes and great acting make this touching and wise movie one of the better dramas in the last year or so. We are spared the sugary lines and sweeping music common in this genre, and here less is certainly more, with a sad and yet beautiful ending. There is no happy ever after and the theme of love lost and chances wasted do not make for cheery viewing, but there is beauty in this sadness and a glimpse of hope where death and life meet.
Not a movie the average man would sit through, but it certainly is one to watch for the girls.
1408 (2007)
A tall, non-descript, centrally based hotel is not exactly the setting where you would expect an other worldly experience but this is exactly the place it all happens.
A tall, non-descript, centrally based New York hotel named "Dolphin" is not exactly the setting where you would expect an other worldly experience but this is exactly the place it all happens and specifically in room 1408. Just as the name of the hotel, and the title which, other than being the number of the room in question, seems to be chosen randomly, the movie fails to deliver a good plot that would keep viewers at the edge of their seats for what seems like a very very long time.
The acting is not up to scratch despite the big names, and the story is just not that convincing one criteria that is absolutely crucial if we are meant to be scared. As we follow what appears at first to be a jaded, been there done that got the t-shirt small time writer on his quest to find a truly haunted hotel, just to be reassured over and over again that no such thing as ghosts exist, we see him loose his cool demeanour as the radio turns itself on in this "haunted" room 1408. This is followed by a few more "scary" happenings where the window closes itself when he bumps his head on it, or the loo roll seems to have folded itself into place , and our ghost buster is peeing his pants (not literarly) and is ready to leave the room. Thankfully, or not, he does not leave and we are rewarded for our patience with a fairly good show of some poltergeist activity for the next hour or so.
There is a nice twist in the movie, just when we thought it was safe, and we get a good scare near the very end, but there is nothing there that would disturb your good night sleep after watching it. In fact, it seems to drag on a bit as you find yourself yawning, making it a good just before bed movie not my definition of scary!