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Christopher Nolan has accomplished something truly rare when it comes to directors in Hollywood. He makes huge and expensive films that make millions of dollars, which are still very intelligent. Even though I liked it better when he was making "smaller" films like Memento and Following, I have to admit that every time I watch one of his flms I have a pretty damn good time and Inception is no exception. For once I got what I paid for.
I think the reactions to this film are blown out of proportion. Everywhere I look people are awarding it five stars out of five and calling it the best film ever and stuff like that. Well I hate break it to you, Inception is not the best film ever. It's not even an excellent film. But hey don't worry, it's a good film. It is after all very rare to find a film that stimulates you intellectually and emotionally the same amount. Even though it had big explosions and mind blowing special effects, the real special effect here was the story that was out of this world. I'm not saying that it was a particularly good story but it certainly was original and even a bit confusing at points.
But the most amazing feat for me was that the film with its 2h30min lenght didn't seem long at all. I was absolutely, 100 percent entertained and the film kept me guessing all the way. That is the biggest problem with films today. Every time you go the movies you ed up spending like 3 hours there because the films are so damn long. I mean I have nothing against long films if the films are good enough, but films like Transformers and 2012 which are over two-and-a-half hours long almost killed me with their lenght. The bottom line, films of today suffer from a serious lack of entertaining material to hold up their massive running times. Thank god Christopher Nolan has found a cure for it.
Inception isn't boring or tedious, but an interesting and highly entertaining film.
One of the most fascinating aspects of the film is its highly original and complicated storyline. And when you're dealing with a stroy this weird and complicated you have to spend a lot of time explaining things. And I'm pretty happy with what Inception did here. Many people have said that the exposition scenes weren't enough to make them understand this concept of incepting ideas in the peoples heads while they're asleep or the fact that there are many layers that all work differently or just the fact that there are dreams within dreams within dreams within dreams... I personally think that while it was challenging, it wasn't too hard to understand what's going on. I acually think that any more exposition would have killed the charm and the mystery. You don't have to know everything and usually the more they explain the the longer the film feels.
The beauty of films like this is that you never question them while you're in the theater. You only begin to realise that it wasn't perfection when you arrive home. That was the thing with The Dark Knight also. When I was sitting in the theater I was thinking: "man this is a great film." After I got home I felt like "wait a minute." It's the same thing with Inception, maybe not as strongly as with Dark Knight but it's there all the same. You start to see that not everything made a whole lot of sense or that maybe Nolan was just jerking us off with the ending but it really doesn't matter that much. And let's be honest, that was the only way the film could have ended. It was annoying, hilarious and perfect all at the same moment.
Overall, Inception isn't a masterpiece by any aspect but it's a very entertaining and challenging film which makes you think while you're being entertained. It's a film that is fun to talk about with people and even though it might not be perfect, this film deserves to be seen on the big screen.
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Again I find myself in a disagreement with the Cannes jury. The Palme d'Or should have clearly gone to 'Inglourious Basterds' which was the best film of 2009. However, 'Inglourious Basterds' might not be the kind of film that wins awards, if that makes any sense, so is there an easier choise than an Austrian B&W film? Well maybe I'm being a bit too hard on the jury. 'The White Ribbon' is after all a pretty good film.
The film tells the story of a little village in Germany where weird things start to happen. People are getting beaten up and buildings are burned, and no one seems to know who's causing all this. People have their theories about the events but the only one who's brave enough to make accusations is a teacher from the local school. His accusations are however ignored because the boys he accused were the children of the town priest. And no child of a priest could do something like this right? So they never catch the criminals and just before the cradits roll we hear the declaration of war. That's when we find out that we're living the year 1914.
One of the strongest aspects of the film is its visual style, strongly credited to the cinematography by Christian Berger and the set and costume designs by Heike Wolf and Moidele Bickel. This film looks exactly like it should! Every single detail from the pieces of clothing to the hairstyles and apparel of the characters looks authentic and really helps to sell that we're living the beginning of the 20th century. As for the cinematography, this is the best looking artificial B&W film I've seen. By artificial I mean that it wasn't actually shot on B&W film, but the color was just drainer out. Sometimes it actually seems that the film could have been done in the 20's. The film looks great!
Another one of it's better aspects is the acting which is consitantly good. Everyone does a great job, but I feel I should mention that the child actors are amazing. You really have to give Haneke some respect for being able to direct children so well. After all I believe it's not easy.
The actors also create a nice variety of natural and believable characters which were all unique. No complaints there.
The biggest flaw with the film though is the same flaw that haunts way too many so called 'art' films. The style is there but it's lacking in substanse. In 'The White Ribbon' we have beautiful cinematography and acting, but the story isn't that interesting. Everything is shown in a way which shows that Haneke is a very talented director. Maybe he just didn't write a good enough script to begin with. The film feels really long at 2h 24min and really leaves you feeling empty as the open ending doesn't add anything to the film.
On the other hand it does have worthy themes. The themes of how religion is dictating peoples lives and habits and how sexuality is a thing not to be ashamed of are powerful and well established. There are also of course very disturbing sexual scenes, but then again what Haneke film doesn't? It again shows you the power of Haneke as it feels genuenly bad to see the boys hands strapped down at night just because he wanted to touch himself and the doctor forcing his daughter into sex.
With all that said I've come to the conclusion that 'The White Ribbon is an OK film. It's nothing that special and clearly not the best film shown at Cannes that year but it's worth sitting through. If you're interested or just a big fan of Haneke you should check this out. It's probably not for the casual viewer.
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Why is it that I love animation so much? Is it because of all the hard work that goes into the animating process? Or is it perhaps because of the total freedom that animation presents us with? I've always been the one to defend unrealistic films from critics who just won't let their souls fly with the film. Except I think this film hasn't needed defending from anyone as it is one of the most celebrated films of the year. I don't care if it's in 3D, I don't care who's in it, I don't care who's made it. I just cared about the film itself. That I think is the power of animation. Total lack of "names", only pure imagination. That is why I love animation so much.
It seems that Pixar has taken the throan as the king of animated films. Disney hasn't made anything even half decent since Emperor's New Groove and I've even started to question the creative force of Miyazaki whos last film Ponyo was a disappointment. Not a bad film but a disappointent all the same. Pixar seemed to be the one animation studios that I didn't really expect to be great as I've never cared for CGI animation, but as I watched their classics like Toy Story and Monsters INC. again, I saw something there and decided to give Up a watch.
What is this film about you might or might not ask? Well it's about an old man who has just out lived his wife. Yes, he is all alone now in his house filled with memories and reminders of the loss he has just experienced. And it just so happens that the house he lives in has been ordered for demolition as it lays on a ground which is to become a site filled with skyscrapers and "development". The man is not about to let the house he and his wife lived in be destroyed so he ties a bunch of balloons on his house and decides to fly to South America where his wife always wanted to live. He is surprised to find a friend on board as he rises from the ground, a young boyscout who was just coming to see the man has now become his sidekick and together they embark on a great adventure.
What I truly admired about this film is it's portrayal of violence. Violence is not funny in this film as it seems to be in so many other animated films these days. Don't get me wrong there's nothing wrong with cartoon violence. It's was just nice to see a film which relied on heart and pure humour to entertain the audience. It didn't need any cheap punches or silly gags. The seriousness of the violence becomes clear very early in the film when we see the old man hit the lawyer who comes to tell him that he must leave. When the old man hits the lawyer something happens that defys the whole animation universe. Blood starts running from the wound on the lawyers head. Blood?! At last we see the consequences of our characters actions, as it might be unclear to many young children that hitting another person is in fact VERY WRONG. I'm not assuming that kids are stupid but let's face it, they kind of are.
The themes of friendship through the ages, love and life long dreams are well established so we get a full emotional ride with this film. It also has some great music by Michael Giacchino who won the oscar for this, and beautiful animation which goes for style in stead of realism. This film is also wicked funny! The talking dog had me on the floor laughing many times just by saying "Squirrel!", and the bird and the boy were wonderful too. There were as many memorable characters in this film alone than all the recent Disney films combined.
This film also has one of the most deeply moving scenes of recent years. No it is not at the end where all is resolved and our heroes live happily ever after. Nor is it in the middle where we finally meet our villain who has been waiting for his revenge for ages. No. It's in the very beginning when we see the quick recap of the old mans life. It is a scene of utter silence but yet it says more than many other films combined. It is scene of beauty.
Not to mention very brave. I mean how many other animated films would have the guts to actually discuss the tragedy of not being able to have children. And all we need to understand this, is a picture. A picture of a doctor and a crying woman. No words. Utter imagination.
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WARNING!!!!!
If you haven't seen this film, stop reading this review right now and go see it! There will be spoilers and I don't want to diminish your enjoyment of the film by telling you what happens. I usually think that a good film can't be 'spoiled' but this film has a few surprises that are just so powerful that I wouldn't dare give them away.
With that said, let's talk a bit about 'World's Greatest Dad'!
Remember that annoying, shrieky comedian named Bobcat Goldwait? I could never stand that guy. But as it turns out he's actually a decent director who has worked on a few films and a couple of shows on TV. His films haven't been very succesful but they have a small fanbase so I guess you could call them 'cult' films. I only saw this film because a guy from the "internet" suggested it to me. I think it's fair to say that I didn't expect much from it. I mean a film called 'World's Greatest Dad' starring Robin Williams sounded like another silly comedy and it didn't feed my interest. However I had seen him in 'One Hour Photo' and a spark of hope remained. A spark which was about to become an inferno.
Lance Clayton is an English teacher who dreams of becoming a writer. He has written a number of books but nothing has been published. He is also a single father to a young man named Kyle who goes to the same school that his father teaches in. To say the least, Kyle is an asshole. He's an unthankful, perverted, unkind deuce who has to be the worst person alive. He hates everything and it seems that everything hates him. Except of course his father who loves him.
One day a tragedy strikes when Kyle accidentaly kills himself while masturbating. He thought it was a good idea to choke himself with a belt while he was doing it so he accidentaly suffocated himself. Lance grieves over the death of his son but decides that Kyle will not be remembered that way. He writes a suicide-note for him and tells everyone that he hanged himself. And then the weirdest thing happens. The suicide-note is a hit! Finally someone is paying attention to something Lance wrote even though no one knows it was him. He then decides to write more and always claims that it was something that Kyle wrote before his death. He then becomes famous and the sweetheart of America, going on talk shows and what not.
Until the day comes when he knows that he can't keep the lie going anymore. He's supposed to give a speach about Kyle at the school but insted he tells everyone the truth that Kyle died while beating off. Naturally no-one believes him because who would do something that terrible. Lance is therefore concidered an asshole but Kyle's name will live on. Before the film ends we see a smile on Lance's face. Everything is alright.
This is a film mainly about how we glorify the dead. Kyle was a horrible person with little redeeming qualities and yet somehow after his death he became popular. Suddenly anything that he 'wrote' was perfect and important and people missed him and seemed to forget what an asshole he really was. I guess everything is better the way you remember it. It's sad how much of this is true. You have to be dead in this world before you matter.
This film s perfect in the way that it uses music. There are a lot of scenes where there's no dialogue or sound, just the music, and it works perfectly! There are songs from bands like Akron/Family, The Deadly Syndrome and Bruce Hornsby (who actually makes an appearance in the film.) This is the greatest use of music in a film that I've ever seen! Some people say that it reminds them too much of a music video but with a video that good I don't mind at all. Especially in the scene where all the students are reading Kyle's 'suicide-note' and start to think that maybe he wasn't a bad kid after all. They all mourn for his death but what they don't realise is the same thing that the song 'I hope I become a ghost' keeps telling us: "There's nothing sad about it."
Of course I have to mention the performance that are spot on. Robin Williams underplays the part perfectly and lets the screenplay be the main character really. There is no forced Williams humor here which surprised me completely. Daryl Sabara is chillingly good as Kyle and all the supporting players do a fine job too. Bobcat Goldwait has really made a film which is a team effort and everything works. The only thing that makes me sad is the fact that with a more professional director this film could have been a classic. Well at least now it's a cult classic.
To sum up, 'World's Greatest Dad' is one of the best films of the year! It was a true sleeper that gained some publicity at the Sundance film festival and has grown in popularity ever since. I love almost everything about it but what I love the most is the title. It is just so true. At first you might think that Lance is a horrible man and certainly not the greatest dad in the world, but what we start to realise is that he really is. His love for Kyle is totally unconditional and he does everything in his power to make people remember him as a good person. He also justifies all this by turning himself into a monster in the eyes of the world. He really IS the world's greatest dad.
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'Avatar' was probably the most anticipated film of 2009. Everybody was talking about ths film and the triumphant return of James Cameron. The hype for this film was unbelievable and I was sure that it was going to backfire. I mean this was the most expensive film in history and judging from the trailers it looked like computer experiment. Some kid just went crazy with an animation program. I predicted doom for this project.
Well it caught me by surprise. 'Avatar' is now the highest grossing film of all time. Well it sure showed me and hey, if it made this much money, it has be something special. I mean I had absolutely no expectations when I walked into the theatre so my opinion isn't based on any disappointments.
As you all probably already know, Avatar is in 3D. I for one HATE 3D! It's nothing but a stupid trick which was invented more than 50 years ago and only found use in amusement parks. But I heard people say that this one uses the 3D effect wisely. People said that this is more than a film, it's an experience. Now there's my first problem...
Isn't film an art form? I mean the notion of it being an 'experience' degrades the film to a theme park ride. It's nothing more than cheap fun to see objects fly at you and hear people yell: "EEEEEEEKKKKK!". I always thought films are more than that but hey, maybe I'm just a stuck up little brat who doesn't know what he's talking about. With that said, let's talk about the actual film in question.
So the film tells the story of Jake Sully who for some reason is in a wheelchair. His brother is a marine who gets killed so the army needs Jake to take his brothers place. They share the same genetic code you see and that's relevant for the mission. They fly to this planet called Pandora where they find this rock called unobtanium which is apparently really valuable but they can't get to it. They're blocked by a savage tribe of natives called the Na'vi. So now they have to get rid of the Na'vi so they can get the unobtanium. To do this they give Jake his own avatar, which is like a replica of a native Na'vi, that he can control. They then tell him to go to the village and make the Na'vi leave. And of course Jake falls in love with a Na'vi chick and changes sides. You can probably guess the rest.
Our source of sympathy in this film is the Na'vi tribe because they represent the small but resiliant community which is about to be destroyed by the money hungry corporations. In order for us to feel sorry for these aliens they have to be interesting and likeable. Are they? Not so much no....
You see, the Na'vi have absolutely no character. They are only tall, blue humas with tails. They have pretty, big, blue eyes and very humane form so we can fall for them superficially. And that is the only level I saw in them because they never do anything but play around with dragons and climb trees. Why am I supposed to feel sorry for this tribe when they do absolutely nothing? Just because they're hot? No, I need a better reason.
Another weak point in the film is its utter predictability. Every one and their grandmother has pointed out that this film is a complete rip-off of the following films: 'Dances with Wolves', 'Fergully' and 'Pocahontas'. So I'm not going to bash the film for its lack of originality, I'm going to bash the film for its predictability. I mean you knew exactly what was going to happen in the film when it first began. There were absolutely no surprises. It actually makes me wonder, if James Camoren spent like 10 years on this script, how on earth does it suck so hard? I guess he wrote it in a day and masturbated on his huge pile of money for the rest of the time. It's even worse when you realise that this is the same person who wrote the 'Terminator' films and 'Titanic' which were all great! Bad James Cameron! Bad!
And the worst crime of all in a film like this is that it's boring. It's so long and tedious and the dozen acion scenes that it has doesn't change the fact that it's boring and pointless. Even the action scenes were so predictable that I almost fell asleep. Just a quick notion but I think it's important.
Well this film isn't all bad. The visuals are great and effective and if you're going to make a 3D film, this is the way to do it. I just hate 3D in general. With all this said I have come to the conclusion that 'Avatar' is not a good film. It's not terrible but it certanly isn't worth all the money it has made. I just hope that the people who are actually crying for this film or getting depressed over it realise that this is the product of a bloodsucking, money hungry corporate toy who just wants to play you like a violin so you would give him your 10 dollars that your mom gave you for doing the dishes. There is no creativity or love behind this, only greed. Hope yoy realise that as soon as possible.
PS: If James Cameron is going to make us feel bad for being who we are with this film, then I surely hope that he will use some of the money he has made to make things better in the world. After all, you can't just complain and be a good person.
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The Vatican is in trouble! It seems that an old secret group of god hating scientists called 'The Illuminati' has started to murder catholic priests. You see the Pope has just died so they need a replacement and The Illuminati is killing all the prefered candidates. It of course doesn't help matters that the Illuminati has aquired some anti-mater and are threatning to blow up the Vatican. I guess there's only one reasonable thing to do... Call Roberrt Langdon!
The plot starts to seem a bit too familiar when the priests actually start to get murdered. The Illuminati starts killing them in honor of the earths four basic elements. Wind, Fire, Earth and Water. So where have we heard this before? Oh I know! One of the best films of the 90's! Se7en!
It's basically the excact same thing except with elements instead of sins. At least it tries to be shocking and exciting like Se7en was but as you can probably guess this isn't a very good film.
To this films credit though, it is a lot better than the Da Vinci Code. That film was just god awful... Angels and Demons is at least very entertaining. I didn't really find any spot in the film that was boring or anything and it kept moving along qite nicely. Of course there are a few things which slowed the film WAY down. You see in order for us to understand the story and the motivations of the characters, we have to know what Robert Langdon knows. And because he is the smartest person on earth we don't find things out with him, we find things out when he tells us about them. There are long scenes where he just explains thing to us because even the filmmakers know that no one will know what the hell The Illuminati is.
What really struck me as distracting and odd was how the Catholic church was shown as the most influential and powerful thing in the world. I mean all the fictional locations were so over the top and silly that it distracted me from the film. No one has this kind of technology! Well, at least the film was shot in many actual locations and if nothing more, it will get the Americans interested about the history of the church and the places they visit.
What really kills the film for me was the totally predictable and conventional story. At the very first time the villain was introduced to us I knew what the twist was going to be. And to say the least, it wasn't very exciting. In fact the scene towards the end involving a helicopter and a parachute was one of the silliest moments in film that I've seen in a long time. The grim and serious tone of the film is totally ruined by uncreative hands of Ron Howard. Does this guy even like his job? I mean all of his films are like this. No originality, no inspiration, a hell of a lot of cash. Well whatever... He's a deuce.
There's not much else to say about Angels and Demons. The acting is pretty good, the music is fitting and the cinematography is conventional. The film was interesting. for it showed us aroud the Vatican and many other exciting locations. But unfortunately it was bogged down to a traditional and conventional story which offered nothing new. Maybe from this kind of material a good filmmaker could have created something special, but it seems we are stuck with Ron Howard for now.
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'Antichrist' is the first film from the Danish filmmaker Lars Von Trier that I've truly enjoyed. I thought 'Dogville' was tedious and that 'Dancer in the Dark' was just plain silly but this one I think gets it right. If nothing more it is a document of Lars Von Trier's capabilities as a director. This is the only film I know that was so strong visually that many people have had troubles even sitting in the theatre. In fact, when I went to see it some people actually stormed out of the room, kind of what happened at Cannes that year if I remember correctly.
The opening sequence is an excersise in style and shear atmosphere. The scene involves a married couple 'He' and 'She' having sex so passionately that they don't notice their infant child crawling out his crib. The child then proceedes to climb through the wind and just as the child falls to his death, she reaches an orgasm. It is a harrowing scene, shot in extreme slow motion. When we see the excited and twisted in pleasure face of the woman just after the terrbile thing, it truly moves the viewer and makes it known that we are dealing with something special here.
Of course the woman and the man are in shock after the whole thing and the woman blames herself and even the husband a bit. He is a therapist who decides to help her as she seems to be suffering from severe panic attacks and nightmares. They go to a secluded cabin in the woods to begin the treatment but that's when things go horribly wrong. The woman goes absolutely crazy and the film becomes a very suspenseful thriller in its own way.
The cinematography is absolutely gorgeus in this film. Usually Lars Von Triers camera work only manages to piss me off but it really worked here. The color schemes are beautiful and the quiet shots of the forest echo a certain perfection. But I don't think that many people saw this film for its strenghts as a piece of art. No! People saw this film because it was grose and stuff! Granted the film has some very strong sexual images and scenes of mutilation that WILL shock people, but the film in itself isn't actually that shocking. It's more beautiful than it is frightening.
Of course the themes of sexuality and religion are prominent in the film and are well established. You should not expect less from a director like Von Trier. But what really pulls the film along is the work by the actors Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg. They are perfect in their roles and Gainsbourg was even honored with the best actress award at the Cannes film festival. An award well deserved but I think Dafoe should have won too. The roles were so challenging and compromising that only truly great actors could pull them off.
All in all, 'Antichrist' is very good film! It was shocking sure but mostly beautiful and creative. I truly hope that Lars Von Trier will keep making more films like this instead of what he's been doing before.
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'An American Affair' is a film about two things. Growing up and finding sexuality, and secret goverment dealings. Unfortunately the film only works as the first one.
The film tells the story of Adam, a bit of a trouble maker who goes to a catholic school in the city of Washington D.C.
Adam is a teenager who is just about to find out that maybe girls aren't that icky after all. In fact Adam makes closer contact with a girl in his school but gets rejected for being too urgent, if you know what I mean. In the wake of his blossoming sexuality Adam starts working for his neighbour, the beautiful Catherine Caswell, who seems to have some big secrets of her own that involve the president John F. Kennedy. Of course Adam falls in love with her and the best parts of the film are about just that.
However for some strange reason the filmmakers decided to include the plot about Kennedy, and that does not work. At all. It is true that JFK had a lot of mistresses but some how I find it hard to believe that he just slept with anyone anywhere. The biggest problem about the JFK plotline is its utter unbelievability. The woman gets harassed by goverment agents and everything seems to lead straight in to the assassination of JFK. The plot is just so hard to follow and to comprehend that it shatters what would have been a very good film. So as you can see, the film is half good and half bad. Very sad that it has to be that way.
Okay but now a bit about the good aspects of the film! As I mentioned the coming of age story of Adam is a good one. It seems to handle the troubled and sometimes uncomfortable sexual issues of a teenager quite well and it is very well acted. Cameron Bright is good as Adam and Gretchen Mol is very sexy and seductive as the presidents lover Catherine. It also deals with important issues and has some very important themes in it, mainly about the relationship between a teenager and his parents and sexuality as a whole.
The film has some beautiful camera work in it which shows that the director William Olsson is a very talented filmmaker who was plagued in this project by the terrible screenplay. It's like there's two movies in here, one of them is good and the other one sucks ass... It's truly a shame. What also made an impact on me was the musical score wich was captivating to say the least.
Overall, 'An American Affair' is a double edged sword. The more human issues attract the viewer when on the other hand the highly political mumbo-jumbo turns the viewer off. They should have just flatout left the whole JFK thing out and go with a more traditional story. There is nothing wrong with that.
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Amelia Earhart was a legendary aviator and a best selling author. She was the first woman to fly solo across the atlantic but when she tried to fly around the whole world, she vanished somewhere over the pacific. She truly sounds like an exciting person.
Unfortunately the film 'Amelia' is not exciting at all. Somehow the filmakers have managed to create a film which is totally forgettable and depressing, and I'm actually not sure what went wrong. Was it the screenplay? Maybe, I mean there isn't anything that original or intelligent in the film. I should probably blame the lousy director who has decided that emotion isn't created through emotional scenes but rather with a obnoxious musical score which is so smoochy that it almost made my ears bleed.
There are three wonderfull actors in the cast. Hilary Swank, Richard Gere and Ewan McGregor. These are all actors that when given the right script they can do wonders on the screen. Especially Swank who is known for her ferocious portrayals. Well wouldn't you know, they all give totally one-note performances. Gere is silly, McGregor is pointless and Swank is just dreadful. I mean what on earth was that? Her weird accent drove me nuts, she looked horrible and the performance was just depressing. And what makes things worse is that the characters had absolutely no chemistry on screen. The relationship between Gere and Swank was tedious and uncomfortable and I don't even know what happened between McGregor and her and honestly I don't even care.
This was a painful film to sit through. It was so unbelievably boring and tedious. Somehow you'd think that a life like Amelia Earhart's would inspire filmmakers to create something truly exciting and new but apparently it doesn't. I don't have a lot to say about this one so I'll just keep it short. Skip this one.
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Okay, so Sandra Bullock is a nerdy crossword manufactor for a local newspaper who hasn't had a man in a long time. In fact, I don't think that she has ever had a boyfriend and I'm not surprised. She has absolutley no social skills and is kind of... weird.
Well everything changes when her parents hook him up with a man named Steve who is working for a news channel as a cameraman. She of course instantly falls in love with him because he's a handsome guy, but he doesn't get her because she's kind of... weird.
So then she starts to stalk him because she doesn't understand that Steve doesn't like her, and even goes on the road and follows his news team around. Steve of course tries to run away from her because she's well.. weird.
Oh god even writing about that plot makes me want to punch the guy responsible. In what conference room did they think that making this film was nescessary? I mean who thought that they would like to see this film? Haven't we seen enough of this crap already?! Well apparently they thought: No! because this film was made.
The first thing that will strike you as horrible is the grand leading lady herself, Sandra Bullock. What on earth was she trying to do here? Her character is obnoxious, annoying and hyper active, and I dare you to find any redeeming qualities about her. I dare you. It doesn't help that Sandra Bullock herself is terrible as playing that terrible character. In a film like this the main characters have to work! If we're supposed to feel for these people you have to make them likeable!
This film is just full of annoying scenes. For example, the scene where she talks to a class about her job. Those kids are total assholes and not in the way that kids really are. I mean don't be mistaken, kids are assholes, but no kid would react like that to her speach. Just a minor thing but it bugged me alright! And also I forgot to mention, she talks to her guineapig... Seriously.
Okay here's the biggest flaw in the film. Are you ready? It's not funny! I mean you can forgive a lot in a bad comedy if there's at least a few scenes that make you smile or laugh. There isn't any of them in here. All the gags that they attempt? FAIL! Even the subtle little jokes in the background? FAIL! Every joke by Sandra Bullock? DOUBLE FAIL!
This film wss painful to sit through, and it doesn't help that wonderful actors like Thomas Hayden Church and Bradley Cooper are involved, they save nothing.
This film attempts to make some filosophical statements about life by comparing it to a crossword puzzle. There are a lot of metaphors and comparisons that make absolutely no sense. And even if they made sense, who wants to hear about crossword puzzles anyway? No one! They are not that interresting and it seems that the people who make them aren't either.
Overall, there's basically no redeeming value in this film. The only good thing that came out of it was a scene involving a dead horse, and that only made me laugh because the gag was so stupid and desperate. This is a good candidate for the list of the worst films of the year. By the way if you're wondering why I still gave this film 20%, let me explain. I save the 10% rating for the films that are actually harmful while being horrible. At least this film was harmless. It just sucked!
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xwadewilsonx on 8/01/10 at 12:08 PM
Great review man! This is my favorite Nolan film and I agree, it didn't seem long at all. Thumbs up!
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Aleksi M. on 8/01/10 at 03:05 PM
When it comes to Nolan's films I always favour Memento which is one of my favourite films of all time. Thanks for reading my review!
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Aurora B. on 8/01/10 at 01:06 PM
sorry, but this is an excellent movie. entertaining and just loads of fun to watch, it deserves something higher than an 8/10. good review tho
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Aleksi M. on 8/01/10 at 03:06 PM
Thanks for checking it out! I still stand behind my review though:)
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miguelsreviews.webs.com on 8/02/10 at 05:28 AM
Great review dude it was a great movie.
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Aleksi M. on 8/02/10 at 02:51 PM
Thanks for reading:)
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Aaron M. on 8/05/10 at 06:07 PM
This was a truly great film. Excellent review.
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Aleksi M. on 8/06/10 at 01:44 AM
Thanks a lot for reading:)
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Rostron2 on 8/29/11 at 11:49 AM
Excellent film. Great review!
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