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Black Rock 2013
As a fan of Aselton, but especially her husband Mark Duplass (writer and producer here) I went in with the appropriaye amount of expectations. I didn't expect a full blown horror, and thus the lack of tension didn't disappoint me in the least. I still got a jump scare that made my heart skip about three beats....
Doesn't outstay its welcome (75 mins), has a great location made even greater with astute camerawork and the soundtrack is, as always when… -
Erased 2013
Eckhart shows signs of a fine action actor, and keeps this movie a float all by himself. I expected a bit more from the director of Nordwand. Olga Kurylenko is back to her usual self after an impressing performance in To the Wonder.
This is clearly an attempt to cash in on the success of Taken, but this eurothriller is not nearly as entertaining, but the story is a bit more interesting at least (I'm a sucker for conspiracies). -
Walk on Water 2004
30 Films from 30 Countries, nr12: Israel
This film has quite a few problems, and the only things working for me are the bromance and Ashkenazi. It's way to light, and has a pretty cheesy and out of nowhere ending. Up until the ending I was ready to give it a higher rating, actually. The way the Jew and the German form a bond is belieavable enough, but it treads to lightly around this massively important situation that is the state of Israel.
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Pale Flower 1964
Style, atmosphere, soundtrack and cinematography make this Japanese noir the thrill it is. As for the story itself, it doesn't reflect it's power from spoken words, it's more of an inward journey. All in all I find it pretty hard to put words to why this is so great. If you don't get the political statements and are not that keen on style, this may bore some people, but for me this was quite a goldmine.
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Snitch 2013
It's a nice enough surprise seeing The Rock playing someone vulnerable and with normal human strength, but unfortunately the script is awful and completely unrealisticly blown out of proportions. They've actually gathered a pretty decent cast for a straight-to-dvd-release but not a lot of them are on form, including an especially bad Susan Sarandon.
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Crimson Gold 2004
30 Films from 30 Countries, nr11: Iran
So this is what it's like being lost in translation. It's a well made film, with a decent script, but I'm guessing it takes a bit of knowledge to fully get behing our man's decision making process. To me, he starts of a grumpy, rude, miserable git, and stays that way for 90 mins. You do get to see some head shaking incidents of the morality police though, but even though it points…
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Zift 2008
30 Films from 30 Countries, nr10: Bulgaria
Filmed in a grayish tone of black and white, probably in sink with the titular substance, Zift is a sort of neo-noir where our protagonist has been wronged by a few people and probably his woman, a gorgeous femme fatale.
It starts after the fact, with him in prison for a crime he didn't commit, and then we follow him in his struggles to make things right. I really liked it, and it has a lot of great characters, but then I'm a sucker for almost any noir. -
A Royal Affair 2012
30 Films from 30 Countries, nr9: Denmark
I was a bit surprised they had lent no weight to Per Olov Enquist's book in bringing this story to the big screen, but Arcel probably knew what he was doing.
The success in the movie for the most part lie in the casting, which is pretty great. Especially nice touch to cast a Swede as the Queen brought over from England as her Danish then wouldn't be flawless. Vikander and Mikkelsen are… -
Gangster's Paradise: Jerusalema 2008
30 Films from 30 Countries, nr8: South Africa
I wasn't looking forward to putting on yet another African "gangster" movie after Viva Riva, but Jerusalema is in a whole other league.
Sure, much of this is already done to death, but location, culture, music, language and society helps Jerusalema bring something new to the table. The direction is pretty lazy, but there's enough going on to help divert the attention. Should have ended 10 mins before it did, though. -
Viva Riva! 2011
30 Films from 30 Countries, nr7: Congo
Fun as a look-in to an exotic and chaotic nation (continent), but this is a mess. The actors, if you can call them that, aren't helped much by the script, but it is pretty hard to sit through this, I must admit. The lead guy should consider being an Omar Epps impersonator, because he's sure as hell not an actor.
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Priest of Evil 2010
30 Films from 30 Countries, nr6: Finland
Just your basic, run of the mill, Nordic crime novel adaptation. Feels like a tv-movie in every aspect. This really should have been a part of a tv-show rather than a movie, but the last 10 minutes at least have an inkling of tension.
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Operasjon Løvsprett 1962
Star studded comedy with musical elements that completely weirded me out.....
