Reviews

I loved this movie!

I saw it at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival and I was enjoying myself so much I was surprised when it ended in the way time flies when you're having fun. The movie is often very funny, despite the fact that there are lots of serious and painful stuff going on.

It's a Norwegian film based upon a series of short stories. I'm no expert on film-making, but this director must really know his business, because I was completely unaware that I was watching separate stories. It felt very much like one single story even though it was jumping between different ones.

The movie has a very strong belief in the basic decency of people. This doesn't mean that there aren't people doing some bad things. There is no great evil going on here, but these are real people making mistakes and acting badly and hurting each other. But decency predominates. At the same time, there isn't any "sappy-phoney-sentimentality" present. All too often in Hollywood films when people are doing good things it feels rather contrived and is just in there to make the film commercial. In this movie, you do believe that the people in the film would actually do these good things. It's a Christmas movie, but it's 100% believable.

The movie is also educational. You'll learn why you don't buy your wife and your mistress the same Christmas present!

I just saw Griff the Invisible about two hours ago at the Toronto International Film Festival. There have been a number of average-guys-becoming-superhero movies this year and this is Australia's contribution. However, I'd have to say this is easily the best. The best part of the film is the quirky originality of the two main characters, Griff and Melody. They are weird, funny and believable. They don't fit any stock type of character I've seen before, but appear as two genuinely original creations. At the end of the movie, I felt like I wanted to see more of these characters.

Griff the Invisible is also different from all the other offerings because the others hit you over the head with the predictable moral that superheros are just a fantasy (like we don't know that) and that reality is better than fantasy. Without giving anything away, this film turns that moral on it's head. For once a movie doesn't make you feel guilty about your adolescent fantasies!

The movie was very well received by the Festival crowd with healthy applause and even some yells of appreciation at the end. I think the movie was mostly appreciated for the likability of the characters, the humour, the fresh writing style and just the general entertainment value.

While this movie was clearly made for the young adult crowd of the 1930s, I admit I found myself thoroughly involved in it. The movie had a lot of energy, humour and the characters were interesting.

Nancy is a true adventurer without any fear and is usually the smartest person in the room. It's hard to imagine Nancy settling into the clichéd wife-stuck-at-home image of that era. The movie is almost rebellious in that respect. Nancy has a boyfriend in the movie, but she spends most of the film manipulating him to help her with her new career as a reporter. Even in today's films and TV, in our so-called modern and liberated era, girls preoccupy much of their time obsessed about getting a boyfriend. Nancy is way beyond that. Nancy cares about Ted, her boyfriend, but the focus of the movie is Nancy's pursuit of helping an innocent woman falsely charged. It's odd to see a movie from SEVENTY years ago which presents such a liberated female! In fact, while the movie might look dated, I suspect young girls of today would enjoy the film.

The secondary characters are great. Nancy's relationship with her father is fun and is depicted as one of mutual affection and even respect. The two kids who tag along on some of the adventures are obviously talented, especially the girl "Mary" who sings well beyond her years. There is some clever invention and humour in the movie. I loved how they got themselves rescued from the hotel electrical room.

It's sad, but I don't think kids today would see movies like this today. The closest you would get would be the Harry Potter series. Representations that life can be fun and you can achieve things if you use your brains.

I was looking forward to Avatar. I saw it on the second day it played and paid the extra money for the 3D. I enjoyed it, but it's far from the benchmark film some have been claiming.

First the motion-capture technology is fine when used to replicate body motion, but not facial expressions. It can duplicate basic broad facial movements, such as anger or laughter, but anything subtle is simply not there. You still relate to the alien characters as being animated and the earth characters as being real actors. We're obviously expected to not be aware of any difference between animated characters and real actors, but there is a substantial difference.

There is also a huge lack of original ideas for both technology and the creatures inhabiting the planet. Star Wars, Alien, 2001 A Space Odyssey or even going back to Fantastic Planet, gave the public technology and environments which had never been seen on the movie screen before. It's not that these films were absolutely original as they did borrow ideas. But when they did borrow, for the most part, they were not from other films and so it was new to the general public. Avatar just borrows too heavily from other movies we've all seen. For heaven's sake, did the bad guy REALLY have to get into one of those giant robotic suits for the climactic battle? Technologically, there is nothing in here that compares to the first time the public saw the space station wheel in 2001, or the H.R. Giger sets of Alien, or the giant planet walkers in Star Wars. Then there are the animals which inhabit the planet which look far too similar to earth animals. Basically, the alien tigers look like tigers and even the dinosaur-like creatures, well, look like dinosaurs!

And the action scenes, somehow didn't generate the excitement they should have. For example, when they were flying on the backs of the giant bird-creatures, I never felt the particularly thrilled by it. A flying scene like that should have made you feel a sensation of vertigo. I was thinking that it might have been because the jungle environment was so strange and foreign that you had no sense of height the way you would in a city scene when buildings give your mind something to relate to. But I think there may have been a bigger reason. Greater importance was given to hammering home the message of the film, rather than simply being caught up in the action. So, flying on the backs of the birds was to show "the majesty of the natural world" instead of just the thrill of it. And the battle scenes were not the battle scenes in a Star Wars film, because it simply more important to feel the sorrow and horror of war. Compare the actions scenes in Avatar to Dark Knight and there is no comparison.

The only place Avatar excels is in the depth and detail of the planet. The jungle is probably the star of the movie. However, I could just go to an Imax showing of the real Amazon jungle and get the same experience.

If you keep your expectations reasonable, you'll probably enjoy Avatar. But this isn't the new Star Wars.

Here's a movie, that even if you loved it, you have to be VERY careful about recommending. Some friends may be asking you for their $12 back. Its bleak outlook is definitely for minority tastes.

There are black comedies and then there are really black comedies and this falls in the latter category. One of the best black comedies ever made was the Coen brothers' Fargo and, while the humour was very dark, there were some very positive characters in the movie. The female Sheriff, played by Frances McDormand, is even heroic and her relationship with her husband is the definition of charming. But there is nothing like that in Serious Man. The movie is unrelenting in it's darkness.

You can make a movie that is this dark and still have it be entertaining, but there have to be other elements to compensate. For example, the cult movie Erasorhead is also very dark, but it's filled with mesmerizing images. Unfortunately, Serious Man started to bore me about halfway through. I did laugh at times, but I also wanted the movie to be over with so I could escape.

I would also have to wonder about what the message is of this movie. I'm not Jewish, so I can't say I was offended by the film. However, I wondered as I watched the movie, what is being attacked here? Perhaps it was just an attack on the repressiveness of religion, but it felt as much as an attack on Jewish culture in general. The movie takes place in the past, which perhaps acts as a buffer to criticism of being anti-Jewish. Woody Allen has also satirized Jewish culture, but it's been in small doses. In Serious Man this is overwhelming.

I would say the biggest problem, is the movie is simply not funny enough to compensate for the depressing atmosphere. If you hang around to the very end credits you'll see the declaration: "No Jews were harmed in the making of this movie". That might be the funniest line of the entire film.

I enjoyed this movie, but you need to be wary about how it's being described as a drama- horror-thriller. It's far more a drama than thriller, and I can't think of any horror elements in it at all. I don't want to give any of the movie away, so I'd like to describe what might make it more likely that you'd enjoy it.

Passengers concentrates on character development and primarily on Claire Summer (Anne Hathaway), a therapist who suspects she's discovered a cover-up while treating the survivors of an airplane crash, but also deals with her awakening to the reality that she's sacrificed too much personal life for her career. Her loneliness is as important to this movie as the mystery she's trying to unravel.

I liked Hathaway in this role. I wouldn't normally have thought of her as playing the part of a professional woman with two Masters degrees, as she usually conveys beauty and warmth instead of intellect. However, she's portraying a young academic on her first real-world case and she's convincing when she spouts the predictable, psychobabble an inexperienced therapist would likely spout. I also liked her relationship with her mentor Perry (Andre Braugher). The only weakness in the film might be insufficient scenes exploring her loneliness. It's the reason she gets involved with Eric (Patrick Wilson) but it should have been set up better. I'm not sure we're entirely convinced she would have gotten involved with him. Her isolation from family and friends should have been developed more.

It's not a great movie, but I did enjoy it, and I don't find the complaints I've heard about the movie credible; that it's slow and derivative. North Americans have developed such short attention spans, "slow" often only means there's not a car crash every few minutes. Yes, it's derivative, but so is Eagle Eye, a film currently doing very well at the box-office, which is obscenely derivative, but it doesn't seem to bother anyone since it's loaded with car crashes and other mindless action. (Eagle Eye is also appallingly dumb!)

If you're looking for a drama with some elements of suspense which takes it's characters seriously, then I would recommend it.

Sexy Killer is a Spanish comedy about a woman who as the title states is a serial killer and very sexy. Can she continue her work of killing and find love?

This movie premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival Sept 12th 2008 and was received very positively in both showings. Festival audiences generally greet films warmly, but both audiences were exceptionally enthusiastic about this film. In the showing I attended people laughed throughout and there were even a couple instances were they applauded DURING the movie, which is a rare thing. And this was even considering that it was being seen by a largely English-speaking audience and it's in Spanish with sub-titles!

I think what made people respond so strongly was first, the movie was just a huge amount of fun. If there was slow boring moment in the movie I wasn't aware of it. Secondly was the serial killer herself, played charismatically by Macarena Gomez, who is so unapologetic, certain in her own justification for killing, so gleeful in her work, that you can't help but hope the best for her! You may even find yourself cheering for her!!

While Sexy Killer, does reference a few Hollywood horror films, it is far more than a parody and stands on it's own a good solid comedy. There are some gory moments in the movie (a couple of which get huge laughs), so it might not be OK for very young children but it is all played for fun.

This was my last movie of the Festival and a great way to end it!

This is a drama that focuses on two New Zealand families. A Muslim family in which two sisters have been estranged for years and the son of one of the sisters who tries to build a relationship with the aunt he's never met. A Caucasian family consisting of a mother, her pregnant daughter and the 35-year-old, in-debt, lay-about son who still lives with her. Both story lines are very involving, intertwine somewhat with each other, involving you in their lives and building to the two simultaneous dramatic climaxes.

I saw this at the 2008 Toronto International Film festival and while it is a serious movie and has much to say about motherhood, family, community, racism and sexuality, it's not a morose or preachy film. It's quite entertaining.

One other thing.... guys, it might be considered a chick-flick, but the actress, Laila Rouass, is the most beautiful woman you'll see in any movie, including any "action" movie you might be considering,

I saw the movie at the Toronto International Film Festival, under the title Ocean Flame, and I found the movie completely involving despite not being very uplifting. It's a film from Hong Kong about an innocent young woman who falls for a criminal.

Unless I missed it, I don't think the director was trying to say in any general way why some women are attracted to "bad boys". It seemed he was simply telling the story of two people who don't belong together, but get together regardless, and their affect on each other.

Fan Liao plays the bad guy and effects such a perfect bad boy smirk that most of the men in the audience will want to punch him in the face every moment he's on the screen. Monika Mok, playing the innocent who falls for the criminal, is astonishingly beautiful and is very convincing as a woman that men would be obsessed over. They enter into a dominance- submissive sexual relationship, but it always feels that underlying it they're in love with each other.

The movie is also interesting by giving a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the life of a criminal and his gang. I felt the movie took an unusual approach in that absent were any of the conventional attempts to explain away their criminality. None of them complains about their bad childhood or poverty or bad breaks. It's simply that they aren't nice people, they know they aren't nice people and they like not being nice people.

If the movie has any downside, it's that it may make you afraid of falling in love.

Soichi is a young man who leaves home a wide-eyed innocent with dreams of being a star in a form of sickly-sweet wholesome pop music which he calls "trendy" music, but somehow finds himself getting fame in a violence laden heavy metal band. In real life he's a complete innocent, vaguely reminiscent of a young Jerry Lewis, but when he's in the rock band Detroit Metal City he transforms into the personification of the misogynistic, sociopathic rock star.

I've always found Japanese humour as rather broad and this is no exception here, except it entirely works in this movie. Ken'ichi Matsuyama, apparently a star in Japan who sends girls into fits of screaming, does an excellent job here and is entirely convincing either as the innocent young man or as the rock star. In fact, he is achingly hilarious when he's singing the "trendy" music that he loves. There are several moments that will have you convulsed, but I don't wish to give anything away by describing specific scenes, except to say that it's the humour that pushes the movie past the level of the ordinary.

However, despite being a comedy the film is completely faithful to the spirit of heavy metal music. This is not Spinal Tap. Unlike Spinal the music in this movie sounds convincing and very much like good rock music. Whenever it comes out on DVD you'll want to turn up the subwoofer!

I saw this movie at the Toronto International Film Festival and the crowd I saw it with was very receptive, despite likely not being the target audience for the film. Even the director before the movie said that it premiered the previous night to a very enthusiastic crowd and he joked that he hoped we'd liked it since we seemed so much older. That got a big laugh, but I still was surprised to see so many people past middle age who clearly enjoyed this movie. It was almost certainly the humour and the likability of Matsuyama and the entire cast that was the responsible.

This feels like something that almost has to be re-made by Hollywood. However, you should try to see this version first before any watered-down North American version hits the screens.

Passchendaele is part unabashed romance and part horrific and quite graphic war story.

In film World War One has been a neglected war compared to the more morally unambiguous Second World War and the more recent Vietnam War. And films that aren't about American participation are just as neglected. Passchendaele fills that void.

The movie moves quickly and switches between home life and battlefield with surprising ease and effect. I was not bored for a moment of this movie. The movie will make you care about these people when they are at home living their lives and then fear for them at war. While the battle scenes are quite brutal, they are not sensational or exploitive, since to have made them sensational or exploitive would defeat the great effort this movie takes in showing how men had to cope with life after the war and the memories of what they lived through.

Undoubtedly there will be cynics who will decry some moments as contrived or melodramatic, but these are the small-minded who have missed the real emotion of this film. The movie is great entertainment, but there is something going on beneath the surface. This is the first time I can recall a film where the main character is someone who has been both emotionally damaged by the war, but does not succumb to it. I suspect there must be many men coming out of the war who were damaged, but quietly lived with that damage their entire lives. For that depiction alone, this is a great movie.

The movie is not without humour and it has one of the funniest seduction lines I've ever heard uttered by a woman in a movie.

The movie is entertaining, but there's a lot going on and much I haven't mentioned as I don't want to click the spoiler warning. There are scenes I'm still thinking about, which doesn't happen with every movie I see.