Reviews

It is very difficult to give something new to the audience. Specially when talking about such a controversial topics as Drug dealing, mafia, terrorism, cartels Etc.

Being Mexican myself I looked forward to see how a new director would portray this "not to take lightly" topic. The first impression I got as I began to watch the movie was the serious influence of Steven Soderbergh's "Traffic", a fabulous movie which provides an unusual vision of the drug underworld. As the movie continued it was not difficult to identify some the similarity with some other movies, not only character wise, but also concerning plot, conflict and even cinematography.

Shields' character is a weird mix of Denzel's Creasy in Man on fire and Pierce Brosnan's hit-man in Matador. Both very well structured characters, but when combined do not have the same effect.

It is difficult to be bring something new to Drug dealing movies, particularly because everything has pretty much been said about dealing drugs; so when a director tries to give some extra dramatic flavor, it has a contradictory effect, It is appealing but not very coherent.

Check out this movie it is not completely dismissible, specially if you take into account its independent nature. But do not expect to see anything worth referring to in the future.

Times have changed, love stories are not what they used to be and princes are not either. Once upon a time we would talk about Men with money and a tender heart, nowadays in this globalist world money is more than ever out there (even in this time of crisis). So power and wealth stopped being a Noble feature.

Intelligence was once considered the new Nobility, possessing knowledge was considered a virtue, knowledge which can be acquired by anyone at any time. Now things are different, values, pure heart, self respect are virtues that not everyone has access to, and Jamal the star of this tale has them. As Jamal said... it was written, things had to work out at the end, he deserved nothing less.

This marvelous movie was made to touch your deepest emotions, to show us how love should be. Sit down and get ready to get schooled in life by a youngster. Lets just hope you paid attention.

I was actually pretty excited to go check out this new movie, I thought the epic genre mixed with some westernish old school action would give great results; boy was I wrong.

I just saw the movie, and the best adjective I can give it is pretentious, It seems obvious (the movie is called Australia for god's sake) that producers, director, and studio were more concerned in making an iconic film for the people down under, than actually making a decent film.

The movie is full of clichés, Hugh Jackman's character is just a bit short of being crocodile Dundee's clone. Kidman portrays a typical first world citizen who wants to save the suffering aborigines from third world countries; and even worse, this feature is considered as a positive one.

There is no doubt that Australia has been through some difficult times, and that suffering has been part of its story, but lets be honest, this movie tries to hard to make intense dramatic situations, from which seems to be common life scenarios.

It seems that there is a big need of giving Australia some sense of identity, identity forged with suffering and pain. Which is somewhat difficult to believe when the worst case scenario is "kids going to catholic missions", and I thought people had it bad during slavery or the holocaust.

Well apart from this, the plot is weak, It is so weak that one is not enough, two completely different stories are told in this same movie. Kidman is far from being the strong independent woman it should be, Jackman's physic is overexploited wearing tight designer jeans which I really think would be hard to get at the time... And this could go on for hours.

Do not spend your hard earned money paying for a ticket, watch it if you have nothing else to do, and it seems like nothing interesting will come up in the next 3 hours.

Atonement tells a story, not a typical world war story. The war is there, no case trying to ignore it, but it is only the frame for this masterpiece, watching it makes us remember there were times in which upper social classes determined the destiny of those less lucky.

This movie portraits our innate tendency to gain control, our human impulse to impose our will regardless the effects it may have on others.

Briony is still a girl about to begin its journey through puberty, her inner perverse thoughts seem to come out after the sleeping period which is childhood. Young Briony is no fool, and finds a way to maintain her desires dormant. Robbie the object of her desire is unreachable, and not only that but he is also naive in believing Briony's purity and rightfulness.

The conflict begins when it becomes noticeable that Robbie loves (and lusts)Cecilia, Briony's older sister. And as you may predict, feelings are intense and unbearable for the younger sister. Just like in real life, control is set by the Machiavelical thinkers, not by the innocent and well intended.

Atonement is nothing short from being a Greek tragedy in which defying destiny brings terrible consequences. Cecilia and Robbie should have known that a Love that intense would only destroyed them, Society warned them it was not for them to decide, that the rules were pretty clear, they would not be together.

Great performances transmit exactly what is meant to be transmitted, Love is not enough, not in this world; on the contrary the world conspires against those who show that which most of us do not have, mutual unconditional love.

During the last couple of years the film industry has not been as appealing as before, at least that is the word on the street. What is the case of having 200 mediocre movies when you only get a handful of movies that are really worth reflecting on. I honestly think that Atonement is part of this select group.