Thursday, August 12, 2010 | 16:16 CEST
While the film is never boring, there are better ways to spend 103 minutes than watching Did You Hear About the Morgans? Writer/director Marc Lawrence's formulaic and predictable story results in the proceedings being only sporadically engaging. None of the characters come across as three-dimensional human beings, which makes it nigh impossible for the viewer to care about them. The movie qualifies as passable entertainment, but it is quickly forgotten once the end credits have rolled. full post »
Sunday, August 08, 2010 | 16:50 CEST
This remarkable, refreshingly different, and artistically ambitious Swedish film tells a compelling and affecting coming-of-age story about a 10-year-old girl (Blanca Engström) who ends up alone during the summer of 1981. The resourceful girl does not seem to mind having to take care of herself; in fact, she seems to enjoy her solitude most of the time. full post »
Thursday, August 05, 2010 | 15:28 CEST
Based on the novel of the same name by Jens Lapidus (Adlibris), Easy Money is a grittily realistic, engaging, and unpredictable "Stockholm noir" film about three characters whose lives become entwined by their desire to make easy money. Unsurprisingly, there are no simple solutions and no clean getaways in this story. The climax is pulse-pounding, and the movie thankfully does not have an unrealistically happy ending. full post »
Monday, July 19, 2010 | 15:36 CEST
With The Reader, director Stephen Daldry, working from David Hare's well-written screenplay which is based on Bernhard Schlink's novel of the same name (Amazon/Adlibris), has crafted an excellent film. Elements of an intriguing character study are interwoven with a romantic/historical drama involving moral issues and the Holocaust, resulting in a very engaging and emotionally resonant whole. full post »
Thursday, July 15, 2010 | 16:27 CEST
Sherlock Holmes is a delightfully entertaining movie with a number of humorous moments, more than a few great lines of dialogue (Beneath this pillow lies the key to my release
), and a focus on action/adventure elements instead of the kind of suspense with which one probably associates the character of Sherlock Holmes. The timely issue of using fear to control people plays a part in the story. While the film is generally well paced, there are a couple of scenes that go on for a bit longer than necessary. full post »
Monday, June 21, 2010 | 13:13 CEST
Tremendously engrossing and visually spectacular, Avatar is an immensely satisfying cinematic experience and a technical triumph on every level. Writer/director James Cameron has made a rousing science-fiction epic that is greater than the sum of its parts, and his masterful storytelling is infused with passion. Thanks in part to its visceral impact and genuine emotional core, this motion picture really pushes the right buttons. Despite its 162-minute running time, the film never feels too long: one does not mind spending a lot of time experiencing the world of Pandora. full post »
Sunday, June 13, 2010 | 17:02 CEST
Combining elements of comedy, drama, and tragedy, this low-budget film about a lonely nobody of a man who becomes famous by successfully imitating Elvis Presley (i.e., by being someone other than himself) is almost entirely devoid of appealing qualities. Almost Elvis offers no memorable insight into its potentially interesting subject matter, lacks narrative drive, and has a pervasively and oppressively depressing atmosphere. However, writer/first-time director Petra Revenue deserves respect for having made this movie just like she wanted to make it, not feeling bound by the usual filmmaking conventions. full post »
Wednesday, June 09, 2010 | 21:00 CEST
The Twilight Saga: New Moon, which is based on Stephenie Meyer's novel New Moon (Amazon/Adlibris), would arguably have benefited from—among other things—a tighter narrative, better developed characters, and less cheesy dialogue. At times, the movie feels more like a visual companion to the source novel than a film in its own right. Much of the 130-minute running time is spent setting up plot threads for parts three and four, so the movie's immediate payoff is rather insignificant. All things considered, this motion picture ranks a notch below Twilight, the first installment of the series. full post »
Friday, June 04, 2010 | 19:32 CEST
The cinematic adaptation of the third novel in Stieg Larsson's "Millennium Trilogy" (Amazon/Adlibris) wraps things up in a satisfying way. That being said, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest is the weakest installment in the movie trilogy, which also includes The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and The Girl Who Played with Fire. full post »
Sunday, May 30, 2010 | 17:40 CEST
With The Class, co-writer/director Laurent Cantet (Heading South) has made a remarkably realistic film that plays like a classroom documentary, offering a certain amount of insight into the French school system and raising universal issues about the situation in many schools and in the school system in general. The movie nimbly avoids the melodramatic moments that might be conventionally expected, and there is only one scene—the teacher confronting two of his students in the schoolyard after they have reported him for calling them skanks—that comes across as somewhat contrived. full post »
