Saturday, July 05, 2008 | 14:25
This film is a multilayered drama thriller about love, trust, and betrayal, with characters that are believably flawed and involved in dysfunctional relationships. The acting is excellent, the cinematography gorgeous.
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Friday, July 04, 2008 | 16:32
An occasionally present, unconvincing ominous atmosphere and some disturbing, shocking scenes are not sufficient to make a good film. The sequence with the reclusive old lady reminded me of the Ogilvy sequence in War of the Worlds, and there are other similarities between the two films, but Steven Spielberg's film is far superior to M. Night Shyamalan's. The Happening is uneven and unpolished, the story is not intellectually stimulating, the acting is uninspired, the characters are underdeveloped and unengaging, the dialogue is at times quite bad, and the underlying message of the film is largely lost because of the weak execution.
Monday, June 30, 2008 | 17:05
Quirky and cynical humor, many hilarious scenes, and several peculiar characters. Death at a Funeral is very entertaining and made me laugh—really laugh.
Swedish title: Trångt i kistan.
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Saturday, June 28, 2008 | 20:53
Fairly funny overall, despite a less-than-good, rather uninteresting story. The sequence where Jack Black's character hallucinates after eating some "magic" mushrooms is hilarious and wonderfully weird. The film is entertaining while it lasts, but it is not particularly memorable.
Swedish title: Tenacious D - Världens bästa rockband.
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Saturday, June 28, 2008 | 15:08
An excellent drama thriller that involves magicians, illusions, tricks, secrets, and real magic in the form of science (well, kind of). The story is intricate and unpredictable. Wonderful performances by the cast. The Prestige is a thoroughly fascinating and engaging film.
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Tuesday, June 24, 2008 | 12:53
I tend to enjoy stories that involve ancient mysteries, historical riddles, old books, and symbolism, and while The Ninth Gate starts out promising, my interest gradually declined as the film progressed. It is often slow-paced, which is appropriate for a film of this kind, and yet I think that the central mystery is not satisfyingly addressed. The last part of the film feels somewhat out of place. Most memorable characters: the Ceniza twins.
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Saturday, June 21, 2008 | 16:31
A character-driven drama with some suspenseful moments. Tilda Swinton is splendid, as always (the more I see of her, the more I like her as an actress); Goran Visnjic, in an atypical role, plays an initially unsympathetic character. There is nothing remarkable about the story, and the ending is a bit too convenient, but The Deep End is still a worthwhile film.
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Friday, June 20, 2008 | 17:51
A new experiment, the first spatially separated Bell test under the Penrose-Diosi assumption (a quantum measurement is finished after a macroscopic mass has moved), shows that quantum entanglement cannot be explained by any kind of communication between entangled particles:
In their experiment, the physicists sent pairs of entangled photons from Geneva through optical fibers leading to interferometers in two other Swiss towns: Satigny and Jussy, located 8.2 and 10.7 km away, respectively. The distance between the interferometers in Satigny and Jussy was 18 km. […]
All of the steps - from photon detection to mirror movement - take about 7.1 microseconds, which is significantly less than the 60 microseconds it would take a photon to cover the 18 km between interferometers. So measurements made simultaneously at each of the interferometers could not be been influenced by anything traveling at - or even a few times more than - the speed of light. #
The reality of quantum nonlocality has once again been confirmed.
Friday, June 20, 2008 | 14:43
Suspenseful, smart, and fast-paced; excellent cast, great cinematography, exciting score. There are some interesting differences compared to The Departed, including the ending.
Original title: Mou gaan dou.
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Thursday, June 19, 2008 | 15:36
Quite clever, engaging, effective, and sensual mystery story that takes unexpected turns. The score and the visuals create an appropriate atmosphere. I like the ambiguous title.
Swedish title: Sanna lögner.
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Wednesday, June 18, 2008 | 16:38
Poignant; impressive performances by an excellent cast; intense, memorable Russian roulette scenes. The focus of the film is how the characters are affected by the Vietnam War, even though it is generic enough to be applicable to just about any war. The first part of the film—it has three parts: before, during, and after the war—might seem too long, but that character development is necessary in that it shows the stark contrast between the characters' pre-war and post-war personalities.
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Saturday, June 14, 2008 | 14:46
This solid, stylistically accomplished crime drama has a grittily realistic feel to it, which is established right away by the intense, attention-grabbing opening sequence. Jason Patric and Ray Liotta are great. The film is more about the characters than the plot, and it is unexpectedly unconventional at times.
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Friday, June 13, 2008 | 18:30
This disturbing film is well-crafted and well-acted, and the peculiar style is perfectly suited to its themes. The opening sequence is mesmerizing, and the film is effective at grabbing and holding the viewer's attention despite a story that is not thoroughly engaging.
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Thursday, June 12, 2008 | 16:07
Masterfully directed and excellently acted. The multilayered story is engaging, affecting, and full of nuances; the characters and the situations they find themselves in are believable; and the film's physical ice storm—there is a metaphorical one, too—is like an additional character.
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Monday, June 09, 2008 | 19:06
This science-fiction/horror film has an interesting story that successfully combines the direct threat of an alien life form with the increasing paranoia and tension among the members of a small, isolated group of people. The harsh setting (Antarctica in the winter) and the menacing score create an appropriate atmosphere, and the special effects are gory and well-made.
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Tuesday, June 03, 2008 | 20:30
A fairly effective ghost story/psychological thriller with a spooky atmosphere. No clear-cut explanation of what is going on is given, so the film is open to interpretation.
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Monday, June 02, 2008 | 19:02
An engaging, rather refreshing sports drama that stands out because of the inspirational true story it is based on, the strong acting, and the quite energetic basketball sequences.
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Saturday, May 31, 2008 | 13:57
A charming, quirky, atmospheric, and very funny film; great cast.
Swedish title: Allt är upplyst.
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Friday, May 30, 2008 | 17:54
This is an engrossing and poetic, wonderfully acted and directed film, with beautiful cinematography and an excellent score (I especially like the typewriter element). The five-minute Dunkirk scene that comes just past the one-hour mark is very impressive and memorable. The ending is powerful and essential to the point of the film, and it took me by surprise.
Swedish title: Försoning.
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Wednesday, May 28, 2008 | 15:48
Interesting, engaging, important, beautifully filmed, and well-directed. Forest Whitaker is superb as the Ugandan dictator Idi Amin, convincingly portraying him as an unpredictable man who is at times sympathetic and humorous, at times violent and dangerous.
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