Sunday, November 14, 2010

Review: The Baader Meinhof Complex

This film was an Acadamy Award nominee last year (2009) for best foreign film and it should be fairly easy to see why. Overall a very good movie. I'll give it 3 stars, borderline 3 and a half... Directed by Uli Edel, an explosive coming out for a man who has been around for a while, but had yet to put out a big-time movie, largly doing TV flicks prior to this.

This movie follows a group of Leftist radicals in 1970's era West Germany. I understand that it is somewhat true to history. I enjoy the way it was done in that no side was really taken, and it did not seem to be propagandistic at all, just telling a story. Though this story is told from the point of view of the group members. The action is ripping and the story is gripping. As the story line follows this movement and the organization called RAF (Red Army Faction) from its origins through about a decade of struggle.

The acting was rather good all around, especially I think by the character Ulrike, played by Martina Gedeck, and the lead, Moritz Bleibtreu, was nominated for his work.

The main negative I have read and I definitely agree on is the lack of character development at some points. The story moves along at quite a pace, as the movie makers are trying to get a lot in (and this isn't a short movie, over two and a half hours (it starts to drag just a bit at the end)). There are points of conflict between major characters that are somewhat difficult to understand, and I think that's because the development there was sacrificed for more breadth of story. This film is obviously in German, but I was thrown for a loop a couple of times when English is randomly spoken, and all of a sudden the subtitles were gone...

This is worth a watch. There is quite a bit of violence, some of it rather graphic, but it is not really gorey or anything like that, but we'll be serious, you're going to see people get shot in the head.

Watch this movie. Overall extremely quality. A solid three stars for sure.

Saturday, September 4, 2010

Throwback: American Psycho

Hey Everyone!

I'm back after a long lay off, and here with you for the first post of my new section: Throwbacks. I have not seen every movie ever, and while I try to keep up on new things I also attempt to go back and see some older stuff.

This week I finally managed to get a hold of American Psycho (2000), starring Batman himself, Christian Bale. It's a film directed (and written for the screen) by Mary Harron, who has almost worked entirely on TV, except for this and The Notorious Betty Page.

Overall I think that this movie is something special.

Bale did a very nice job with a person who is not even really a person. He can sound extremely menacing and does a great job with these weird switches in personality. His monologues are very good. None of the other actors are anything to write home about. William Dafoe has a small role as an investigator, but the character isn't important really.

The quality of the film is good. Can't say that I noticed anything super special in the way it was filmed. There are some good locations as a large portion of the movie takes place in a myriad of swanky New York restaurants and apartments.

Where the true greatness of the movie lay is in the story itself. It's based on a book by Bret Easton Ellis, who has quite the successful career. I haven't read the book but I feel that the screenplay was well done as well, especially with some nicely done voice over narration by Bale's character. It is not for the faint of heart, as the movie is about a serial killer and sociopath.

Interesting note: For those of you who have seen the hit TV show "Dexter" you will see a lot of similarities. The main character describes himself as not a real person, who has to fake emotion, and Bale says he feels as if his mask is slipping, a statement also used by Dexter (I think in the 3rd season...).

So all in all, see this movie if you have the stomach for it. It is not a horror film. And it isn't really a slasher. It's a drama, in which there is a lot of murders... Very unique, a good actor, well written. I give it 3 of 4 stars, as I found the ending somewhat confusing, as well as some parts of the movie seemed lacking.

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Review: The White Ribbon

Hey There Everyone!

Up next is the Austrian film, The White Ribbon (Das Weisse Band). It was nominated for the Oscars in Best Foreign Film and best Cinematography in 2010, won the Golden Palm at the Cannes and won best Foreign Film at the Golden Globes. Written and Directed by Michael Haneke, this is definitely a movie worth seeing.

It is centered around the events concerning a small Austrian village on the eave of the First World War. It is narrated by one of the main characters, the town's school teacher. It is a fairly lengthy piece, coming in at just over 2 hours 20 minutes.

There is my only real critique, slowness. I would say that is probably one of the slowest moving movies I have ever watched. That being said I would also say it is probably one of the most interesting movies I have ever watched. Very seriously almost nothing happens. I always thought that Fitzgerald was an other who did that well.

The story is the teacher's retelling of a series of very odd events that happened to the village one year. In almost a genre bending move, the viewer somehow gets sucked into a crime mystery, and though I had no inkling that's what it would be like even half way through, afterwards I found myself and my fellow movie goers trying to piece together what exactly had happened.

The acting is pretty good overall. I wouldn't say any of the parts are particularly worthy of comment, but overall things were done well. I did not know that it was nominated for an Oscar in Cinematography prior to seeing it, and as soon as I left I voiced my opinion that it was an extremely fine piece of work. It is shot in black at white, but it is very clear. It wasn't done to make the movie feel like it was old, however it does put the viewer back into the time period very well. But that's not the main point. There are great uses of color contrast and lighting. The shadows can be very important, and they are used to perfection. Also, some of the camera angles and more specifically some of the shots are amazing. This is the first time I think I've seen something like this, and I think it worked so well here because of the slow pace of the film, that the camera would be left stationary for long periods of time. This would make some very long shots, but it really emphasized what was being done there. For example. In one scene there was a shot of a door with yelling in the background, the door opened and a boy came out, closed the door, and walked down the hallway out of shot, he then returned and reentered through the door. It makes the pace sooo slow, but man did it keep me interested.

It is also a very open film, so if you're looking for a cut and dried ending forget it. I fine piece of cinema, hardly light viewing, but definitely worth the time. I'll give this 3.5 of 4 starts. My only other complaint is that at times, especially early on, I was confused at who some of the characters were, as many were children, and all dressed alike. Oh well, forget that, and go see it.

Monday, March 15, 2010

The Biz: Star Trek

I'm going to make this one quick. I enjoyed this film. I was extremely hesitant coming into this, as I felt they would go against what Star Trek always was. Now I'm hardly a Treky, but I've seen the films and enjoyed them, and I actually thought this was not too out of line. Probably more like the Picard Series, but along the lines of something acceptable. Some things were ridiculous and probably didn't really make sense, but oh well.

Acting was meh, passable, but I generally liked the casting. I won't go on too much more, it was a Star Trek film, and that is about as good of a review as I can give it. For those of you just into actiony stuff, this should pass.

I'll give it a 2.5 of 4. A good enjoyable watch, not embarrassing to its long and storied franchise.

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Twofer! The Biz: Couples Retreat, Review: I Heart Huckabees

Hey Everyone.

So in the end I watched two movies tonight, The recent comedy, Couples Retreat starring Vince Vaughn (amongst others), and the olderish indie flick, I Heart Huckabees.

I'll jump right in then, and be kind of quick here on The Biz. Couples Retreat sucked. I'm gonna blurt it out and give one and one half stars. It's a comedy that's like lost it's way or something. I watched this based on a "funny" recommendation from a few older buddies of mine, and maybe it is funny to older types, who have had trouble in relationships and what not but I'm not sure. Anyway, I generally hate niche kind of things, like the stupid kids shows these days. Getting kind of tangential... It seemed liked it was holding something back. I think that sometimes movies try to do too much, I felt similar about Knocked Up, when somewhat serious issues are tackled by comedy they are still attempted to be treated as serious, and to me it ruins the fun of the movie. Dark comedies could be done about this, Knocked Up was better than Couples Retreat do to the goofiness of Seth Rogan. I had hoped Vince Vaughn would supply something of that type but I was disappointed. I just think there wasn't enough in the script to give anyone anything to work with. Definitely some funny parts, and maybe a second viewing would soften me up (it really helped for Knocked Up). Overall not worth seeing, in any form, I would say the main reason I finished it was for this. Meh.

Next up was something I enjoyed very much: I Heart Huckabees. Up to the end I was seeing a 3 star in the future, but the ending put me over the edge and I am going to go ahead and opt for a 3.5. Quite good quite good. The acting really is very good. Jason Schwartzmen does a great job. Dustin Hoffman provides a nice secondary character. Jude Law does a decent job in his spot. I never really thought I would say this, but I really liked Mark Wahlberg. He was hilarious as a man disillusioned with everything. He really was just very good. The script isn't super witty like something from Wes Anderson, but a good dark comedic vibe goes down. I can see how this isn't for everyone. But all in all it's a great view. Negatives? I guess I would say like most films of the style it can be a bit plodding at times... but that's about it... The story follows the main character Alfred as he goes through a personal crisis, and it gets kind of ridiculous as it goes through his and others search for meaning and reason. It gets metaphysical and whatnot, but in a very nonchalant way that isn't too big of a bother, and is rather funny. See it if you like that kind of stuff. May still see it if you don't.



Well that was fun. I talked more about Couples than I would have liked, and maybe not enough about Huckabees but oh well. Think I got my point across, would like to hit some other foreign guys this weekend. I've seen a few recently that I could probably write up something quick about but we'll see. Peace out everyone.

Some updates

Hey everyone,

I've come up with ideas regarding how I want to organize and do things. I'm planning on breaking down posts into several categories.

First and foremost is Reviews. This will be the most common one and I'll focus here on Indie and Foreign works, typically newer things. I'll be giving a break down of the movie and my opinion of it, pretty straight forward.

Next section I'm calling, The Biz. I'd say this will probably be the second most common and is basically a regular review, only on a mainstream/new film.

Next up is Discussions. Maybe if people ever follow this or care at all I'll set up discussions. Maybe I'll pick a big or exciting film to talk about, or ask for favorites or something of that nature.

Now on to Kyle's Faves. This section will be somewhat like a review, but just on personal favorites of mine, mainstream or not, regardless of how old or well known they are. I'll also explain why the movie is so awesome.



I'm planning on watching Couples Retreat today. Some old people friends of mine said it was funny, I'm somewhat skeptical but Vince Vaughn is pretty awesome so we'll see. I plan on doing a Biz afterwords.

That's it for now. I'll be in touch. Still working on a sign off.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Flame and Citron

Here I go.

Up first is a Danish film, Flame and Citron (Flammen & Citronen), directed by Ole Christian Madsen. This is a piece based on actual events regarding the Danish resistance to the Nazi occupation of their country during World War II. Stories like this in general are great, and I feel that when they are actually done by people of the country and in their proper language they turn out the best.

The story revolves around two men who go by their code names Flame and Citron. In their work they typically assassinate Danes who are collaborating with the Nazi occupiers. They are part of an underground network, and of course in this network things are not always as they seem. Things become complicated when a rat is discovered, and people are not sure who to trust. Mistakes are made, heroics take place, and an interesting story unfolds.

This is a drama first and a war film second. There is plenty of killing however, so it may not be for the squeamish. There are somewhat separate story lines, as you get to see the two men at their work, and at their personal lives. The side stories are good, and show the complicated nature of life in the underground. The action is also good. Acting is pretty quality as well. Some of the side characters are below par, I would include the leading lady in this. However the men that play the leads do a very nice job. Flame (Thure Lindhardt) is much more passionate and rash, and I felt like the passion was done well. Citron (Mads Mikkelsen, who played the villain Le Chiffre in Casino Royale) was much more plain, but actually probably the more intriguing of the two. He is quiet and pensive, but one gets the feeling there is much happening between the surface. Overall the story line runs well. The movies runs for over two hours and is perhaps a little bit long, as it is slow at some parts, but overall there is plenty happening to keep you drawn in. Dialogue is nothing revolutionary, though it is passable, however I think that is typically kind of hard to judge via subtitles.

I would say this is a 3 of 4 star film. It can be a bit confusing, and a bit slow which are the main drawbacks. If you like historical pieces I say go for this one though as it really is quality on many levels, and is nice and interesting overall.

I may have been a little basic in the synopsis, but I didn't want to give anything away, as the suspense is rather important to the plot. See it.

Hello Everyone

Hello Everyone!

I'm excited to get going on this blog. I really enjoy movies, and as my movie friends have all moved away, hopefully this can turn into a nice place to exchange some ideas, and talk movies.

A little about myself I guess. I'm Kyle. I'm a senior in college in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I'm double majoring in History and Religious Studies and also have interest in political science and philosophy.

As far as movie taste goes I'm a little bit all over the place. I rarely watch horror, or even thriller films as they have just never really been my thing. I do like a good action flick, though those are more typically a big movie biz kind of movie (I like Guy Ritchie flicks too). I like quite a few comedies, lots of dramas. I like some romantics, I guess romcoms, but also period pieces (BBC does some great mini series). I typically like movies, but I think I'm a little tough to really impress. I certainly do acknowledge that a movie should be judged for what it is supposed to do (Avatar was an awesome movie, even though the plot was generic and the acting was only so-so). I picked up that idea when reading an Ebert article, but I think he takes it too far and generally rates things too high.

So that's it for now. I have a feeling I'm going to do several reviews over the next couple of days, I've just watched a couple good ones, and have some more on the way. If there is anybody reading this please feel free to chip in with your opinions or recommendations, this should be fun!

I want to think of a cool sign off, but it's currently escaping me. I'll work on it. Peace.