Hello everyone.
It's been a long time away. I took a break while finishing up school and then never seemed to get going again. Well here I am. Back to it and hopefully now things will be in the full swing again.
Review! Foreign Film! 13 Assassins!
This is a fairly new release from Japanese director Takashi Miike, perhaps most well known for his film Ichi the Killer. What to say. This is really your prototypical Samurai pick. The kicker here however is that instead of being made thirty to fifty years ago it's a modern piece, shot in col er, and shot well. The visuals are striking, it's gritty and real, to go along with great scenery and sets.
Being a samurai flick you get kinda what you're expecting. A somewhat slow pace ripe with duty and honor. Also, here you get one hell of a climactic ending. The final fight scene goes something like a half of and hour, and it's worth it too.
Really, nothing here to complain about. Perhaps a bit tedious in the middle, but as long as you pay attention and follow the story it's worth it.
Everything has been done well, a very effective film doing what predecessors did, but you know, better. Worth the watch for a follower of the genre, and probably not a bad intro to it either, easier to follow and with bright fancy colors to draw people in to what is truly a great style of film. 3 stars.
That's that for now. See everyone soon.
Showing posts with label review. Show all posts
Showing posts with label review. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
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.
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.
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.
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.
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