Thor

How do you sell a movie about Gods?

That was the tricky question Marvel had to answer when kicking off the summer season with Thor – a movie where the trailers have not managed to get me excited to watch this movie and seeing that posters looked a bit too campy as well my expectations for Thor were pretty low.

Maybe because of that I must say that Thor is a thoroughly entertaining summer blockbuster. It starts of with the typical “random thing happening” at the beginning before we jump into a long flashback to see where this man who has appeared out of nowhere infront of Natalie Portman has come from.

Source Code

Source Code is a sci-fi movie
And by sci-fi, I mean real sci-fi not a fantasy story with some spaceships in it (Star Wars), not a fantasy story with some machine guns (Avatar), not a fast paced space western (Star Trek XI)…

Source Code is a sci-fi film meaning that it uses technology as a means of conflict and eventually reflects on our own fears of mortality by using overexagerated technological concepts (and a lot of creativity).

Because I was late to the movie and missed the first 8 minutes and because it was in french I was at first not really sure what was going on, having only read that it is about trying to prevent an explosion in a train – but I guess like most movies of this genre confusion at the beginning is intended since those movies are meant to be watched a second time to see all the hints that were already placed at the beginning.

Scream 4 – Spoiler Free Review

Scream 4 is… not as bad as Scream 3
It is for sure unexpected, I just don’t know yet if that is a good thing or a bad thing.

This will be just an impression of a guy who started watching Scream with 10, was not allowed to go into the theater to see Scream 3 because he was only 11, waited for the VHS release of Scream 3 and watched it over and over again.

This article will be spoiler FREE, there won’t be any plot revelations or anything. The only thing that I might say is how I felt about stuff like the killer, the motif, the opening, but there won’t be a revelation of what it really is.
For an overview of the previous Scream movies click here.

The story continues!

127 hours

It’s really hard to begin this review since I am not sure if I should start to heap praises on James Franco first or let the opening be about Danny Boyle’s gift to make any genre work.

Now I might be very prejudiced here since a few days ago I had the inexplicable urge to rewatch Slumdog Millionaire and thoroughly enjoyed it once again, so I’m not sure if something of that has influenced my view on this movie.

What’s it about?
The movie is based on a true story about the engineer Aron Ralston who’s passion for mountain climbing led to an unfortunate accident in Bluejohn Canyon. The title giving 127 hours is the time he spent in a canyon with his arm crushed between the canyon wall and a big rock.

So the movie is basically a 90 minutes one man show of James Franco, who is starting to become one of my favourite actors (loved his performance in Milk) after being the emo-friend of Spider-Man for a while. It’s a good thing that Franco was able to escape this typecast and become a very fine actor. And for a movie like this you not only need a good performance, you need a tremendous and mesmerizing performance.

The film starts with a parade of product placements that would have made I, Robot proud, but in a way so energetic I couldn’t help but think of the “O…Saya” opening sequence.

The character of Aron is introduced so well and funny, you can’t help but like him. When the inevitable loose rock appeared I even started hoping that he just would turn around and not be trapped in the canyon – compared to many other movies this year, 127 hours had me hooked into the movie in the first few minutes, which is really an important factor because it doesn’t take long until the accident and the whole movie is rather short.

What follows is a tour de force of all the talents involved, a reflection on life, hope, despair… the movie covers all ranges of the emotional spectrum expect the trademark screaming-breakdown-Oscar-scene.

Behind the camera:
Jumping from …

drug addicts (Trainspotting)
to Sci-Fi (Sunshine)
to Bollywood (Slumdog Millionaire)
with a little horror between (28 days later) …

Danny Boyle continues to prove his versatility by delivering another fantastic movie right after his 2008 grand slam with Slumdog and I always love it when directors after winning the prestigious award go to discover new territory.

There are a lot of things to notice like sequences with lower framerate (when the picture is not moving very smoothly) which was used a lot of times during the flashbacks of Slumdog. Aron’s wandering mind and memories make this movie not quite as claustrophobic as Buried, which perfected the “man trapped somewhere”-technique, the sequences serve more as a well placed enhancement of Aron’s current state.

Also the tone shifts a lot of times, there are unexpectedly funny parts after about two thirds, which amuse a lot before they drastically shift to sober self-reflection of Aron’s personal life. Many parts of the movie are presented in a split-screen mode where three actions take place at the same times or three angles show the same thing, which I’m not too big a fan of, but it worked more often for me than it didn’t.

Generally the entire technical department of this movie is top notch, from camerawork to editing (as I guessed when the Oscar nominations were announced – the editing was just too well done to be ignored) to soundtrack/score and especially the audio department.

There are scenes in this movie that are just insanely well crafted because of the way the audio is utilisted – seldom did noise so well reflect emotions and help us put our minds into this guy’s situation.

127 hours is both uplifting and terrifying,
It’s gut-wrenching and intimate

It is a movie about never giving up, about things that really matter.
It is a very touching movie and way more entertaining than most oscar-bait movies and I just hope that many more people will watch and experience it.

Striving for perfection – The beauty of Black Swan

Darren Aronofsky is back. After he delivered the emotional comeback of Mickey Rourke (The Wrestler 2008) his cooperation with Natalie Portman represents three of his previous movies culminating into one fantastic experience.

The Wrestler meets Pi with the devastating effect of Requiem for a Dream. The movie tells the story of ballerina Nina who gets the main role in a reinterpretation of Swan Lake where both the white and the black swan are portrayed by the same dancer. After about 10 minutes the movie starts to head into insane waters as Nina begins to suffer from the pressure that she’s being put under:

The mother (Barbara Hershey) being an ex-ballerina who
retired because she wanted to have a child.
The director (Vincent Cassel) who abuses
his position to take advantage of Nina.
The former star and protégée (Winona Ryder)
who accuses Nina of sleeping with the
director to get the main role.
A co-dancer (Mila Kunis) who seems to
be after the role herself – or isn’t she?

What ensues is a two hour drama that (like Requiem for a Dream) makes you wish that the movie should finally end – in a good way.

Aronofsky uses his skill to intensify the paranoia and madness that takes over Nina. The story itself is probably as simple as it gets, but like the Wrestler this is nothing we mind. Even a guy like me who can’t really see the fascination in ballet (meaning I cannot imagine myself watching ballets on a basis as regular as I am watching movies and ponder about it) can at least get a little grasp on the beauty that lies within this art form.

Black Swan is a movie about perfecting one’s craft, to strive for more than just the ordinary, to for one moment in one’s life be more than a dancer imitating a story and this story only works because there are two perfectionists that are claiming the spotlight:

Aronofsky with his fantastic direction

And Natalie Portman delivering a performance that outshines every other performance I’ve seen this year (and if she loses the Oscar to Annette Bening for The Kids Are All Right it will be for Oscar policy reasons – you know the kind of “Hey Ms. Bening sorry we haven’t given you the Oscar the last three times you were nominated”-policy).

Black Swan as a reflection of Aronofsky’s works:
The sheer intensity of Black Swan cannot be put into words, I can merely say that there are scenes more intense than in most horror movies, that there was plenty of emotion, but most of all this movie reminded me in so many ways of why Aronofsky is one of the best directors out there right now.

While I won’t say that Black Swan is Aronofsky’s best film yet (that honour would go to the Wrestler or Requiem for a Dream), this movie shows the improved craftsmanship of a fantastic storyteller. Black Swan takes ideas from previous Aronofsky movies and gives them a new meaning, but also enables to be linked back to his filmography to draw interesting comparisons.

The Wrestler:

Like the Wrestler Black Swan deals with the idea of selfdestruction for a higher goal. For a kind of recognition (or satisfaction) that people cannot find in everyday life. The Wrestler took this idea in terms of a man who had “seen the light” to borrow a worn out phrase but was now unable to find it without his former profession.
Because of his knowledge that there had been something else Randy “The Ram” was unable to enjoy his current life and despite all barriers sought out to return to his former glory.

In Black Swan the character of Nina is after a very similar goal, but whereas Randy’s obsession was mostly a choice with Nina it is also about the society and circumstances. Black Swan addresses a very big issue of how women are being treated by some men who are in a higher position (and this of course does not only apply to artists) and how they get cornered and the only way to fulfil one’s ambition seems to be by degrading oneself.

Requiem for a Dream:

Requiem for a Dream dealt with the theme of obsession/addiction and to me it is not a “drug movie” it is a film about addictions where drugs is one part of the bigger picture. In Requiem’s case all those addictions led to selfdestruction and left characters that had lost everything.

Black Swan deals with dancing as a destructive addiction, but like most movies about the thin line between mutilation and true art, the question “was it worth it?” is not as easy to answer as in the first case.

Pi:

Pi as his first movie can with the rest of Aronofsky’s cinematography be seen as the “first glimpse” of something otherworldy. Basically all of his films share the theme of the unnatural that is beyond the comprehension of rational/mortal thought.

And despite the imcomprehensive experience this form of “enlightenment” is always reached by human measures – as if despite all our biological/neurological disadvantages we are still able to see things that were never intended for us to see.

With almost all his movies that moment of seeing something beyond the material is accompanied by suffering, tragedy and all those things we never wish to endure, ending many times in madness, death or worse.

In a way the immaterial power (that was very obvious in Aronofsky’s The Fountain) is similar to the stories of H.P. Lovecraft where if you glimpse just a second into the realm of Cthulu you see things beyond your comprehension and not being able to cope with that knowledge (see Pi).

But enough rambling, the bottom line:

If you have seen any film by Darren Aronofsky and liked it,
then Black Swan is definitely for you.

If you like movies with great performances (not only Portman, the entire cast is superb, especially Mila Kunis who I had previously only known as “girl form Book of Eli”
and “Meg Griffin in Family Guy”), go watch Black Swan.

If you want to prepare for Oscar season, watch this moviebecause this time
the Academy won’t ignore Aronofsky again like they did with The Wrestler.

If you enjoy good movies – watch this movie!

Rating:
Category: 3
Score: Great

P.S.: Since I’ve managed to destroy my PC and this only has mspaint, I’ll be short on Moviequations.

Monsters (2012)

Going into Monsters expecting some kind of War of the Worlds meets Godzilla extravaganza might lead to being more than a little disappointed.
Happily I knew beforehand that the title might be a little misleading and I guess the other eight people in the cinema did too. Monsters is less a movie about a monster attack than about two people tracking through a hostile world that happens to feature monsters.

The story is that a NASA probe returning from Jupiter’s moon Europa with a sample of “newly discovered lifeforms” crashes in the atmosphere, creating an infected zone where alien monsters thrive. The zone is between Mexico and America making it even more tough for Machete to get his people to the states – and for everyone who is not Machete it’s either “take the boat for 5000 dollars if you have an American passport” or try your luck by hiring Mexicans that guide you through the jungle.

The movie follows photographer Andrew who has to bring Samantha, the daughter of his employer, safe back to America, naturally the easy way gets blocked by convenience, so the two have to settle for a mission to Jurassic Park that at some time felt like Apocalypse now.
There are sequences of them driving on a boat when suddenly something is moving in the water, strange noises are heard – the monsters are for some reason very present and real although we see almost nothing of them. What we see are the wreckages of military and civilian vessels, lying in the jungle or drifting in the water, enhancing the threat although there is not much conflict.

One of the biggest aggressor in this movie is the American military, constantly patrolling the borders and attacking the monsters so that very soon the question arises if the chemical gases used by the military are doing more harm than the monsters.
But make no mistake, this is no Umbrella corporation type of military nor is it an Avatar-esque “that’s how you scatter the cockroaches” military. The army force is a faceless force doing their job, we just witness the consequences.

The central conflict is the (very) predictable story that develops between Andrew and Samantha but although pretty standard the environment and how they react to it saves the story from being overpowered by the cliché. There is also a very beautiful sequence when the protagonists discover the maturation cycle of the aliens as well as a scene that represents the climax of the movie where we are reminded how much awe something so terrifying can cause. There is an ongoing conflict between the wonder and the fear of something so massive as those squid-monsters.

Overall this is a movie that is more interesting to watch from the standpoint that it is a 500.000 dollar production with the entire special effect work done by the director alone. Monsters is a testament to how much movie making has evolved and how it is now possible to create alien invasions without a multi-million dollar studio behind you.

Originally I had intended to watch the movie during the Slashed-Filmfestival, but sadly the seats were all taken. Thankfully I had the same “festival movie” attitude when I was watching Monsters in the megaplex. This movie is not a perfectly balanced blockbuster, it is the work of a director, trying to make the best possible movie with limited ressources and compared to monster-blockbusters like (God)Zilla (1998) Monsters succeeds in delivering the occasional sense of dread and constant danger.

Rating:
Category: 2
Score: 67%

On a funny sidenote: the director Gareth Edwards has been hired to direct the new (American) Godzilla reboot – let’s just hope he is given creative freedom.

The Other Guys

We start in New York, the City of Crime, when Samuel L. Jackson and the Rock are chasing after obvious stereotypical criminals, wreaking havoc on New York’s streets.

A few exploding cars and one impaled bus later they finally bringt them down and the audience is not sure if the movie can keep up this insane pace. Following the deliciously ridiculous and over the top chase sequence is a press conference written clearly with Samuel Jackson in mind without paying too much attention to actual police work.

While we wish this thing could go on like this forever (Two action stars constantly shooting and beating with no reason and having a blast) the story shifts since we know that neither Samuel L. Jackson nor the Rock have been on the poster… but instead Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg.

They are the title giving Other Guys, the police men who have to do all the bureaucratic stuff while the action heroes get the girls. While starting with Jackson and shifting the focus to Ferrell and Wahlberg is a nice change in dynamics, the movie suffers from the fact that it can’t keep up with the fantastic opening.

That being said it should be noted that The Other Guys is finally a new Will Ferrell movie that is not dumb trash (Land of the Lost…) but instead a pretty enjoyable movie.

It’s main fault is that it feels like 3.5 hours when its running time is roughly around 2 hours. That stirs from the fact that the plot is not engaging at all and the time it takes between the gags are filled with the usual “oh it’s a conspiracy, nobody believes us” and “I don’t like my partner – now I like my partner” storylines – a little trimming might have done wonders, but instead there are many times when the movie just stops dead and we have to wait until the nothing goes away.

But overall there is a good deal of chuckles in this movie and it is not as offensive as other wannabe fun movies. So this movie should do fine when you are at home and The Other Guys is running on Television, but I doubt that it warrants the 8 euro to watch it in cinemas.

Rating and Moviequation (coming):

Category: 1
Rating: 62%

P.S.: If you know Will Ferrell only as the stupid annoying actor he is sold nowadays, try “Stranger than Fiction”, a funny and charming piece staring Ferrell as the main Protagonist who finds out that he lives in a book written by Emma Thompson

Paranormal Activity 2

There are fewer movies that solely depend on the way you enter the cinema.

With Paranormal Activity you can either have the worst movie experience and be bored to death or you can spend 1.5 hours on the edge of your seat while watching nothing at all happening.

After last year’s Paranormal Activity grossed 7194 times its budget, a sequel was inevitable and with Paranormal Activity 3 being scheduled to be released next October, prepare yourself for Paranormal Activity 7 in 3D!

After watching the original last year I was not very excited for this entry, since it seemed that the story had been told with the original and let’s be honest: you can only slam a door so many times before it gets annoying.

Surprisingly Paranormal Activity was in spots far more enjoyable than the original to me. With those movies you have to want to sit in the theater and feel the creepy vibe going around – otherwise don’t watch this movie, since it uses the same formula of the original.

So if you are not scared by pool cleaners and falling down cutlery, if the idea of a demon who slowly terrorizes a family without ever showing himself – then Paranormal Activity is nothing for you.

The story is set around the same time as the original movie, following a family who’s house has been vandalized. In order to catch the thief (…. or… something else…. bohooo!) they install security cameras and so the formula of night shots and everyday conversation kicks in.

Same as with the original the little things that happen are intensified by the fact that between those scares we witness the most mundane situations as well as our typical “Oh maybe the wind closed the door and let the baby float around” rationalizations.

The power of both installments lies in the fact that many of the things that creep us out and hint at a demonic intervention are things we all know from our own houses: creaking/smashing doors, strange sounds that might be just something in the garden, all the funny stuff that prevents us from sleeping when we are alone at night.

Since my expectations were very low for this installment I only had a few points I wanted this movie to adhere:

The sequel should have the atmosphere of the original movie

The biggest strength and weakness of this movie is that it doesn’t reinvent the wheel. There are a few new scares, but the overall concept doesn’t deviate from the original too much. This is not Blair Witch 2: Book of Shadows.

Part II should not tarnish my view on the original

Generally we should never let a sequel change our view of the previous installment, but more than once the sequel can be so bad you just want to burn it and because of the fact that it tries to link itself to the original it more or less pulls the original down into a maelstrom of disappointment (Crystal Skull you almost did it!)

If there is a continuing story, it should expand, but not overexplain

I never needed another story about this weird houseghost, so when the sequel came I only hoped that they would still realize that the horror lies within the incomprehensible nature of the demon. So as long as they don’t turn the demon into a whiny neglected child that got beaten by his father I’m fine with any story they offer.

Paranormal Activity 2 actually furthers the mythology a little bit more while still keeping the demon mysterious and scary.
At the end there is a solid framework laid out that made me say “Well I’ll watch part 3, since I wanna see where this is going” – I just hope that they will conclude the story and not start a Saw-esque cliffhanger after cliffhanger until we get Paranormal Activity 3D.

Rating and Moviequation:

Category: 1
Score: 75%

P.S.: Watching this movie made me feel even more sorry for Kevin Greutert, who was forced to direct Saw 3D instead of this movie… Screw you Lionsgate!

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (quick review)

In the words of Luna Lovegood:

Exceptionally ordinary

The good:
* Incredibly well done opening sequence
* Less contrived than the book
* Creepy and suspenseful, yet with some overall funny humor sold via the chemistry of the actors
* Great overall production as we have come to expect from Potter movies
* Tales of Beedle the Bard are told beautifully
* As little Dumbledore past as possible
* Really dark, it’s been said before each Potter that they are now darker, but it is true every time, Hallows just ups the ante a lot more than the previous entries

The bad:
* It’s long, real long, felt way longer than any previous Potter
* Basically a setup for part 2
* Many plotholes/conveniences from the books are still present
* Some shaky cam (even with quiet scenes) that are bad to watch in 2D and would have caused severe brain-damage in 3D
* Six Potters and a wedding nobody cares about (Quidditch worldcup all over again)
* Not enough Neville
* Sometimes too much like Lord of the Rings… my… precious….

Rating and Moviequation:

Category: 1
Score: 70%

 

Buried

After an elaborate intro, the title “buried” disappears and the audience is left in total darkness. The following minutes are spent in said darkness and we can only hear the breathing and movement of a man, until he finally finds something that sounds like a lighter and the flame lets us see the picture of a man in a coffin…

 

Buried is a movie set entirely in a coffin and if it weren’t for Ryan Reynold’s salary it would probably be the cheapest movie ever made.

Yes, you read correctly “set entirely in a coffin”, this is not a “phone booth is set entirely in a phone booth” because we cut away to other people, this is not a “Saw is set entirely in a bathroom” because we have flashbacks and other stuff – no every frame you see in this movie comes from a camera inside the wooden box Reynolds is in.

The premise:
Don’t worry, I won’t spoil any of the plot points in this review since Buried is a movie where the less you know the more interesting the movie will be. Like the original Saw movie this movie uses the plotdevice of a person waking up and not knowing why he got there to its advantage – waking up without any knowledge how one got here is a great way to build a connection between the character and the audience since we don’t know how he got there either and are beginning to puzzle our way through it.

But this is no Saw, at least not in the sense that there is a twisty interwoven backstory since any background information we get can only be told via Reynolds talking to somebody via his cell phone.

As the story progresses we learn more about the whys and hows that lead to this setting and I must admit that I had a big “WHAT THE HELL” moment when it was first hinted where this movie is set and what Reynold’s was doing, my warning lights just shrieked because with this kind of setting almost everything can go wrong and turn into propaganda… rest assured this is not the case with Buried.

The craft:
Yes we can make a million more jokes about how “cheap” this movie must have been, but truth be told, I have tremendous respect for director Rodrigo Cortés and Cinematographer Eduard Grau (A Single Man). When framing a sequence the camerateam has to work their way around the fact that the audience can only look at a similar shot for so long.

A movie like Twelve Angry Men is a great example how this works: the entire movie is set in a room with twelve men, so the cinematographer had to find ways to give our eyes something new to look at and we forget that we are in the same room, we never grow tired of this fact – then again the script of Twelve Angry Men is already captivating enough even if it’s read by a 10 year old, but I should return to Buried.

 

Next to cinematography and direction, this movie features a script as exciting as it gets when you are telling the story entirely inside of a coffin. And on top of that Ryan Reynolds really surprises as an actor. I am really glad that I didn’t fall into a fanboy rant when it was announced that he would play Green Lantern because if he delivers like he did with Buried Green Lantern won’t fall flat in the acting department.

 

The only negative thing about this movie was the theater experience itself. As with many horror movies when watching it in the multiplex there are people feeling the need to comment on everything in the most idiotic way imaginable, so when the movie started with a black screen, there were comments of “I think the projector is broken” which might have been funny if the same group hadn’t repeated the same joke for about 4 time within 1.5 minutes… and when they realized that this joke might not have been the greatest thing since Godzilla vs King Ghidorah the inevitable “hehe is he masturbating” comments started going around…

Buried is a movie that is very heavily promoted here in Austria, quite a difference to America where it opened at number 41 with 100.000 $, so go figure.
With the massive promotion the movie is getting here people are bound to be looking at this movie as a straight up, be scared to the death horror movie. And with the attention span of the Resident Evil moviegoer which made up the 20 other people we were watching this movie, this movie might lead to comments like “well normally I don’t complain about movies but this was the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen”, which might be funny if it weren’t such a sad statement about the openness of the moviegoing public to a well-crafted, different movie, yet never boring movie.

Rating and moviequation:

Categorie: 1
Rating: 71%