Movie reviews

General release movies in October:

APPALOOSA

Watchable. The movie is quite dull, enlivened only by sparkling Renee Zellwegger.

THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PYJAMAS

Recommended. An interesting story with a powerful message. Just watch how it developes!

BRIDESHEAD REVISITED

Recommended. I loved the englishness of the serial several years ago but after several episodes I got a bit weary of it. The movie perfectly condensed the story, retained its superb English-feel and is really witty. I saw it twice.

BURN AFTER READING

Watchable. A quirky story on the verge of being funny.

THE CHASER

Watchable. An interesting Korean take on "Silence of the lambs" genre. Plenty of cultural oddities make it stand out but some elements of the plot aren't easily comprehensible.

CITY OF EMBER

Walked out. Filmed in juut one colour pallette, visually resembling French "La Cite des Enfants Perdus", wash-off of Kevin Costner's "The Postman". Not that "The Postman" was any interesting.

DEATH RACE

Watchable. Fast swift action. Nothing new but easily watchable.

DRONA

Walked out. This movie had a huge advertising campaign while normally Bollywood screenings sell out without much promotion which made me cautious. When I went to see it, I immediately understood why: they tried to make it into an English-style musical with fantastic creatures in it and ended up with total kitsch.

EAGLE EYE

Watchable. An intriguing story of a surveillance society, very contemporary but it could do with fewer or shorter chases.

THE FALL

Walked out. Several dull nonsense stories told by a character in the main story.

FLY ME TO THE MOON 3-D

Watchable. The movie could be livelier but it's still cute and the animation enchanting yet feeling cosy.

GHOST TOWN

Watchable. Quite funny.

GOMORRAH

Walked out. Just another mafia movie. Quite dull, with numerous scenes with no relevance to the action.

HELLO

Watchable. An ordinary story about call centre workers with a blatant Indian propaganda ending but the characters are likeable.

THE HOUSE BUNNY

Watchable. The silly protagonist is quite endearing but it could be funnier. "Legally Blonde" it ain't.

HEROES

Walked out. Too much blatant propaganda. Music could be better too.

HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL 3

Walked out. All the characters are just annoyingly silly and superficial. The musical could do with better music too.

HOW TO LOSE FRIENDS AND ALIENATE PEOPLE

Watchable. Swift, fast action but this comedy could be funnier.

IGOR

Walked out. "Nightmare Before Christmas" - style animation and the story about machines. As interesting as working at a factory production line.

INCENDIARY

Watchable. Little short of greatness. Great acting, powerful story and the survival propaganda isn't straight in your face. Takes a while to get started though.

I'VE LOVED YOU SO LONG (IL Y A LONGTEMPS QUE JE T'AIME)

Recommended. It should get an oscar in the Foreign Film category. It's deliberately slow. Starts good and then only gets better.

KARZ

Watchable. An intriguing story about reincarnation, deceit and revenge. A bit stereotypical Bollywood with just-good music but rewarding with swift action.

KIDNAP

Recommended. A gooD story with good twists of action.

MIRRORS

Walked out. As repetitive as horrors get.

THE MUTANT CHRONICLES

Walked out. Continuous warfare with vampire-like creatures in it, visually dark and blue for some reason.

NIGHTS IN RODANTHE

Walked out. A dull affair of boring middle-aged people.

REDBELT

Walked out. A movie about running a school rather than about karate.

RIGHTEOUS KILL

Watchable. Another movie about killing criminals who escaped justice but not entirely stupid.

ROADSIDE ROMEO

Walked out. A Bollywood movie about metrosexual goons who take pride in their appearance. Someone falls in love like, as usual. And all of it enacted by cartoon characters of dogs.

THE ROCKER

Watchable. A movie about how you achieve success in show business nowadays. Some bits are more disgusting than amusing but the action is fast and the music rocks.

SAW V

Walked out. Will they finally stop flogging the dead horse!? In part one the killer is a genius. Now he turns out to have so many accomplices and copycats that I just couldn't work out the plot.

SUPER AGENT K9

Walked out. This comedy isn't funny at all, it's just plain stupid. Luckily it's Turkish so not many people are tempted to see it anyway.

SWING VOTE

Watchable. Kevin Costner seems to stick to propaganda movies. This one is surprisingly good, unfortunately stereotypical anyway.

TAKEN

Watchable. Quite a clever movie about a father rescuing a kidnapped daughter. Not very stereotypical.

THEN SHE FOUND ME

Walked out. Too much daily life and the affair of ugly middle-aged people didn't keep me hooked.

TROPIC THUNDER

Walked out. An overtalked comedy that could be funnier.

THE WAVE

Watchable. An interesting story that tries to be thought-provoking but is not.

Having seen everything, I had to take a break from cinema waiting for new releases. Tomorrow I'm back at the cinema. Yabbadabbadoo!