NIGHT FILM MARATHON: THE NIGHT OF THRILLERS
OLDBOY (2013)
Watchable. The memorable teeth pulling scene is gone in the American version which makes the film just a little bit less violent. Or maybe it's just me who's become desentisized as the younger part of the audience seemed as shocked and disturbed as I was watching the Korean original 10 years ago. On the whole it is really good, even if not groundbreaking for me, in fact nowadays some brawls seemed like too long and just too much.
PRISONERS
Recommended. A perfect thriller.
STOKER
Watchable. Too fantastical for a thriller but with a gripping plot anyway.
SIDE EFFECTS
Recommended. An excellent, full of twists of action, story of deception.
Wednesday 18 December 2013
Monday 9 December 2013
WATCH DOCS 2013
FIRE IN THE BLOOD
Recommended. An eye-opener. It turns out most drug research and development is government funded and only 12% comes from pharmaceutical corporations which benefit from it financially. A clever depiction of inner workings of pharmaceutical companies under different jurisdictions.
GOD LOVES UGANDA
Watchable. That's how I found out about killings of homosexuals in a number of African countries but in a typically American documentary style it's full of talking heads with little data provided and shortlisting it for an Oscar is a bit over the top.
NOCES ROUGES
Watchable. Reveals little known aspects of the Khmer Rouge regime, unfortunately in a typical French documentary style where the camera follows the protagonists everywhere without editing.
LONDON - THE MODERN BABYLON
Recommended. A punk-style social history of London covering racial tensions, poverty, sexual revolution and the core of London lifestyle - partying throughout decades - with great music background. The funniest bits are racial though, e.g. a black guy saying: "London used to be a paradise, but then came Russians, Czechs, Poles, Somalis and other Africans."
HOW TO MAKE MONEY SELLING DRUGS
Recommended. I'm against liberalisation of drug laws but the film fantastically explains the economics of drug dealing and fighting this crime.
NO FIRE ZONE: THE KILLING FIELDS OF SRI LANKA
Walked out. It's more like a news broadcast than a documentary film.
BANAZ: A LOVE STORY
Recommended. I had heard of honour killings several times before but it was only this full-length account of one that made me realise the horror of being cornered, stalked and murdered by your own family. Just compare it to an American thriller in which the protagonist is stalked by just one character. Here, it's a real life, organised crime committed by people you normally trust.
MEA MAXIMA CULPA: SILENCE IN THE HOUSE OF GOD
Watchable. It starts off as innocently as church seems to be. Then you learn about paedophilia on a local scale and then about its wider and wider circles leading as high as the Pope's immediate environment. Unlike regular paedophiles, priests don't record and share child porn. They just perpetrate the crime as they please while their non-abusing colleagues sweep it all under the carpet. Everyone is implicated this way or another, including "our" pope John Paul II. In the film only the number of, typical for US docs, talking heads becomes annoying - everything has been said already and you still get more and more people commenting on the same to ensure no one's freedom of speech gets breached.
ONVERWACHT (UNEXPECTED)
Watchable. Nothing in this film convinces you of the woman's need to abort. It's just quite peculiar to see how many women are able to discuss the issue in quite a detached manner.
GOOGLE AND THE WORLD BRAIN
Watchable. Have you heard of Google stealing people's wifi passwords and search histories while shooting Street View images? While scary enough to be fascinating, this is as far as the film goes in its allegations against Google. The rest is just about copyright.
AFTER TILLER
Recommended. I used to see abortion as evil and conducting it in the third trimester as unspeakable. The film has turned my views upside down. Most of the women portrayed wanted to have a baby but hearing of inborn diseases the child would cope with all its life, they choose the lesser evil. And the moral dilemmas involved are just as hard for the few doctors determined to help them out in spite of violent attacks on their clinics and themselves.
FIRE IN THE BLOOD
Recommended. An eye-opener. It turns out most drug research and development is government funded and only 12% comes from pharmaceutical corporations which benefit from it financially. A clever depiction of inner workings of pharmaceutical companies under different jurisdictions.
GOD LOVES UGANDA
Watchable. That's how I found out about killings of homosexuals in a number of African countries but in a typically American documentary style it's full of talking heads with little data provided and shortlisting it for an Oscar is a bit over the top.
NOCES ROUGES
Watchable. Reveals little known aspects of the Khmer Rouge regime, unfortunately in a typical French documentary style where the camera follows the protagonists everywhere without editing.
LONDON - THE MODERN BABYLON
Recommended. A punk-style social history of London covering racial tensions, poverty, sexual revolution and the core of London lifestyle - partying throughout decades - with great music background. The funniest bits are racial though, e.g. a black guy saying: "London used to be a paradise, but then came Russians, Czechs, Poles, Somalis and other Africans."
HOW TO MAKE MONEY SELLING DRUGS
Recommended. I'm against liberalisation of drug laws but the film fantastically explains the economics of drug dealing and fighting this crime.
NO FIRE ZONE: THE KILLING FIELDS OF SRI LANKA
Walked out. It's more like a news broadcast than a documentary film.
BANAZ: A LOVE STORY
Recommended. I had heard of honour killings several times before but it was only this full-length account of one that made me realise the horror of being cornered, stalked and murdered by your own family. Just compare it to an American thriller in which the protagonist is stalked by just one character. Here, it's a real life, organised crime committed by people you normally trust.
MEA MAXIMA CULPA: SILENCE IN THE HOUSE OF GOD
Watchable. It starts off as innocently as church seems to be. Then you learn about paedophilia on a local scale and then about its wider and wider circles leading as high as the Pope's immediate environment. Unlike regular paedophiles, priests don't record and share child porn. They just perpetrate the crime as they please while their non-abusing colleagues sweep it all under the carpet. Everyone is implicated this way or another, including "our" pope John Paul II. In the film only the number of, typical for US docs, talking heads becomes annoying - everything has been said already and you still get more and more people commenting on the same to ensure no one's freedom of speech gets breached.
ONVERWACHT (UNEXPECTED)
Watchable. Nothing in this film convinces you of the woman's need to abort. It's just quite peculiar to see how many women are able to discuss the issue in quite a detached manner.
GOOGLE AND THE WORLD BRAIN
Watchable. Have you heard of Google stealing people's wifi passwords and search histories while shooting Street View images? While scary enough to be fascinating, this is as far as the film goes in its allegations against Google. The rest is just about copyright.
AFTER TILLER
Recommended. I used to see abortion as evil and conducting it in the third trimester as unspeakable. The film has turned my views upside down. Most of the women portrayed wanted to have a baby but hearing of inborn diseases the child would cope with all its life, they choose the lesser evil. And the moral dilemmas involved are just as hard for the few doctors determined to help them out in spite of violent attacks on their clinics and themselves.
Saturday 7 December 2013
THE NIGHT OF CINEMA
WOLVERINE
Watchable. Every X-Men fan will want to see it so no surprise I have. Unfortunately it's the weakest film of the series - barely two mutants and a lousy shoot & run plot.
THE MORTAL INSTRUMENTS: CITY OF BONES
Watchable. It's fun, some guys look hot, the music's good but it's just another teenage demon hunter movie.
THE HEAT
Recommended. A comedy which makes you laugh out loud. Most of the humour is situational but some lines are brilliant as well, e.g. a cop browsing a wallet of a guy she's caught soliciting a prostitute finds his family photograph: "I was worried you didn't have a wife or children."
WOLVERINE
Watchable. Every X-Men fan will want to see it so no surprise I have. Unfortunately it's the weakest film of the series - barely two mutants and a lousy shoot & run plot.
THE MORTAL INSTRUMENTS: CITY OF BONES
Watchable. It's fun, some guys look hot, the music's good but it's just another teenage demon hunter movie.
THE HEAT
Recommended. A comedy which makes you laugh out loud. Most of the humour is situational but some lines are brilliant as well, e.g. a cop browsing a wallet of a guy she's caught soliciting a prostitute finds his family photograph: "I was worried you didn't have a wife or children."
Tuesday 3 December 2013
ENDER'S GAME
Recommended. I had been waiting for the movie since childhood, then I heard that instead of Wolfgang Petersen (memorable "Enemy Mine") Gavin Hood (annoying "Tsotsi") would direct it, then it did come out and I was too busy to go to the cinema. Today, around noon, when I had a break, I finally saw it. And I loved it. The film is just spotless, very true to the book, with elements of strategy and deep humanity retained, with excellent cast and mind-blowing cinematography.
Apparently Orson Scott Card is writing a sequel - "The Fleet School".
Recommended. I had been waiting for the movie since childhood, then I heard that instead of Wolfgang Petersen (memorable "Enemy Mine") Gavin Hood (annoying "Tsotsi") would direct it, then it did come out and I was too busy to go to the cinema. Today, around noon, when I had a break, I finally saw it. And I loved it. The film is just spotless, very true to the book, with elements of strategy and deep humanity retained, with excellent cast and mind-blowing cinematography.
Apparently Orson Scott Card is writing a sequel - "The Fleet School".
Monday 2 December 2013
THE HUNGER GAMES - CATCHING FIRE AT IMAX
Recommended. Worth seeing at least, although not only, for the sake of futuristic fashion - the costumes, the make-ups and other visual aspects of the future are mind-blowingly ingenious. The special effects make e.g. a dress on fire look downright realistic. The plot provides enough twists to keep you on the edge your seat.- OK, that's copied and pasted from my review of the first instalment. Now I'll just add that hair-dos look stunning as well and eyelash make-up has got even better. Can't wait to see part 3 next year.
And in the meantime, if someone gets me the books for my birthday, I want them in the English original;)
Recommended. Worth seeing at least, although not only, for the sake of futuristic fashion - the costumes, the make-ups and other visual aspects of the future are mind-blowingly ingenious. The special effects make e.g. a dress on fire look downright realistic. The plot provides enough twists to keep you on the edge your seat.- OK, that's copied and pasted from my review of the first instalment. Now I'll just add that hair-dos look stunning as well and eyelash make-up has got even better. Can't wait to see part 3 next year.
And in the meantime, if someone gets me the books for my birthday, I want them in the English original;)
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