Category: movie review
Movie Review – Hour of the Wolf
Posted on December 9, 2011
Is Hour of the Wolf a horror movie? No. Is it as good as The Seventh Seal? No. Is it a great movie? Yes.
For most of the film it’s just Max Von Sydow and Liv Ullmann together in a small cottage on what appears to be an island somewhere out in the middle of nowhere; which of course adds to the loneliness and apparent insignificance of Max and Liv’s lives. What they do have is each other. Max a tormented artist and Liv, the woman who loves him.
The beginning of the film is actually pretty quiet, with a lot of sitting outside in the sunshine to sitting indoors together either talking or just being near to each other.
But then, around the middle of of the film, everything takes a turn for the worse. Max’s visions become more dark and Liv’s despair and grief comes to bear. And then the whole movie turns very surreal. Strange neighbors appear out of nowhere. Felliniesque parties come into play. There’s even a murder; or were there several (I couldn’t tell at one point). The whole turn of events ends with it all coming to a sharp and decisive conclusion.
If you’re a fan of Bergman, and in the mood for a good (yet somewhat bizarre story) check out The Hour of the Wolf. You won’t be disappointed.
Hour of the Wolf – directed by Ingmar Bergman – 1968 – Drama | Thriller – ★★★★★
Watch the Trailer.
Posted in movie review, video with 0 comments
Movie Review – Moon
Posted on May 31, 2011
My new favorite movie: Moon. Once and a while I see a film that is like no other film out there today. Moon is not the big blockbuster hit. It’s not the sleeper film that is supposed to be really wonderful and isn’t. It’s the real thing – uncomplicated and well acted.
Sam Rockwell stars as an energy company employee whose workplace is the moon. We enter his day to day world with its routine and endless system checks only to discover half way through that something just isn’t right. Without giving away too much, his journey becomes something like out of the Stanley Kubrick playbook. If you like the end of 2001, you’ll really like this movie.
If you’re looking for a movie that’s quiet, filled with mystery and a few surprises than Moon is for you.
Watch the trailer here.
Moon – directed by Duncan Jones – 2009 – Science Fiction – ★★★★★
Posted in movie review with 0 comments
Movie Review – The Limey
Posted on February 17, 2011
One of my all time favorite actors is Terence Stamp. To be honest I haven’t seen a whole bunch of movies starring Terence, but whenever I see him his performance is so mesmerizing that I fall in love with his style all over again. His performance in The Limey is no exception. I’ve seen this move at least 5 times and I watched it again recently. And like all of the other times I watched it I was again glued to my seat.
Not only is Mr. Stamp’s performance excellent but the story is also very well crafted. It takes its time and doesn’t let the details get in the way of telling its story. There’s a lot of dialog, but the cast speaks with such conviction that it doesn’t detract from enjoying the film. The supporting actors are also very good in their parts. In addition to Terence, it also stars one of my other favorites, Peter Fonda, who I’ve been watching in Easy Rider since I was 18 years old. In The Limey he plays a slippery kind of character and is not very likable; this however does not take away my liking for his performance. In fact, I enjoyed seeing him play a scum bag so much that it only increased my liking for him as an actor.
If you’re looking for a good thriller drama that is intelligent and is not filled with a whole bunch of explosions (although it does have its own share of violence) than check out The Limey. You can read more about it here.
The Limey – directed by Steven Soderbergh – 1999 – Drama – ★★★★★
Posted in movie review with 0 comments
Movie Review – Nacho Libre
Posted on December 19, 2010
We watched Nacho Libre again last night. I took it out from the Library. It’s a movie I would like to own. As I remember it, Nacho Libre came out shortly after The School of Rock. The School of Rock was such a great movie that when we saw Nacho for the first time it was a disappointment. It often happens; an actor comes out with a great movie and then the next movie he or she is in isn’t as good or the same type of movie and it flops. I don’t know if Nacho flopped, but I remember thinking at the time that it wasn’t nearly as good as School of Rock. Which at the time made sense. In retrospect it wasn’t fair of me to judge it based on something else but this is how people are and I’m no exception.
Since we watched it for the first time we’ve borrowed it from the Library several times because we like Jack Black so much. And I gotta say every time I watch Nacho it gets better and better. No it’s not The School of Rock but it’s not supposed to be either. It’s really a very endearing movie. The story is so touching in a very honest way. It doesn’t pretend to be anything else but what it is – a story about a man who lives in Mexico, who is a Friar in an orphanage, and who takes up wrestling to earn money to buy food and a bus for field trips for the orphans. It’s a very quiet movie and it takes its time to progress. Maybe this is why at the time I saw it for the first time I was dissapointed that it wasn’t like School of Rock. School definitely isn’t quiet and it rushes so fast towards its conclusion that if you don’t pay attention you’ll miss it.
If you’re looking for a movie that’s a bit quirky, that has a good story, starring Jack Black than Nacho Libre is a great choice. It aslo stars Ana de la Reguera and Hector Jimenez; two actors I’d never seen before but who were also very good in their parts.
Nacho Libre – directed by Jared Hess – 2006 – Comedy – ★★★★☆
