January 31, 2020 by Nostra - 2 Comments

Dark Waters (2019) – Review

The difficulty in implementing change, such as with the climate, is that most individuals understand the problem and are probably willing to take action. However, the problem is when these individuals are part of a large organization, that personal willingness may be different. The culture of a company, personal interests (keeping a job to take care of your family) and various other factors can lead to decisions being made that can make a huge amount of money for the company, but with a negative effect on society. The past has proven this time and time again, from economic crisis to wars. However, is it possible to change that or at least to make people think? Greta Thunberg was able to show that last year. In Dark Waters it becomes clear how difficult this can be. Continue reading →

January 31, 2020 by Nostra - 0 comments

1917 (2019) – Review

That war is hell is of course nothing new. We see it almost daily on the news and war movies and series also show the horrors. Whether that is Vietnam or the second world war. In recent years, the first world war has again become the subject or part of films. For example, Wonder Woman partially took place in this setting and last year Peter Jackson impressively succeeded in transforming the existing jerky black-and-white images into a smooth, colored and narrated document about how the soldiers’ lives in the trench war looked like. And with 1917, director Sam Mendes brings the First World War to the big screen in a way that has never been done before. Continue reading →

December 17, 2019 by Nostra - 1 Comment

I Lost My Body (2019) – Review

The perspective that we have has a huge impact on how we see the world. This can be based on ideas, but also on a physical level. As a child I was always curious what the top of a car looked like (that turned out to be a disappointment when I was older), but filmmakers also use perspective to present the world differently. In E.T. Steven Spielberg often placed the camera at the level of the children, so that you were experiencing it from their perspective. But also Honey, I Shurnk the Kids or a Marvel film like Ant-Man show how different your world is when you experience everything when you are just as big as an insect. The perspective in I Lost My Body can rightly be called unique, because there are few films that show you what you experience as a hand without a body. Continue reading →

December 2, 2019 by Nostra - 0 comments

The Irishman (2019) – Review

A new Scorcese film creates high expectations and The Irishman is no exception. This director is a walking film encyclopedia and has made several classic movies. Add to that the fact that he again cooperates with Robert de Niro and Joe Pesci (with whom he made Goodfellas and Casino) and also Al Pacino, which makes this a title that you want to watch as quickly as you can. After a very short time at the cinema The Irishman is now available on Netflix. Can Scorcese deliver another classic? Continue reading →

November 21, 2019 by Nostra - 0 comments

Terminator: Dark Fate (2019) – Review

The Terminator franchise has built a strong foundation with its first two films, which are considered classics. However, it is a shame that there were no films after that which managed to reach the same level. Although I did enjoy Genisys, but not everyone had the same opinion. With Dark Fate, Linda Hamilton returns to this series and the question is to what extent that adds something. Is Dark Fate a return to form? Continue reading →

November 12, 2019 by Nostra - 0 comments

The Fall of the American Empire (2018) – Review

Ordinary people who end up in extraordinary situations can produce fascinating results in films. And if a film does this well, you as a viewer can imagine that it could happen to you and it will make a film memorable. That’s something like A Simple Plan proved for example. Such a scenario also happens in The Fall of the American Empire, but is this also a good film? Continue reading →

November 1, 2019 by Nostra - 2 Comments

The Laundromat (2019) – Review

The amount of data that we create as humanity is enormous. To put that in perspective: the amount of data we have created over the past two years is more than all the data that we have made in the entire history of humanity. And with such an overload of data, it is becoming increasingly difficult to get attention for a certain topic. When something is in the news, the period in which that subject is forgotten seems to be getting shorter and shorter. When the Pentagon Papers were published in the early 1970s, their impact was great and they kept the public busy for a long time. And although the impact of the Panama Papers in 2015 was there, with a number of senior officials in various countries resigning, it is not easy to conclude that there has been a fundamental change in regulations to make tax havens disappear. Director Steven Soderbergh seems to have the same feeling and tries to draw attention to this subject again with The Laundromat. Continue reading →

October 30, 2019 by Nostra - 0 comments

The Art of Self-Defense (2019) – Review

I think Jesse Eisenberg is an actor who generally has little variation in the type of roles he plays. They are often of uncertain or clumsy types. If you have seen an actor do something a lot, a kind of tiredness can develop. You simply don’t feel like seeing the same thing again. If you look at the trailer of The Art of Self-Defense, that would be enough reason to skip the film. Still, I didn’t and I have to conclude that this is one of my favorite films of the year. Continue reading →

October 29, 2019 by Nostra - 0 comments

Ad Astra (2019) – Review

The science fiction genre is enormously broad, from futuristic worlds to realistic environments in which only suggestions are made that there is something special. It is that variety that makes it one of my favorite genres, because it can really go anywhere. Ad Astra opts for the realistic approach and is set in the near future. Continue reading →

October 15, 2019 by Nostra - 2 Comments

Joker (2019) – Review

A confused person. A term that I hear regularly in the news when someone has been violent somewhere. It is an easy-to-process label for a reader/viewer, because you don’t have to think about it. Someone who is confused can do crazy things, so that the act that has been performed has a “simple” explanation, no matter how big the consequences. It does not further incite you to think about how such a person finally got that far. Has he/she had many setbacks in his/her life, too little attention or simply not the right help from family, friends and agencies to ensure that this person was not confused? With knowing that information, you don’t have to understand the action itself or feel sorry for the perpetrator, but it may help you better understand the person and see if changes are needed in certain procedures to ensure that others don’t follow the same path. With Joker, director Todd Philips tries to paint a portrait of a man who will ultimately become Batman’s archenemy. Continue reading →