With a camera which he had stolen from his film school Werner Herzog travelled to South America to make his movie Aguirre, the Wrath of God. He got the idea for the film and turned it into a script into the back of the when his football team was travelling to games. It’s a story about a group of Spaniards in search of El Dorado, the place in which there is gold everywhere. To realize that story Herzog worked together with actor Klaus Kinski, who was very difficult to work with (still he would do so as well on other films) in circumstances which tested the whole crew. One of their sets was almost completely destroyed when the river rose considerably during the night. Continue reading
Category Archives: Historic
The Gamechangers (2015)
Rockstar Games has always lived up to its name, doing things others didn’t. From the first non-3D Grand Theft Auto game on they were a source of controversy. The extreme violence which could be executed shocked and the first game wasn’t even allowed to be sold in Brazil. The franchise was popular, but it was its first step into 3D with Grand Theft Auto 3 which really brought the series to a bigger audience. I can still remember when I first played the game at a colleague’s house. It was the reason for me to go out and buy a Playstation 2. The game wasn’t interesting because of its violence, but because it managed to realise a convincing, living world where you could do missions, but also decide to just drive around and listen to the often hilarious radio stations or simply cause mayhem and see how long you could survive.
The Gamechangers, a made for TV movie from the BBC, tells the story of Sam Houser (Daniel Radcliffe) and the people around him who work at Rockstar during the period that Grand Theft Auto Vice City was just realised and the studio started making San Andreas and creating the new RAGE game-engine for the next generation of consoles. Continue reading
Narcos – “The Sword of Simón Bolívar” – Episode review
After the opening episode Descencos my expectations of this show were high. Director José Padilha, who was also responsible for the raw Tropa de Elite movies (which are also worth watching), is not unfamiliar with showing the dark side of society. And that dark side is something he shows in this second episode. This recap/review contains spoilers. Continue reading
Journal d’une Femme de Chambre (2015)
Journal d’une Femme de Chambre is the third film adaptation of the book by Octave Mirabeau. Previous adaptations were by Jean Renoir in 1946 and in 1964 Luis Bunel. Now its director Benoît Jacquot’s turn. With Léa Seydoux (La vie d’Adèle) in the leading role he has an actress who has the qualities to convincingly play the character of Celestine, a maid who works for the upper class. Continue reading
Hollywood Banker (2014)
How was a simple banker from Rotterdam able to eventually help finance more than 900 movies, including a number of big titles including Rambo, Superman, Platoon, Dances With Wolves, Terminator and Basic Instinct? That’s the question that’s answered in the documentary Hollywood Banker, a portrait of Frans Afman, made by his daughter Rozemyn Afman. Continue reading
Selma (2014)
A title like Selma doesn’t ring much bells over here. Is it the name of a person or a ship? In the Netherlands we don’t have much knowledge of American history. That isn’t to say that we don’t know Martin Luther King, his famous “I have a dream” speech and his shocking end. He’s the subject of this movie and Selma is the town where most of the story is set. Continue reading
Big Eyes (2014)
Currently when most people hear the name Tim Burton they will immediately think of Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter and movies with a very dark tone and strange elements. He has succeeded in creating his own style and has gained a big group of fans. That he’s able to create movies with a whole other look is something he shows with Big Eyes, starring Amy Adams and Christoph Waltz. Continue reading
Dracula Untold (2014)
Both the world of books as the world of movies are filled with characters which are widely loved. There is something about these characters that people feel a connection with, making them care for them and their adventures. As one of these characters starts appearing in more books/movies you come into them with specific expectations of what that character would do. You wouldn’t expect Rambo to suddenly start giving ballet classes. Bram Stoker wrote the story of Dracula in 1897 and the character became popular, a vampire looking for blood in order to spread his curse. It resulted in many plays and movies, which made him a legend. According to Dracula Untold a part of his life was never shown. Maybe there was a reason for that? Continue reading
The Imitation Game (2014)
Many historic events sometimes have, without us being aware, had a big impact on our daily lives. The device you are using at the moment to read this review is a good example of that. The man who was one of the pioneers when it comes to the development of computers is Alan Turing, the main character in this movie about breaking the German Enigma code. Continue reading
Cosmos: A SpaceTime Odyssey (2014)
Scientist Carl Sagan was not someone who was a worldwide celebrity and therefore I had never heard of him. Reading up on him I understood her regularly visited the talkshows and presented various programmes which helped to make science more popular. One of those programs was Cosmos. I never saw the original version, but Neil deGrasse Tyson has breathed new life into the show. After seeing Interstellar I was inspired to check it out. Continue reading