These are sad times if you are a fan of Studio Ghibli. Recently both Isao Takahata and Hayao Miyazaki made their final films and it currently seems that When Marnie Was There will be the last movie released by the legendary studio. The demand for animated movies has changed and financing them has become a lot harder. The studio won’t close its doors yet, so there still is hope for a new film, but chances seem slim. Is When Marnie Was There an adequate farewell? Continue reading
Usually when we deal with other people we assume they are good people. If someone approaches you with a friendly smile and is nice to be around you will quickly trust that person. When David (Dan Stevens) knocks on the door of the Peterson family he comes across as a very charming man. He tells them he was a soldier who fought together with their son, who died while serving. David promised him that he’d visit his family and give them his final message if he would pass away. From the moment David arrives though some very shocking events start taking place. Continue reading
The most simple concepts often result in the best movies. Cop Car is a very good example of that: As the starting point for your story you take a cop car and then think of events that could happen having to do with that car. Writer and director Jon Watts (who will also direct the new Spiderman film) manages to impress with that idea. Continue reading
In 1980, when the reign of Franco just ended, Spain was a country which still had unrest. People who did things that were unspeakable weren’t prose cued. The structure within the police still hadn’t changed enough. The result was that there still wasn’t a balance between the new democracy and the old dictatorial ways and methods of gaining intelligence. It is during this time that the events of this movie take place. Two police officers who don’t get along too well travel to the marshes of Spain to look into a case where two teenage sisters are missing. The two stand out in the small town and have to deal with a lot more than they were expecting. Continue reading
In Bridesmaids I thought Melissa McCarthy was very funny, but every other movie after that I saw with her I thought was very disappointing. I simply didn’t think she was funny and she got on my nerves. That was the most important reason I initially skipped Spy. But after all the glowing reviews (and the fact that Jason Statham is in it) I just had to check out this spy comedy, directed by Paul Feig. Was my growing annoyance with McCarthy invalid? Continue reading
I regularly receive requests from various (new) directors who have made a movie and ask me whether I’d be interested in reviewing it. Through the years I’ve become very hesitant in accepting such requests as quality generally is quite low. And I think it is hard to have personal contact with someone and also write something negative. It’s a product which they believe in, but where you don’t share that vision. Recently I was asked to review The Cobblestone Corridor, directed by Erik Bloomquist. I decided to watch the trailer and it peaked my interest. Not only because the story itself looked fascinating, but also because it looked good. I had the hope that this short movie was worth seeing. Continue reading
Does every kid go through a dinosaur phase? It was something I was thinking about when watching the new movie in the Jurassic Park franchise. Initially I could not remember ever having a collection of plastic dinosaurs, but after further reflection, I remembered that I did make a report about it in elementary school. This was in the eighties, so it was still a time when you had to go to the library for information, write everything by hand and go to the supermarket to make copies of pictures to paste in your report. The reason that I still remember it wasn’t so much the report itself, but the way it was checked. Because I went to a Christian school (even though I’m not religious) the teacher held tightly to the story of the bible and its timeline. That meant he had put question marks when it said that the dinosaurs lived millions of years ago. That did not fit into his conviction.
So there was a brief period in which I was interested in them, but it did not last long. The first Jurassic Park I do remember though, especially because (just like today) there was a lot of marketing for the film. There were TV specials (which showed how they made the water vibrate in the glass when the Tyrannosaurus Rex arrives), and the effects in the film were breathtaking then. Those effects might not wow us anymore and a movie really needed to do something special in order to excite us. Does Jurassic Wold manage to do that? Continue reading
Not being able to die and having eternal life has its advantages, but it also has its downsides. You’ll see the people you love slowly ageing and there will come a moment when you decide to keep your secret from others. But enough talk about Highlander! The Age of Adaline uses the same concept, minus the sword fighting. The emphasis in this film is: romance. Continue reading
A title like Happy Valley immediately makes me have an association with a couple of things. I think of Bob Ross, with his “happy little trees” and the fantasy that comes with it, but it could also be the place where the minions live. However, the title is anything but that. Happy Valley is a hard and exciting thriller set in a valley where happiness and joy are hard to find. Continue reading
Ever since I saw the hilarious/absurd/shocking, Oscar-nominated Rejected (you can check it out on Youtube) by Don Hertzfeldt, I was a fan of both his animation style and his humour. When I heard earlier this year that he had made a new short I was curious about it. His drawings might be considered simple, but he always succeeds in getting his intention across. For this short, it’s 17 minutes, he recorded conversations he had with his 4-year-old niece, Winona Mae and used these for a story about an impressive journey to the future. Continue reading