The Time Machine by Jules Verne might be one of the best known time travel stories there is. It has been turned into a movie several times as well. I remember seeing the 2002 version, which didn’t impress me and was wondering if this older version might be a bit better. Just like the subject of its story, the movie itself is a journey back in time. A time in which movies were made in a very different way compared to how its done today. Continue reading
Cate McCall (Kate Beckinsale) is going through tough times. As a lawyer she is running the risk of losing her job and as a mother there is the threat of no longer being able to see her daughter. She is struggling to get away from an alcohol addiction and to save her job she is forced to take a case she doesn’t have any expertise about. Her job is to try to get a woman out of jail who has been convicted for murder but who tells her she is innocent. When she starts investigating the case she finds out there are details about the case which don’t seem to add up and that she is running a big risk herself by looking into them. Continue reading
When Kanye West release his latest album Yeezus there was a big number of fans who were disappointed by it because the music was very different compared to previous albums. The beats were almost experimental and many didn’t like that. It wasn’t a “standard hip hop album”. Personally I really liked it, simply because it tried to do something different, which made it challenging to listen to. Under the Skin manages to do that as a film. The question though is whether the average movie fan is able to appreciate that challenge. Continue reading
During the last couple of years I haven’t watched too many television show and therefore I missed many great shows. This was also the case for Black Mirror. Many people I know told me I should be checking it out, especially because I’ve always had a lot of interest in technology. It made me curious and decided to give it a watch, especially since a season only consists of three episodes. Now I normally don’t like including spoilers in my reviews, but as this is a series I’m going to break that rule. I’m also going to review each episode separately. If the first episode is any indication of the quality of the rest of the season, I’m in for something amazing. If you have not seen this show yet you can stop reading now and check out the first episode, I’m sure you won’t be disappointed. It simply is phenomenal. Continue reading
The last part of the Snabba Cash (or Easy Money) trilogy takes a further look into the lives of the characters of the first two parts. JW leaves for the United States to find out what happened to his sister who disappeared years ago and Jorge is also trying to change his life and escape the criminal environment. Does this third movie succeed in keeping the same high level as the previous two movies? Continue reading
Can you make a fascinating movie about an auctioneer? As you can imagine the auction itself could be exciting, with people in the room and on the phone trying to outbid each other to get their hands on some specific art. But what if the auction has ended? As The Best Offer proves you can do a whole lot to make sure the viewer is on the edge of his seat. Continue reading
Every movie gives its own spin to specific themes. Themes like love or revenge are the same in their basic concept, but the way it is brought to the big screen can take various forms. Sometimes there are movies who deal with a specific theme and have a lot of similarities, often not even purposefully. When watching Big Bad Wolves, which Quentin Tarantino chose as his favorite movie of the year, I couldn’t help thinking about Prisoners. Both movies are about the love a father has for his child and the actions he is prepared to take to find out the truth. In both movies they are willing to go very far to let people talk that they are expecting are responsible for the disappearance of their daughter. Continue reading
Control, it is all about control. Every dictatorship has one obsession and that’s it. [..] Strategies to limit information, ideas, knowledge. How do they do that? Lower education, they limit culture, censor information. [..] This is a pattern that repeats itself throughout history – Adam Bell (Jake Gyllenhaal)
Directors could be compared with dictators. For the length that the audience is watching a movie they decide which information they get to see. By limiting it or showing it slightly different a director is able to build up the tension or control expectations. With their “suspension of disbelief” the movie watcher happily gives the movie maker that control. Enemy is the newest movie by Denis Villeneuve (who was also responsible for the fantasticPrisoners) with Jake Gyllenhaal in a double role. Continue reading
After recently watching the amazing Gattaca I was searching for a similar technothriller. A quick search on IMDB suggested I should check out this 2002 movie in which Morgan Sullivan (Jeremy Northam) is leading a normal and boring life. He is looking for a challenge and a certain thrill. He gets to opportunity to apply for a job at one of the two biggest companies in the country. His work? Industrial espionage, which would allow him to travel a lot away from his nagging wife. He is hired and is sent to various conventions, having to sit through endless and boring presentations which he has to secretly record and send back. When he meets the mysterious and very attractive Rita Foster(Lucy Liu) she shows him that the work he is doing might not be what he thinks it is and that a whole other reality is hidden behind it. Continue reading
When the previous movie rebooted the Spiderman universe I actually was not too interested in seeing the film. I felt it was unnecessary to start it all again, this time with a different actor playing the title role. It was probably a year later that I finally checked out the movie and to my surprise I thought it was very good. I preferred Andrew Garfield over Tobey Maguire as he felt less awkward and more in control of the situation. The story was interesting as well (even though I already knew the story through the first three movies), so I was ready for the sequel. The webslinger is back, so this time I had to see the movie on the big screen. Continue reading