Gulliver’s Travels (which was written in 1726) has been adapted for film many times. A quick look at Wikipedia shows this is the 17th film about the story, so there’s a very big chance that you already saw a version of this story about a man who ends up on the island of Lilliput inhabited by tiny people who are in a state of war with a rival island. Does Jack Black manage to give a fresh twist to this story with his humour? Continue reading
With a title like Blue Valentine you would expect that it’s a perfect romantic movie you’d want to watch with your significant other. Is this really the case or is it better to search for another movie to watch? Continue reading
Horror movies. It’s one of the few genres I really don’t watch. I just don’t like to voluntarily be uncomfortable for an hour and a half watching gruesome stuff. It’s something I just don’t need and go out of my way to find. So it’s a genre which I just am not interested in.
So Zombieland was a movie I never planned on watching as the title was enough reason to stay clear from it. This change when a colleague told me that this really wasn’t a “scary” movie, but a comedy. Reluctantly I decide to give this film a chance. Continue reading
Harry Sweeney (Jamey Sheridan) is an ex-navy officer who has started his own company in a small town when he left the navy. He has been very succesful and is about to sell his company to retire. He receives a phone call from an old friend, Thomas Kelley (Steve Buscemi) asking him to visit and he agrees. Thomas is very ill and knows he will die soon. They start talking about the past and talk about a subject which they have been silent about for years. Together with some other friends they committed a crime. As his dying wish Thomas asks Harry to find the victim of their crime and apologise to him. For Harry it’s and unforgettable and painful journey into his own past. Continue reading
Julia Roberts and Clive Owen starring in a spy movie? I thought it was a weird combination, but as I really like spy films I decided to give it a chance. Is it worth watching? Continue reading
Most of you will know the classic fairy tales. When you were a kids you heard the stories about Hansel and Gretel, little red riding hood and Snow White. These stories have been told for centuries, but despite their age they are still being told as they have some magical qualities and a deeper truth which will teach something to kids. The lessons learned are usually about the fear of something evil, which has to be defeated.
According to Wikipedia an ondine is a mythological water nymph and as it usually goes with people telling stories, they get changed and local elements are added to it. In the Irish version of the story the nymph is called a Selkies which you will see after a seal sheds of its skin to change into a human.
This movie has based its story on this fairy tale. Syracuse (Colin Farrell) is a fisherman who finds a woman in his net, Ondine (Alicja Bachleda). The woman is still alive and tells him that she wants no one to see her. Syracuse takes her to a deserted house where she’s able to stay. She joins him on some fishing trips and every time she sings a song he catches more fish than he ever does.
Syracuse is divorced and has a young daughter, Annie (Alison Barry), who’s in a wheelchair and regularly has to go to the hospital for dialysis. When she finally receives an electric wheelchair she gains a lot more freedom and go out on her own. She discovers the secret her father is keeping from her. Continue reading
Through the years the focus of most movies has been on the good guys. Of course there have been some exceptions like the Emperor’s New Groove or the more recent Despicable Me, where the villain was the focus of the movie. Megamind (voiced by Will Ferrell) is next villain to star in an animated movie, fighting he arch-enemy Metro Man (Brad Pitt). Metro Man is the superman of Metro City, which really annoys Megamind.
The two have been fighting for years, with Metro Man constantly winning. Megamind just keeps going until one of his plans suddenly seems to work and finally he can claim victory and is able to make his dreams come true. He takes over the city and is able to execute all his evil plans. This initially feels good, but the feeling doesn’t last long. Continue reading
The Brothers Bloom is a movie which, when it was out, almost saw at the cinema. I don’t know why, but I ended up watching The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. I completely forgot about this movie until a friend of mine mentioned it and told me it was a movie I had to see. As he doesn’t exactly has the same taste in movies (he liked Smokin Aces 2 and Operation Endgame for example) I wasn’t sure I would like this one, but decided to give it a chance. Continue reading
Robert Duvall has been acting since the sixties. He has acted in a lot of well-known movies like The Godfather series, Apocalypse Now and Falling Down. When I hear his name I always have to think about his role in Falling Down. He played a likeable cop who is about to retire and has to chase a lunatic who is terrorizing the city. It’s the first time he really stood out for me and I have been enjoying his acting ever since. He was also excellent in We Own the Night for example.
Duvall really makes Get Low the movie that it is. He’s the recluse Felix Bush, who lives alone on his own piece of land. A lot of stories are being told about him, although no one seems to know whether or not they are true. Because of these stories everyone seems to fear him, especially when he suddenly rides into the nearby town. He knows a lot of stories are told about him and he has an idea which allows him to hear all of them. Continue reading
17 Again tells the kind of story you’ve seen before in movies like Big (boy in the body of an adult) and Switch (man in the body of a woman. In this movie it’s about a man who ends up in his own 17-year old body. When Mike O’Donnell (Matthew Perry) was young he made the choice to follow his big love instead on focusing on sports. His choice hasn’t turned out as he had in mind though. His wife Scarlett (Leslie Mann) wants a divorce and he doesn’t have a close relationship with his children either. When he visits his old high school he wishes that he had made a different choice. It turns out that the janitor can make his with come true.
Mike wakes up the next morning and is 17 again (a role played by Zac Effron) and has to go to school again. He tells his best friend, Ned Freedman (Thomas Lennon) his secret and he pretends that he is the father of him to make sure Mike can go back to school. With his knowledge as an adult it turns out that it is quite difficult to live a carefree life. Continue reading