In 2007 Seth Rogen and Jay Baruchel did the short film Jay and Seth Versus the Apocalypse. It was a short film with just the two of them in a room, mostly arguing. I did not think it was that funny or interesting, but it was that short which would be the inspiration for this movie, This Is the End. The question is whether this comedy also disappoints or if it is comedy gold. Continue reading
For my entry for Obstruction 4 in the 5 Obstructions blogathon I decided to rewatch and review (and analyze) a movie which is in my all time favorite top 3 (the other two are Pulp Fiction and Black Swan). There are many reasons I love this movie, but I’ll get to that later. The obstruction itself I though was quite challenging and it did make me look at the movie in more detail, something which I did not mind at all.
Mr. Nobody was the feature length movie Belgian director Jaco van Dormael made since 1996. According to Wikipedia he had been trying to film the movie since 2001. When he finally managed to get financing it turned out that he would be making the most expensive Belgian movie ever made with an estimated budget of €33 million (US$47 million).
When writing the film van Dormael was influenced by movies like Run Lola Run and Sliding Doors. He wanted it to be more complicated than those movies and look at life as a whole and in his words “the abyss of infinite possiblities” that offers and that is exactly was he has managed to do with this movie. It is a movie which unfortunately is not widely known and one I always recommend to people first when they ask me about a movie they should check out. Continue reading
Ever since watching Neil Blomkamp’s District 9 I couldn’t wait to see what he would be doing next as he was able to tell an amazing story in a sci fi setting. With Elysium, starring Matt Damon, he retuns to sci fi. Will he be able to tell an exciting story again? Continue reading
So because I was on a holiday and had some things on my mind afterwards I was not able to write my review for this obstruction earlier. Since I am very short on time (only 2 hours left) I’m going to have to keep this review short:
We always think that aliens will come from the stars, but it turns out they come from a portal in deep Pacific. The plot (yes there IS one, in case some of you are wondering) is nothing we’ve never heard before but it’s played out quite efficiently here. the earth starts getting periodically attacked by huge monsters (Kauji – a term for Japanese monster movies), so humanity pulls together and builds equally massive robots (Jaegers) to fight back. Continue reading
Not too long ago I reviewed Red Planet, which I quite liked up till the moment that some unnecessary elements were added (like a robot turned enemy). I wished that it would have just been about the survival of the crew and with Europa Report it seems that this is the movie I wanted to see. In this case the journey does not go to Mars, but to a moon of Jupiter. So the story is of the type I would like to see, but question is: Is it any good? Continue reading
Mars has long been an interesting resource for movies. Usually that means that aliens are coming from the planet to attack the earth. Red Planet doesn’t take that idea and is set more in reality. It’s about a group of people sent to Mars. Earth is slowly becoming inhabitable and the seeds had been planted to create an atmosphere to make it a new home, but things didn’t go as planned and a crew is sent to the planet to find out why. I never saw Red Planet before and when it showed up on my VOD service I decided to check it out. Continue reading
Time travel has always fascinated me. When I was young I loved reading the “Suske en Wiske” comics, where a time travel machine was regularly used to help go on an adventure or help someone out. I might not read the comics anymore, but the idea of being able to visit the future or past and see what’s different from the time we live in is extremely compelling. Although I’ve seen quite a lot of movies which feature it, it turns out there are quite a lot of them which I have not seen yet. Time to change that as I’ve begun to slowly work my way through some of them, with this movie being the first. Continue reading
Growing up the visions of the year 2000 were always interesting to see and I always loved programs which showed the future. Robots would be everywhere and could do a lot. It never happened that way, but still we all have things in our house which you could label robots. Just think about a dishwasher, microwave or phone which you can actually talk to and have do things. But still, I still dream of the day that something which actually looks like what we think a robot is, will be in your home, helping you with everything only for the price of electricity and maintenance.
In the world of Robot and Frank that dream has been turned into a reality, but it doesn’t mean everyone is happy with that development. Continue reading
Movies offer a way to make dreams reality. Strange worlds which are thought up can become reality on the big screen. Christopher Nolan did it literally with Inception, showing trains travelling on roads and streets curling up. Upside Down kind of takes that last concept and creates a visually stunning world, or rather worlds as it shows twin planets, very close together.
This means that instead of the sky you will see another world (if you live at the northern part of the bottom planet). Such a concept needs its own rules of course and during the intro it is explained that each planet has its own gravity and that if an object is taking to the other world, the gravity of the originating planet will still effect it. So an object can fall up unless it is balanced out with something from the other world to weigh it down. The last rule is that objects from each world can’t touch each other too long or they will start burn up. It’s in this world the story of Adam and Eden takes place, which probably won’t surprise, is one of forbidden love. Continue reading
The Wachowskis made a big splash in the movie world when they made The Matrix, which blew away audiences. It was visually stunning and the siblings have made some interesting movies after it, like V for Vendetta and Speed Racer. With Cloud Atlas they again try to bring a spectacle to the screen, but will it wow audiences? Continue reading