Man with a Movie Camera is a movie I had heard about for a long time and although I’m a huge fan of documentaries, this title never really appealed to me. My expectation of such an old film about daily life in a Russian city simply did not seemed special to me, especially because I have seen so many fantastic documentaries. Yet I have learned over the years that you should give films a chance because they can surprise you. And how glad I am that I did. Continue reading
Generation Iron 2 (2017) – Review
When you think of bodybuilding documentaries, there is probably only one you might know, Pumping Iron. It showed the rivalry between a then unknown Arnold Schwarzenegger and Lou Ferrigno, who seemed to have the greatest chance of winning the title of Mr. Olympia. Bodybuilding is a niche market, but thanks to the later career of Schwarzenegger this documentary has become known. Generation Iron from 2013 was presented as a spiritual successor, which not only Schwarzenegger and Ferrigno were part of, but which mainly focused on the battle for the title between Phil Heath and Kai Greene in 2012. The sequel also steps back into the world of bodybuilding , but shifting its focus from the competitive aspect of this sport to the sport itself and how it has changed in recent years. Continue reading
Long Shot (2017) – Review
In recent months, a number of new “true crime” documentaries have appeared on Netflix. A genre which I find very fascinating. With a length of just 39 minutes Long Shot was an interesting snack with a bizarre story. Continue reading
Out of Thin Air (2017) – Review
The fact that our memory is not always reliable has often been proven by various studies. Seeing photos or hearing stories from others, can influence us so we can recall certain events that were different in reality or did not happen at all. In Iceland in 1974, two men disappeared without trace just month from each other. It kept the country, with a relatively small population, busy for months. Who was responsible for this and why had no one been arrested? The police were under pressure and eventually arrested six people. They were held for a long time, interrogate under a lot of pressure, until they finally broke and made incriminating statements. They did so while they had no clear memory that they might have committed a murder. Yet they were all convicted. Continue reading
47 Meters Down (2017) – Review
Sometimes the path that a film travels before it eventually ends up in the cinema is strange. Sometimes there are movies that are completely finished, but end up on the shelf to ultimately never reach the cinema and only become available via VOD (and DVD / BluRay). Sometimes there is a very good reason, for example because they are terribly bad (think of Get a Job with Miles Teller, Anna Kendrick, Allison Brie and Bryan Cranston which was filmed in 2012 and released last year) but sometimes it is because studios don’t expect them to attract a large audience.
That was initially the case with 47 Meters Down. A film that would be available to buy in stores/online last year and for which the physical copies were already ready and shipped to stores. The film distributor decided to sell the rights and the new owner stopped the plans and decided to release the film in the cinema this year. That turned out to be a smart move, because this film, with a mere budget of 5.5 million dollars, eventually ended up making just over 53 million, which shows that there are still enough people who enjoy shark movies and would like to go to the cinema for them. I do not belong to this group, but the title has been available through Netflix (over in The Netherlands). Continue reading
Manifesto (2015) – Review
“All art is fake” is one of the first texts your read while watching Manifesto. Of course, this applies entirely to film, in which people pretend to be in certain situations. Nonetheless, there is an unwritten contract with the viewer in which he deliberately lets himself be deceived during the running time and plays along in pretending it is reality. Art can be something different for everyone. One person absolutely hates it, others can lose themselves in it and for those who make it, the meaning and goals are different. For decades artists try to stand out, rebel against the established order, bring something new for which they sometimes write a manifesto. Artist / director Julian Rosefeld worked with Cate Blanchett to to bring the words of various manifestos to life in various contemporary settings. Texts by, among others, Karl Marx, Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, Jim Jarmusch, Werner Herzog and Lars von Trier. Continue reading
The Ten: Best Christmas Movies – Relay race
December has started, which means a lot of people are already decorating the house and getting a christmas tree. Time to make the house feel cosy and warm and of course watch Christmas movies together. But which are the best ones?
The goal of this new relay race is to find an answer to that question. The rules are, just like the past relay races (which I did ages ago), very simple: The list has 10 Christmas movies (in random order) and when the baton is handed over to a new blogger, he or she has to remove one title of the list (with an explanation why) and add one new title. Once that is done a new blogger is contacted who will take the baton and run with it, doing the same (you can reinstate a title which has been previously removed). As Christmas is in three weeks I want to ask you to publish your entry as quickly as possible to make sure the list changes as much as possible before the 25th of December. Add the logo of this relay race to your post and also add links to those who came before you making it easy for everyone to find all the entries. Now on to the initial 10 movies! Continue reading
The Monday Question: What are your favourite visual moments in movies?
As a movie lover you want to be surprised. A good movie is able to do that, but also lesser films can have moments you didn’t expect or make a profound impression on you. It’s for those moments you watch them. Whether that’s the chase in Children of Men, the destruction of a space station in Gravity or the breathtaking moments in Mad Max: Fury Road.
Those are just a couple of moments from the top of my head. All personal favourites which are part of fantastic films, but the following moment which comes from the movie Upside Down, is also very high on my list. In this movie two planets are right next to each other. The object of each world are pulled to their own respective world. So if you want to visit the other one you have to wear things heavier than you from the other world to stay there. That’s what the main character is this film does. The problem though is that after a while the contact between these two worlds mean that the object will start to catch fire. That’s what has happened here, so the character has jumped into sea and swam away from sure to get rid of his weight and “fall” back to his own world. It’s a breath taking moment which I’ve watched a lot:
What are your favourite visual moments in movies?
Stronger (2017) – Review
Unfortunately, terrorist attacks are something which have become more common and are therefore also part of movies. They are usually based on real events and give the viewer a sense of hope and patriotism, in which certain individuals are always named heroes. After Patriots Day, Stronger is the second film about the attack on the Boston marathon. Yet this film approaches this terrible event from a different point of view. Continue reading
Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017) – Review
Contemporary, violent and exciting were the three qualities that I attributed to the original Kingsman film. A title that surprised me in a positive way and I looked forward to the sequel. Of course you know in advance that the initial surprise will not be there anymore (the same was the case for Guardians of the Galaxy 2 for example), but that does not have to be bad if that sequel knows how to entertain. Does Kingsman: The Golden Circle succeed in that? Continue reading