Tag Archives: 2008

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Speed Racer (2008)

After the success of the Matrix trilogy (of which I think only the first one was really good) the Wachowskis were a “hot property” in Hollywood. With their love for comics, they wrote them for Marvel before they started making movies, they adapted V for Vendetta to the big screen. It turned out that this wasn’t their last comic book adaptation as they decided to make Speed Racer their next project. Although the original was a popular manga in Japan, it became big in the US as well when it broadcasted as a cartoon during the sixties. For the movie adaptation they received a budget of 120 million and they have managed to create a unique movie. Continue reading →

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Starz Inside: Fantastic Flesh (2008)

Practical effects slowly seem to become a dying art as CGI has taken over most of the effect work. Of course a lot is still done with prosthetic makeup, but working with miniatures and building creatures is becoming a thing of the past. When the first Star Wars trilogy came out a lot of practical effects were used whereas the second trilogy mainly used green screen and everything else being generated by computers. Often the result of this is that a lot just doesn’t feel real, it just seems to be too perfect. Fantastic Flesh shows the practical side of effects work and is a fantastic look into this amazing world of “screen magic”. Continue reading →

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Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father (2008)

Andrew Bagby is a 28-year-old medical student who starts a relationship with 41-year-old Shirley Jane Turner. Although his parents and friends get a weird feeling about it, it seems that she makes him happy, at least for a while. He decides to end the relationship, but it’s something Turner can’t handle and his lifeless body is found in a park. It’s a big shock to his family and friends, which gets bigger once they find out that she is pregnant with his child.

When director Kurt Kuenne, one of his childhood friends with whom he made a lot of home movies, hears the story he decides to make a documentary about Andrew. The goal is that this can be shown to his son Zachary when he’s older. This way he can learn who his father was. This movie is more than just a story about Andrew. It is one of the most emotionally gripping documentaries I’ve ever seen. Continue reading →

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Speed Scandle (2008)

Hyeon-su Nam (Cha Tae-Hyun) is a succesful radio DJ, with a lot of listeners who regularly tune in to hear his show. Besides playing music he regularly has conversations with callers about their relationships. One of them is telling him that she has some issues with her father who has become a grandfather as well and he advises her to meet up with him and make him a meal.
When he finally gets home a young woman, Jeong-nam Hwang (Bo-yeong Park) is waiting in front of his door together with her son Ki-dong Hwang (Wang Seok-Hyeon). He thinks that they have the wrong address, but Jeong-nam tells him that she is his daughter and that he’s a grandfather too. It’s a dark cloud in Hyeon-su Nam’s perfect life which he really can’t get rid of soon Continue reading →

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The Human Experience (2008)

According to the official movie site this documentary should be giving answers to questions like: Who am I? Who is Man? Why do we search for meaning? These are very interesting questions and two brothers (Jeffrey en Clifford Azize) try to find the answers. They do this by living as the homeless, travel to Peru and visit Ghana. Does this movie show what the human experience is? Continue reading →

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The Chaser (2008)

An agent that has become a pimp, Women that disappear and a serial killer are the ingredients for The Chaser, a South Korean crime thriller. Joong-ho (Yun-seok Kim) runs an escort company and notices that a couple of the women he is using are not coming back. When he sends one of his girls, Mi-jin (Yeong-hie Seo), to a customer he finds out that he has sent her to the same customer the other girls went after they disappeared. He decides to track him down as he’s worried about Mi-jin. He managed to find him (a role excellently played by Jung-woo Ha), but there is no trace of the woman. When both of them are arrested it’s the start of an exciting search for the missing woman in a race against the clock. Continue reading →

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The Happening (2008)

Before I watched The Happening I already heard a lot of bad stories about it. M. Night Shyamalan supposedly was losing his magic touch he once possessed. Of course I like to make up my own mind about things, so decided to watch The Happening myself.
A word of warning: Normally I try not to spoil too much about what happens in a movie, but for this one I’m going to make a big exception. So if you don’t want to read spoilers stop reading now. Lees verder

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The Good, the Bad, the Weird (2008)

Nope, it’s not a typo, this movie is really called The Good The Bad The Weird. It’s got nothing to do with Sergio Leone and you won’t see Clint Eastwood acting in it. Despite this it is very clear that The Good, The Bad and The Ugly has had a big influence on this Korean Western. South Korea has a big movie industry and manages to deliver some great quality film like Old Boy. Is this western just as good? Continue reading →

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The Brothers Bloom (2009)

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 →

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Edison and Leo (2008)

Clay is something which kids can really go crazy with. Of course it’s also perfect to use it for stop motion films. The best examples are of course the Wallace and Grommit movies. Edison and Leo also belongs to this genre and tells the story of the Edison family. Edison is an inventor who has secluded himself from the rest of the world, he’s put up a high electrified fence making his house almost impenetrable. There are times when he does leave his house to “borrow” some ideas, but doesn’t do this often. He has two sons who are schooled at home and believe what they have been told by their parents about the world outside the fence.
When Edison finds his wife badly hurt he takes a train to and indian tribe who posses a magical light book and who are able to cure her. Edison decides to steal their book which results in the indians losing their powers. They decide to get their book back. Continue reading →