Two Men. Bound to Al-Qaeda. Divided by Fate.
This is the tagline that is used for this documentary about two men that both had ties to Al-Qaeda. Salim Hamdan has been locked up in Guantanomo Bay after being captured in Afghanistan. He was Osama Bin Laden’s driver. The other man is Abu Jandal, who was Bin Laden’s bodyguard. The latter one is now a taxi driver in Yemen. 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
Is it possible to make a movie in just one location and make it interesting? Hitchcock has shown it can be done with the now classic Rear Window. Another movie (which has more locations, but does end up in one location for a long time) is Phone Booth with Colin Farrell (have seen it many times). A third example is of course Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs, which almost feels like a play. In all these movies the actors are not alone on the screen as there are other characters the those main characters are interacting with. This is not the case with Buried.
During 95 minutes you are looking at Paul Conroy (Ryan Reynolds), a truck driver who was working in Iraq, who has been trapped in a coffin, buried. The only things he has are a Blackberry, a Zippo, a pencil and some glow sticks. Does this setting work as good as in the other movies that are set in one location? Continue reading
Before I watched this documentary I actually didn’t know much about Joan Rivers. Sure I had heard her name and saw pictures of her, but I had no idea who she was and what she was doing. This documentary brings you up to speed in no time. Joan Rivers is a comedian who worked for the Late Night Show with Johny Carson for years, which made her very popular. She’s 75 now, but doesn’t think about retiring. Continue reading
Over the years there have so many movies about boxers. Of course the most famous movies are the Rocky films and when you look at the pictures of The Fighter you’d expect a similar kind of movie. Although there are some things that are the same, the focus is not as much on the fighting as you’d expect. Continue reading
Tangled is based on the brothers Grimm story of Rapunzel. Disney has taken this original story and modified it heavily. Rapunzel’s hair is magical and can give back youth and heal wounds when a magical song is sung. Rapunzel also doesn’t stay in her tower as long as was the case in the original story and there is no prince involved.
Did Disney change too much of the story or has it managed to give it a nice new twist to give it a breath of fresh air? Continue reading
When I read the first news about The Social Network, my first reaction was one of dislike. I really wasn’t looking forward to a movie about Facebook. So I didn’t pay attention any news about it at all until the reviews came pouring in on Twitter. They were all so positive about the film that I decided to give it a chance and I was pleasantly surprised by it. Continue reading
17-year-old Ree Dolly (Jennifer Lawrence) doesn’t have an easy existence. She lives together with her younger brother and sister and her mother, who has some mental issues, on the countryside of America. Life is already very hard, but when she hears that her father has put up their house in order to make bail it all becomes worse. If he doesn’t show up on his court date it will mean that her world will collapse.
The only thing she can do is to start searching for her father. Her environment is very hostile towards her, which only makes her search more difficult. Continue reading
Chocolate is my personal addiction, whether it’s some M&M’s or a candy bar, it’s something I eat almost every day. It turns out that behind the wonderful taste which can make a person very happy, there is also a darker side. In this documentary Roberto Romano decides to investigate stories about child labor during the production and harvesting of cocoa beans. Continue reading
When you look at the scores on IMDB for Tyler Perry movies you’ll notice one thing, which is that almost all his movies have a score of 4 or lower. Despite this fact he has made a lot of movies, is succesful and even Oprah Winfrey recommends his films. So why do the movies receive such low scores? For Colored Girls is not the first Tyler Perry movie I’ve seen. I’ve seen the movies starring Perry himself as Madea and Why Did I Get Married Too. One thing is clear with these movies, which is that it’s obvious that they have their own target audience. I should have looked at the title more closely and read it as a manual. Continue reading