With a budget of 150 million dollar, Mars Needs Moms isn’t a cheap movie. It has been produced by Robert Zemeckis’ Imagemovers, who was also responsible for The Polar Express, Beowulf and A Christmas Carol. Mars Needs Moms was a big flop and it didn’t manage to recoup its costs. Is Mars Needs Moms really such a bad movie or did it just need a good marketing push? Continue reading
You take a street kid gang, a couple of gangsters, a building block in the suburbs of London and some aliens, mix them together and the result of it is Attack the Block. Is it a result worth seeing? Continue reading
Colter Stevens (Jake Gyllenhaal), a helicopter pilot for the army, wakes up disoriented on a passenger train. He doesn’t recognise his girlfriend (Michelle Monaghan) and jumps when he sees his own reflection as he doesn’t look the way he remembers. Moments later he wakes up again, but now finds himself in a capsule in front of a monitor with a woman telling him what he should do and warps back to the train. Slowly he finds out that there is a bomb on the train and it is his assignment to find it and the person who planted it. Continue reading
During the nineties A Tribe Called Quest was one of hip hop’s biggest groups who had various hits like “Can I Kick It”, “I left my wallet in El Segundo” and “Scenario (feat. Busta Rhymes”. The group fell apart in 1998 but did get back together from time to time to do a show. They didn’t make any more albums. Michael Rapaport, who’s a big fan of hip hop, decided to make a documentary about the group, interviewing all the band’s members and capturing one of their performances during the Rock the Bells tour (which they did to support Phife Dawg as he needed money to treat his diabetes). This documentary goes back into their history, tells why they were so succesful, but also the reasons behind their breakup. Continue reading
Is it possible to successfully base a movie on a play? I can think of a couple of examples, like Chicago (which I personally didn’t like, but mr. Oscar seems to disagree), Rope and Dogville (which looks like a play, but actually wasn’t based on one). Tommy Lee Jones (who also directed this film) and Samuel L. Jackson play two men who talk for an hour and a half about existence and religion. Does The Sunset Limited manage to keep your attention? Continue reading
Sonny Boy is a movie that is an adaptation of a book with the same title, written by Annejet van der Zijl. It tells the true story of Waldemar Nods (played by Sergio Hasselbaink) who left Surinam in the twenties last century to study in the Netherlands. It’s a big change in environment and people look at him differently because of his color. He meets Rika (Ricky Koole), a mother who has left her husband together with her children. As she struggles with her ex she also has issues being able to earn enough money to keep a roof above her head. Although the two of them initially don’t have a lot of contact, but their feelings for each other grow and together they try to build a life together. Turns out that this not very easy because of their different color of skin, preconceptions and a world war. Continue reading
The Dutch film industry has produced quite a lot of fun kids movies. Films like “Het Geheim”, “Kikkerdril” and “Het Paard van Sinterklaas” are all entertaining movies for the smaller movie audience.
Beautiful Life (the Dutch title would translate to My Grandfather the Bank Robber) is another one that can be added to the list. It tells the story of a father/grandfather (Michiel Romeyn) who after the death of his wife is seen as someone with dementia. His granddaughter Grace (Zoë van der Kust) doesn’t really believe it as she sees how he is struggling with his loss. She tries to help him as much as she can. She doesn’t know her own father as she never met him. She only knows his name and that he was from Surinam (one of the former Dutch colonies). Her mother doesn’t want to tell her why he wasn’t around for her. When her grandfather shows her his picture it ignites the flame for her to begin her search for some answers to her questions. Continue reading
With Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost have proved that they have lots of chemistry together and that they can make enjoyable movies. These two friends are back now with their vision of a science fiction movie: Paul Continue reading
Just imagine that you would be able to experience everything which happens to people all around the world in a single day, what would be the impression you would get? Youtube answers this question together with Ridley Scott, Kevin MacDonald and Joe Walker. Last year they asked Youtube users to send in any video which was made on the 24th of July 2010. They received an overwhelming 4500 hours of footage and managed to cut this down to a one and a half hour film. Does Life in a Day manage to paint a stunning picture of humankind or is this movie comparable to Mr.Brainwash’s Life Remote Control in Exit Through the Gift Shop? Continue reading
Determinism and free will are two concepts that are complete opposites. Is your path through life already fixed or is it you who makes all the choices? These are the ideas that The Adjustment Bureau takes to build its story on. Matt Damon is politician David Norris, a very succesful and driven man who is about to make it big in politics and could even go as far as the White House. When he meets Elise Sellas (Emily Blunt) his life changes when he finds out that there is no such thing as coincidence. Continue reading