Tag Archives: 2012

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The Thieves (2012)

Review of the Korean film The Thieves

The Thieves could easily be compared to a movie like Ocean’s Eleven. With a star-studded cast of well-known Asian actors from Korea, Japan and Malaysia, including Yun-seok Kim (The Chaser, Nameless Gangster, The Yellow Sea), Simon Yam and Gianna Jun (My Sassy Girl), the movie tells the story of several crews working together to pull off a big heist in a casino in Macau. The movie was a smash hit and was seen by almost 13 million people when it was playing in the cinema. Unfortunately it seems that in the west it hasn’t received the attention it deserves. Continue reading →

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Celeste & Jesse Forever (2012)

Review of the movie Celeste and Jesse Forever (2012)

Breaking up is one of the hardest decisions to make and after having been married for a while Celeste (Rashida Jones) and Jesse (Andy Samberg) decide to separate. The only thing though is that you wouldn’t be able to tell. They still spend all their time together, doing fun things and joking together. Their friends even freak out about it, how can you decide to separate, but remain so close? Even as you are watching it you see their chemistry. Is it possible to be and stay friends? Continue reading →

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The Impossible (2012)

Review of The Impossible, tsunami

There are some events which you will never forget. Whether it’s the death of a celebrity (like Michael Jackson or Whitney Houston) or big events. 9/11 immediately springs to mind, but the tsunami on December 26, 2004 is another big one. Almost 230,000 died as a result, a number you can’t imagine. This movie tells the story of one family during this horrible event. It is based on the story of a real Spanish family. Continue reading →

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The Sessions (2012)

The Sessions review, Helen Hunt, sex, naked

Being human means having some very basic needs. We want to be able to keep ourselves warm with a roof over our heads and enjoy our food. The need for affection and love is very strong too, coded into our DNA. We need to reproduce in order to secure that DNA and make sure a part of us keeps living. Mark O’Brien (John Hawkes) also has these needs, but because of polio can’t move his muscles. He can talk and move his head slightly, but he needs constant help and can’t survive for more than three hours without his iron lung, a big machine which helps him to breathe. He’s very religious and a poet and despite his disability leads a life in which he does achieve a lot. He knows that despite his mental health (and wealth) his body will give up long before he wants it to. At age 38 he has never had sex and when he is asked to write an article about the problems disabled people have with sex he decides he also wants to experience it. Continue reading →

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Alex Cross (2012)

Review of Alex Cross movie

With all the various versions of Sherlock Holmes out there you could mistake Alex Cross (Tyler Perry) for the next version. This is a guy who can look at a scene and immediately know exactly what kind of person has done it and why. Situational-awareness does not even begin to describe him; I bet he would clean up at partycasino.com, simply due to the fact that he would have his opponents figured out before the flop even hits the table. His wife can’t surprise him about her pregnancy because even though she hid it he already know because of some missing or new things in the house. He’s a cop who seems to be able to solve everything and is called out to check out a murder scene, which was executed by one of the best hitmen there is, Picasso (Matthew Fox). Will he be able to catch him? Continue reading →

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Pitch Perfect (2012)

Review of the movie Pitch Perfect with Anna Kendrick

There are some movies which seem to fly underneath the radar and don’t get the attention they deserve. I hadn’t heard of Pitch Perfect before until I saw it reviewed on a fellow blogger’s site. I saw the poster and looked at the trailer (because I expected not to watch it) and really wasn’t sold on it. Then more positive reviews started coming in and I just couldn’t ignore the movie. Is it really perfect or slightly out of tune? Continue reading →

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Zero Dark Thirty (2012)

Review of the movie Zero Dark Thirty

From the moment Zero Dark Thirty starts you know you will be subjected to tough material to watch. With nothing on the screen you hear the panicked calls made from the WTC on 9/11. It is still unsettling to hear and it sets the mood, your mind preparing itself for anything, knowing the movie is based on first hand accounts of actual events. As a viewer you see the circumstances in which suspected terrorists are questioned, all to find the most wanted man in the world, Osama Bin Laden. Directed by Kathryn Bigelow, who previously was responsible for the Hurt Locker again deals with a realistic depiction of war, the war on terror. Continue reading →

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Upside Down (2012)

Kirsten Dunst in the sci fi movie Upside Down review

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 →

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My Filmyear: 2012

Overview of the movies seen in 2012, best worst and favorite films

As the year is almost at its end, it’s time to look back at the past year, both in blogging and in movies.

At the beginning of the year I had three movie related New Year’s resolutions:

1. Try to see more movies at the cinema
2. Having seen at least 225 movies out of the IMDB top 250
3. Write more articles (instead of mostly reviews)

I’m happy to say that I managed to realise all of them. I saw 33 movies at the cinema, way more than I did the year before and I reached my IMDB goal at the end of November. Continue reading →

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Arbitrage (2012)

Review of the movie Arbitrage starring Richard Gere

It’s been ages since I’ve last seen Richard Gere in anything (from the top of my head it was 2002’s The Mothman Prophecies, but a fact check at IMDB shows it was 2009’s Brooklyn’s Finest) and since I do think he’s a good actor I was interested in seeing him in a starring role again. He plays Robert Miller, a very succesful businessman who is about to sell his company for hundreds of millions and will be set for life. At first glance his life seems perfect. He can spend time with his wife Ellen (Susan Sarandon) and children (who both work at his company) and lives in luxury. Behind that facade though there are a lot of dark secrets which he has kept from the ones closest to him and as events happen it seems he can no longer keep those a secret very long. Continue reading →