Alive Inside (2014)

Recensie Alive Inside
That in many countries the average age is rising, isn’t surprising. After the second world war there was a “babyboom” and the people born then are all reaching their seventies. Getting older unfortunately also means that the body can start funcitoning less than optimal which for some results in dementia. This doesn’t only impact the person, but also the people around him/her. Those who don’t have anyone (or where others can’t take care of them anymore) end up in nursing homes. Because of limited budgets this often means that those people don’t get the attention they need. Their memory slowly disappears and what is left is only the shell of a human. The documentary Alive Inside take a look at the effect music can have on them, with surprising results. Continue reading

Labyrinthus (2014)

Review Labyrinthus

When it comes to children’s tv and movies there is one company which pretty much dominates that market, which is the Belgian Studio 54 which has a wide range of successful franchises. You’d almost forget that other companies make movies as well, but Labyrinthus is a great example of one checking out. An exciting movie for the older kids. Continue reading

John Wick (2014)

Review John Wick

The gunkata is back! There is no doubt in the back of my mind that the main character in this movie, John Wick (Keanu Reeves), must have seen Equilibrium quite a few times and studied it to perfection. The grace with which he moves with his guns while eliminating foes left and right is similar to that of an armed ballerina. Before you get to see that ballet of violence though the movie introduces him as a man grieving the death of his wife. When he gets a last, unexpected gift delivered to his house from her it means a lot to him.

John Wick drives a classic car and when he is at a gas station a Russian man, Iosef Tarasov (Alfie Allen), tells him he would like to buy it. John tells him it isn’t for sale, but that same evening his house is violently broken into. When he finds out that the person behind it is the son of a former employer he has to head back into a world he had left behind. Continue reading

Let’s Be Cops (2014)

review let's be cops

Is it possible to take only a small premise, in this case two guys pretending to be cops, and turn that into a feature length movie? My expectations were that it would quickly into a way too long drawn out sketch that spread itself too thin and not worth watching. But as I’m always curious I had to find out if this movie really was what I was expecting. Continue reading

Hercules (2014)

Review Hercules

How do legends form? How is it possible that some stories are forgotten within a few months, but others are still read centuries later and are still being told? Could it be because a specific story holds a lesson, like the well-known fairytales do? Or is it because the story is so unbelievable that it is exactly that which inspires its listener/reader? The admiration only increasing the more beautiful the story is, even if it might not be grounded in reality. It is something the best movies do. This one looks at the legend of Hercules. The son of the god Zeus who managed to defeat an unbeatable lion or who cut off the heads of the Hydra. Continue reading

Transformers: Age of Extinction (2014)

Review Transformers Age of Extinction

Are reviews responsible for the success of a movie? If you look at the ones for the Transformers movies you have to conclude that they are completely useless. According to Rotten Tomatoes half of the review for the first movie were positive, but after it the percentage quickly dropped (Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen 19%, Transformers: Dark of the Moon 36%). This movie only managed to get 18% of positive reviews. Despite that the movies have been a huge success. Does this mean that the reviewers don’t know how to review or have they lost their feeling with their audience? I have to admit that I don’t go to the cinema to watch these movies, but that at home I do consider them “guilty pleasures”. Continue reading

Atari: Game Over (2014)

Review Atari: Game Over

When you google for the worst games ever, chances are that the E.T. game for the Atari 2600 will be mentioned. When it is mentioned it usually also mentions that the game was responsible for the videogame crash of the eighties and that Atari has had thousands of unsold cartridges buried in the New Mexico desert. Whether that was true, was doubted regularly.

I have to admit that when I received the game as a kid I actually had a great time with it and finished the game various times. The game consisted of holes you had to drop yourself into to find parts of phone you could use to finally “call home” and be taken by the spaceship. Atari: Game Over looks at the history of the game company itself, but also wants to investigate whether those cartridges were indeed buried in the desert. Continue reading

The Interview (2014)

Review The Interview

If there is one thing The Interview will be remembered for it will be it controversy surround the movie and not the movie itself. During the past few weeks it was reported that Sony had been hacked by a group calling themselves “Guardians of Peace”. They stole a big amount of business sensitive data. This resulted in various movies hitting the internet before their release in cinemas and both internal mails and personal details being published. Threats followed, saying that cinemas showing The Interview could face events that would remember people of 9/11. The hackers group allegedly had ties with North Korea and as the movie is about killing its leader, Kim Jung Un, it would be the reason for the hack.

Initially Sony caved into the demands and issued a statement that the movie wouldn’t be released anymore after all the big American chains pulled out of showing it. Even president Obama responded and said not showing the film wasn’t a wise choice. On Christmas evening though Sony announced that the movie would be available immediately on various VOD platforms like Youtube, Google Play en Xbox. It’s a unique situation that such a “big” movie is offered in such a way to the consumer. The next couple of weeks will show if this strategy has meant financial success for Sony. If that is the case it could open the doors to other studios releasing their movies in this way as well. It would finally give the choice to the consumer to watch the movie at home immediately or head to the cinema. But back to The Interview. Has the controversy about it been valid? Continue reading

Bad Neighbours (2014)

Review Bad Neighbours

When I lived in an apartment a couple years ago I was lucky that the neighbours downstairs and me had a good understanding. It meant we both could play music/watch movies at considerable volume without this resulting in problems. When those neighbours left I had to wait and see what type of people would move in. Luckily the arrangement remained the same. But after a while I started having an issue with them as they would play the same song everyday for hours and continued to do so for weeks. The bassline of the song started to get on my nerves and I started wondering how to address this, because of course you run the risk of upsetting the “natural balance”, which could result in escalation. I decided to go in friendly and luckily they understood and we could both continue the way we always did. For Mac (Seth Rogen) and Kelly (Rose Byrne) Radner it turns out differently. Continue reading