London Boulevard (2010)

London Boulevard isn’t the first gangster movie in which a criminal, in this case Mitchel (Colin Farrell), who has just been released out of prison want to leave his past behind him. “Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in” as the Godfather reminds us. Although more of these type of movies have been made it’s alway possible to tell this in an exciting new way. Is London Boulevard capable of providing this or is it comparable to a TV dinner? Continue reading

Ondine (2009)

Most of you will know the classic fairy tales. When you were a kids you heard the stories about Hansel and Gretel, little red riding hood and Snow White. These stories have been told for centuries, but despite their age they are still being told as they have some magical qualities and a deeper truth which will teach something to kids. The lessons learned are usually about the fear of something evil, which has to be defeated.
According to Wikipedia an ondine is a mythological water nymph and as it usually goes with people telling stories, they get changed and local elements are added to it. In the Irish version of the story the nymph is called a Selkies which you will see after a seal sheds of its skin to change into a human.

This movie has based its story on this fairy tale. Syracuse (Colin Farrell) is a fisherman who finds a woman in his net, Ondine (Alicja Bachleda). The woman is still alive and tells him that she wants no one to see her. Syracuse takes her to a deserted house where she’s able to stay. She joins him on some fishing trips and every time she sings a song he catches more fish than he ever does.
Syracuse is divorced and has a young daughter, Annie (Alison Barry), who’s in a wheelchair and regularly has to go to the hospital for dialysis. When she finally receives an electric wheelchair she gains a lot more freedom and go out on her own. She discovers the secret her father is keeping from her. Continue reading

Triage (2009)

Even when wars do not leave physical scars, they still can cause mental damage. Colin Farrell is war photographer Mark Walsh, who has been doing this work for years together with his good friend David. When they are working in Kurdistan they see some horrible things. Mark als want to take pictures of the fighting they see, but David wants to return home because his wife is about to give birth. When Mark returns David still is not there. Continue reading

Crazy Heart (2009)


There are a lot of movies about the lives of musicians. These can be based on real artists (Johny Cash (Walk the line), Edith Piaf (La môme), Ray Charles (Ray)) or made up (Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story). This movie is about a made up character, the artist Bad Blake (Jeff Bridges), an old musician who is experiencing the fall of his career. Continue reading

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009)

Terry Gilliam has already proved that he knows how to create believable worlds (for example Brazil or 12 Monkeys). In the Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus he proves this again. The story is about Dr. Parnassus who has made a bet with the devil and to do win it he’s travelling through Great Britain with a show. With an old-fashioned play he tries people to step into his imaginarium. When a person steps in he will be able to see all the things he is imagining. So dream worlds are created for that person Continue reading