There are some directors who will always be named when discussing the best. Steven Spielberg is of course one of them. A director who has built up an impressive oeuvre. He was responsible for the first blockbuster in the form of Jaws, made classics such as E.T., Close Encounters of the Third Kind, the Indiana Jones films, Saving Private Ryan, Schindler’s List and many more. The documentary Spielberg looks back at his career together with him and the people he worked with. Continue reading
Tag Archives: movie
Man with a Movie Camera (1929) – Review
Man with a Movie Camera is a movie I had heard about for a long time and although I’m a huge fan of documentaries, this title never really appealed to me. My expectation of such an old film about daily life in a Russian city simply did not seemed special to me, especially because I have seen so many fantastic documentaries. Yet I have learned over the years that you should give films a chance because they can surprise you. And how glad I am that I did. Continue reading
Generation Iron 2 (2017) – Review
When you think of bodybuilding documentaries, there is probably only one you might know, Pumping Iron. It showed the rivalry between a then unknown Arnold Schwarzenegger and Lou Ferrigno, who seemed to have the greatest chance of winning the title of Mr. Olympia. Bodybuilding is a niche market, but thanks to the later career of Schwarzenegger this documentary has become known. Generation Iron from 2013 was presented as a spiritual successor, which not only Schwarzenegger and Ferrigno were part of, but which mainly focused on the battle for the title between Phil Heath and Kai Greene in 2012. The sequel also steps back into the world of bodybuilding , but shifting its focus from the competitive aspect of this sport to the sport itself and how it has changed in recent years. Continue reading
Long Shot (2017) – Review
In recent months, a number of new “true crime” documentaries have appeared on Netflix. A genre which I find very fascinating. With a length of just 39 minutes Long Shot was an interesting snack with a bizarre story. Continue reading
Out of Thin Air (2017) – Review
The fact that our memory is not always reliable has often been proven by various studies. Seeing photos or hearing stories from others, can influence us so we can recall certain events that were different in reality or did not happen at all. In Iceland in 1974, two men disappeared without trace just month from each other. It kept the country, with a relatively small population, busy for months. Who was responsible for this and why had no one been arrested? The police were under pressure and eventually arrested six people. They were held for a long time, interrogate under a lot of pressure, until they finally broke and made incriminating statements. They did so while they had no clear memory that they might have committed a murder. Yet they were all convicted. Continue reading
47 Meters Down (2017) – Review
Sometimes the path that a film travels before it eventually ends up in the cinema is strange. Sometimes there are movies that are completely finished, but end up on the shelf to ultimately never reach the cinema and only become available via VOD (and DVD / BluRay). Sometimes there is a very good reason, for example because they are terribly bad (think of Get a Job with Miles Teller, Anna Kendrick, Allison Brie and Bryan Cranston which was filmed in 2012 and released last year) but sometimes it is because studios don’t expect them to attract a large audience.
That was initially the case with 47 Meters Down. A film that would be available to buy in stores/online last year and for which the physical copies were already ready and shipped to stores. The film distributor decided to sell the rights and the new owner stopped the plans and decided to release the film in the cinema this year. That turned out to be a smart move, because this film, with a mere budget of 5.5 million dollars, eventually ended up making just over 53 million, which shows that there are still enough people who enjoy shark movies and would like to go to the cinema for them. I do not belong to this group, but the title has been available through Netflix (over in The Netherlands). Continue reading
Manifesto (2015) – Review
“All art is fake” is one of the first texts your read while watching Manifesto. Of course, this applies entirely to film, in which people pretend to be in certain situations. Nonetheless, there is an unwritten contract with the viewer in which he deliberately lets himself be deceived during the running time and plays along in pretending it is reality. Art can be something different for everyone. One person absolutely hates it, others can lose themselves in it and for those who make it, the meaning and goals are different. For decades artists try to stand out, rebel against the established order, bring something new for which they sometimes write a manifesto. Artist / director Julian Rosefeld worked with Cate Blanchett to to bring the words of various manifestos to life in various contemporary settings. Texts by, among others, Karl Marx, Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, Jim Jarmusch, Werner Herzog and Lars von Trier. Continue reading
Stronger (2017) – Review
Unfortunately, terrorist attacks are something which have become more common and are therefore also part of movies. They are usually based on real events and give the viewer a sense of hope and patriotism, in which certain individuals are always named heroes. After Patriots Day, Stronger is the second film about the attack on the Boston marathon. Yet this film approaches this terrible event from a different point of view. Continue reading
Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017) – Review
Contemporary, violent and exciting were the three qualities that I attributed to the original Kingsman film. A title that surprised me in a positive way and I looked forward to the sequel. Of course you know in advance that the initial surprise will not be there anymore (the same was the case for Guardians of the Galaxy 2 for example), but that does not have to be bad if that sequel knows how to entertain. Does Kingsman: The Golden Circle succeed in that? Continue reading
The Many Faces of… Jon Bernthal
Jon Bernthal was born on the 20th of September 1976 in Washington D.C. Although he did go to college, he decided to drop out. His acting teacher advised him to continue study acting and Bernthal moved to Russia to study at the Moscow Art Theatre. When he moved back to the U.S. he was discovered and started his career in theatre. He also started doing guest roles in various TV shows, including Boston Legal, CSI: Miami and How I Met Your Mother.
His first regular role was in the show The Class, which only ran for one season. He has played in movies like World Trade Center, Night at the Museum, The Ghost Writer, Date Night, The Wolf of Wall Street, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl and Sicario. Thanks to his roles in both The Walking Dead as Shane Walsh and Daredevil season two as The Punisher (and the recent standalone Punisher show). Interesting fact is that he has broken his nose 14 times. Continue reading