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

The Imposter (2012)

Review of the documentary The Imposter

When you are a parent, one of the most frigtening experiences is when you can’t find your child. With three kids in the house it’s one we haved experienced twice, with one of the kids not being home at the time we agreed upon. You wait a bit longer, but when they don’t show up a sense of panic starts to develop and you go out of the house to try and locate them. When you can’t you really start to freak out and even if you try to stay positive you can’t help thinking of the worst. The family of Nicholas Barclay has experienced that situation and weren’t able to find him anymore. To their surprise the got a call a couple of years later out of Spain where they heard that Nicholas was found. They must have been overjoyed by it and went to pick him up, but as the title of this documentary already suggests, they didn’t meet the person who they thought they were meeting. Continue reading

The Hunt (2012)

With Festen (1998), director Thomas Vinterberg made a very impressive movie. Even though it was shot cheaply on DV cameras it’s story was one you would not be able to forget soon as it’s about a family get together and the dark past of the father of the family who abused his children. With The Hunt Vinterberg again has made a very interesting and provocative movie about abuse, but this one’s about someone who is wrongfully accused of it. Continue reading

Metropolis (1927)

Metropolis had been on my “To watch” list for a very long time. Its history, part of the movie being discovered, the praise it has received and that iconic image of the robot were all reasons why I wanted to see this. I hadn’t seen it yet because of its length (I don’t mind silent movies), but finally managed to make the time to see this movie classic. Continue reading

Cabin in the Woods (2012)

If you’ve been reading my blog for a longer time, you know that I’m not too fond on watching horror. I wasn’t planning on watching this movie, until I saw it appearing in various lists bloggers were writing about the best movies they watched in the first half of the year. Knowing that Joss Whedon was involved I decided to give it a chance. Continue reading

The Five Year Engagement (2012)

Jason Segel is one of those actors that can really do no wrong in my book and I’ve enjoyed his presence in each movie I’ve seen him in. Ignoring the marketing (it’s usually a bad sign if a movie poster states “From the producer of…” as that says nothing about the quality of this movie) I was looking forward to seeing this movie. Continue reading

Strange Days (1995)

This is a movie you might want to watch if you are anticipating to buy those Google glasses (which allow you to record everything you see). Set in 1999, just days before the new year, Strange Days paints society as a violent one where the end of civilization might happen soon. In this world Lenny Nero (Ralph Fiennes) is a former cop who has become a dealer in experiences. A device has been developed which records everything a person experiences. Those recordings can be played back by another person who feels everything the original person does. It’s a lucrative business for Lenny, but he finds out it is a very dangerous one as well. Continue reading

Special When Lit (2009)

Before there were videogames there was pinball and it was a huge industry, even bigger than the entire American movie industry during the 50s and 60s if this documentary is to be believed. You could find pinball machines in all sort of places. They have now disappeared (well, you can still get them on your iPad although it’s not the same) and this movie tries to teach the viewer about its history and the enthusiasts who still care about them (and collect them). I did play quite a bit of pinball during the nineties, so I was interested in the story this documentary had to tell. Continue reading

The Lorax (2012)

Even though I’m in my late thirties I’m someone who can still enjoy kids movies and I’m not afraid to admit that. So after the kids went to see this a while ago and loved it so much (one of them said she preferred watching this over one of her favorite movies (Grease)) I was very interested in seeing it as well. Now that I’ve seen it what did I think of it? Continue reading