El laberinto del fauno
Director: Guillermo del Toro
Cast: Ivana Baquero, Ariadna Gil, Maribel Verdú, Sergi López
Plot outline: Ofelia and her mother hide from the fascist government of Spain when Ofelia is led to a mysterious labyrinth by a fairy. There she meets a faun who gives her three tasks to complete before the full moon rises. Meanwhile, she has to hide her endeavours from her mother's husband, the strict capitán Vidal.
While this movie is surely intended for adults, it has an element of childisness which has nothing to do with the main character being a child. Instead, i think it is a result of the black-and-white description of the characters; either you are good, or you are bad. In reality, this is hardly ever the case. Me being a fan of the fantasy genre, howver, this didn't bother me all that much, and the movie reminded me very strongly of the Narnia chronicles. If you like them, you'll like this.
http://imdb.com/title/tt0457430/
Cast: Ivana Baquero, Ariadna Gil, Maribel Verdú, Sergi López
Plot outline: Ofelia and her mother hide from the fascist government of Spain when Ofelia is led to a mysterious labyrinth by a fairy. There she meets a faun who gives her three tasks to complete before the full moon rises. Meanwhile, she has to hide her endeavours from her mother's husband, the strict capitán Vidal.
While this movie is surely intended for adults, it has an element of childisness which has nothing to do with the main character being a child. Instead, i think it is a result of the black-and-white description of the characters; either you are good, or you are bad. In reality, this is hardly ever the case. Me being a fan of the fantasy genre, howver, this didn't bother me all that much, and the movie reminded me very strongly of the Narnia chronicles. If you like them, you'll like this.
http://imdb.com/title/tt0457430/
The Departed
Director: Martin Scorsese
Cast: Leonardo Di Caprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, Vera Farmiga
Plot outline: Frank Costello is the boss of the Irish mafia in Boston, and in order to get to him the state police uses a mole. Meanwhile, Costello has his own mole in the police force - assigned by Costello to find the leak in his ranks and by the police to find the same in their ranks.
Amazing! Wonderful! All other positive adjectives you can think of! Intriguing plot, believable characters, fantastic (!) music and a very unexpected ending. Di Caprio does his best acting since Gilbert Grape (which basically means since the beginning of his career), having matured both in looks and skill. Jack Nicholson is a perv as usual, but this time it fits his character. And the camera angles, the timing, everything's just... aaah, go see it already!
http://imdb.com/title/tt0407887/
Cast: Leonardo Di Caprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, Vera Farmiga
Plot outline: Frank Costello is the boss of the Irish mafia in Boston, and in order to get to him the state police uses a mole. Meanwhile, Costello has his own mole in the police force - assigned by Costello to find the leak in his ranks and by the police to find the same in their ranks.
Amazing! Wonderful! All other positive adjectives you can think of! Intriguing plot, believable characters, fantastic (!) music and a very unexpected ending. Di Caprio does his best acting since Gilbert Grape (which basically means since the beginning of his career), having matured both in looks and skill. Jack Nicholson is a perv as usual, but this time it fits his character. And the camera angles, the timing, everything's just... aaah, go see it already!
http://imdb.com/title/tt0407887/
Saw III
Director: Darren Lynn Bousman
Cast: Tobin Bell, Shawnee Smith, Angus Macfadyen, Bahar Soomekh
Plot outline: Jigsaw is back, and this time he has kidnapped a man who has to forgive his son's murderers. With the help of a doctor to keep him alive, Jigsaw observes how Amanda does at executing the "game".
Considering the things I had heard about the movie before seeing it - people fainting and throwing up in the theatre, I was slightly disappointed. Sure, it matched its predecessors in terms of ickishness, but some scenes (like the brain surgery performed up close) were, as my friend puts it, "more fascinating than horrifying". The revelations at the end of the movie didn't feel as surprising as they did in the previous two, but they did give you a deeper understaning for the plots in Saw I and II. On the whole, I recommend any fan of Jigsaw to go see this one as well, as they won't be disappointed.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0489270/
Cast: Tobin Bell, Shawnee Smith, Angus Macfadyen, Bahar Soomekh
Plot outline: Jigsaw is back, and this time he has kidnapped a man who has to forgive his son's murderers. With the help of a doctor to keep him alive, Jigsaw observes how Amanda does at executing the "game".
Considering the things I had heard about the movie before seeing it - people fainting and throwing up in the theatre, I was slightly disappointed. Sure, it matched its predecessors in terms of ickishness, but some scenes (like the brain surgery performed up close) were, as my friend puts it, "more fascinating than horrifying". The revelations at the end of the movie didn't feel as surprising as they did in the previous two, but they did give you a deeper understaning for the plots in Saw I and II. On the whole, I recommend any fan of Jigsaw to go see this one as well, as they won't be disappointed.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0489270/
The Devil Wears Prada
Director: David Frankel
Cast: Anne Hathaway, Meryl Streep, Stanley Tuckey, Emily Blunt
Plot outline: Andy wants to be a journalist, but the only jobs available are either on a car magasine or as the assistant of the editor of a highly noted fashion magasine. That editor turns out to be the boss from hell, however, and Andy soon realises she wil have to make difficult choices if she wants to succeed.
I was pleasantly surprised by this movie, perhaps because my expectations were so low. It was a light, funny movie, kind of predictable which is nice if you don't feel in the mood tp analyse too much. The on thing that bothered me was the "transformation" of the main character, a la "Not another teen movie" - just throw on some label clothing and suddenly the "ugly", "fat" "totally hopeless" girl is trendy, beautiful and starts to lose wheight (as if she needed to in the first place). But that's just me being cynical. Hell, it's a nice movie, go see it.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0458352/
Cast: Anne Hathaway, Meryl Streep, Stanley Tuckey, Emily Blunt
Plot outline: Andy wants to be a journalist, but the only jobs available are either on a car magasine or as the assistant of the editor of a highly noted fashion magasine. That editor turns out to be the boss from hell, however, and Andy soon realises she wil have to make difficult choices if she wants to succeed.
I was pleasantly surprised by this movie, perhaps because my expectations were so low. It was a light, funny movie, kind of predictable which is nice if you don't feel in the mood tp analyse too much. The on thing that bothered me was the "transformation" of the main character, a la "Not another teen movie" - just throw on some label clothing and suddenly the "ugly", "fat" "totally hopeless" girl is trendy, beautiful and starts to lose wheight (as if she needed to in the first place). But that's just me being cynical. Hell, it's a nice movie, go see it.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0458352/
The Grudge 2
Director: Takashi Shimizu
Cast: Amber Tamblyn, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Edison Chen, Takako Fuji
Year: 2006
Plot outline: A woman is brutally murdered by her husband in a house in Japan. According to Japanese folklore, when a person dies in rage, a curse is born in that house. Now that curse has spread beyond the walls of the house, and haunts everyone who has entered there.
This was easily the scariest horror movie I've ever seen. My friend is going to have bruises, because I was gripping her thigh so tight. Now that I look back, I realise that maybe the plot has one too many holes, and there reallt isn't anything driving the story on, and that it ends with to many loose ends hanging. But that isn't something you register when you sit in the darkness of the theater, screaming and jumping out of your seat every two seconds. Let me put it this way - I'm going to see Saw III next Friday, and it'll be a walk in the park compared to The Grudge.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Grudge_2
Cast: Amber Tamblyn, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Edison Chen, Takako Fuji
Year: 2006
Plot outline: A woman is brutally murdered by her husband in a house in Japan. According to Japanese folklore, when a person dies in rage, a curse is born in that house. Now that curse has spread beyond the walls of the house, and haunts everyone who has entered there.
This was easily the scariest horror movie I've ever seen. My friend is going to have bruises, because I was gripping her thigh so tight. Now that I look back, I realise that maybe the plot has one too many holes, and there reallt isn't anything driving the story on, and that it ends with to many loose ends hanging. But that isn't something you register when you sit in the darkness of the theater, screaming and jumping out of your seat every two seconds. Let me put it this way - I'm going to see Saw III next Friday, and it'll be a walk in the park compared to The Grudge.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Grudge_2
Thank you for smoking
Director: Jason Reitman
Cast: Aaron Eckhart, William H Macy, Cameron Bright, Katie Holmes
Year: 2005
Plot outline: Nick Naylor is a spokesperson for the company Big Tobacco. Part of the job description is facing hatred and contempt from people in the society, something Nick does with a twist of words and a smile, all in the name of promoting smoking. But his son is growing up, and now Nick needs him to understand Nick's profession without betraying his loyalty to his company.
I was expecting this to be much more satirical than it was; I felt the movie had so much potential that just wasn't utilised. At times I, as a European, had difficulties understanding some of the jokes based on references to incidents in America, but most of the time they let the many compromising situations speak for themselves. On the whole, you could get a laugh or two out of this, but if you're looking for something with more depth to reflect upon, watch Brokeback Mountain instead.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0427944/
Cast: Aaron Eckhart, William H Macy, Cameron Bright, Katie Holmes
Year: 2005
Plot outline: Nick Naylor is a spokesperson for the company Big Tobacco. Part of the job description is facing hatred and contempt from people in the society, something Nick does with a twist of words and a smile, all in the name of promoting smoking. But his son is growing up, and now Nick needs him to understand Nick's profession without betraying his loyalty to his company.
I was expecting this to be much more satirical than it was; I felt the movie had so much potential that just wasn't utilised. At times I, as a European, had difficulties understanding some of the jokes based on references to incidents in America, but most of the time they let the many compromising situations speak for themselves. On the whole, you could get a laugh or two out of this, but if you're looking for something with more depth to reflect upon, watch Brokeback Mountain instead.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0427944/
Lady in the Water
Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Cast: Paul Giamatti, Bryce Dallas Howard, Cindy Cheung
Year: 2006
Plot outline: An ancient race living in the oceans sends out their "children" to awaken mankind. Superintendent Cleveland's life will change dramatically when he finds one of them in his pool. With the help of his tenants, he tries to find a way for her to get safely back home.
What struck me about this movie is that there are no sex scenes, nor any action scenes (at least not in the traditional sense), the soppiness is kept at a minimum, and it is severely lacking a hunky main character; something I never would have expected from a film produced by Warner Brothers. It still managed to move me and fascinate, however. And despite being based on what is supposedly an asian bedtime story, you don't feel out of place as an adult or teen watching it in a theatre. It is a go see.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0452637/
Cast: Paul Giamatti, Bryce Dallas Howard, Cindy Cheung
Year: 2006
Plot outline: An ancient race living in the oceans sends out their "children" to awaken mankind. Superintendent Cleveland's life will change dramatically when he finds one of them in his pool. With the help of his tenants, he tries to find a way for her to get safely back home.
What struck me about this movie is that there are no sex scenes, nor any action scenes (at least not in the traditional sense), the soppiness is kept at a minimum, and it is severely lacking a hunky main character; something I never would have expected from a film produced by Warner Brothers. It still managed to move me and fascinate, however. And despite being based on what is supposedly an asian bedtime story, you don't feel out of place as an adult or teen watching it in a theatre. It is a go see.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0452637/