Dream a little dream...

Inception (2010)

Well finally had the chance to watch this on BD as I missed it on the theatres. Being raved about it by all my friends some praising it to be the best movie ever made, I had quite high expectations. It turned out that I hoped way too much as it left me quite cold. The biggest problem was the story which was more like a Swiss cheese with all of it's plot holes. Also the dilemmas the story raised were not exactly interesting, leaving the movie emotionally very shallow. The emotional driving force a man's quest to return to his children was very superficial and thus left way too shallow to be interesting enough. Another problem was the industrial mogul's son played by Cillian Murphy. Nothing wrong with the performance, but the character was a bit of an miss, to me he seemed like a good choice to be running his dad's empire so the whole "planting" lost a lot of it's edge. So the emotional storyline and the characters were way too superficial for a movie like this. Other than that the story worked quite well and I liked the way it used the dream "layers" to it's advantage. Sure it opened up a whole lot more plot holes, but that didn't matter so much. The movie looked and sounded nice with some quite impressive scenes. Though I was a bit disapointed on how plain the dream worlds were. Sure they were supposed to be as close to real world as possible but on the parts when things went a bit different I would have hoped a bit more imaginative take on them. The movie was also a bit too long and even though the whole technology and theory behind the dream stealing was left nicely vague, there was a bit too much explaining monologue for my taste. All in all an interesting and entertaining thrill ride, but unfortunately it has so much more potential than what was used that it falls into the vast void of barely above mediocrity movies.
70%

Following Christopher Nolan

Following (1998)

A story about a man who likes to follow people to study them for his book. He meets a burglar who teaches him the tricks of the trade. I usually don't put any spoilers on my reviews but this movie's good and bad parts come from the twist in the end that has to be spoiled a bit to tell you what worked and what didn't. I'm just going to say if you liked Memento, you'll probably find this one interesting too and can stop reading here if you want to keep some of the surprise. The movie is built so that it moves in three layers in different times towards the big twist in the end. And the twist is what makes and unfortunately breaks this movie. It's quite clever and all the pieces of the puzzle fall nicely into place, but I just have to wonder why would a mob hitman go through all that trouble. Wouldn't it be easier to just take out the lady if she's trouble and get yourself an alibi. Oh well it's a nice movie, but a bit far fetched. The cast was quite good and you can clearly see the themes of Memento popping up.
66%

I couldn't review the rest of Christopher Nolan's movies with the Batman movies nor with the short movies, so I'll put the missing few here. You can find The Dark Knight and Batman Begins here and Doodlebug here.



The Prestige (2006)

This was a huge surprise when I saw it. I had already seen The Illusionist which is very similar in themes and released at the same time. I didn't really like it that much so somehow I wasn't expecting much from this one either. Well this turned out to be a brilliant movie. The mood, the looks and the cast are all top class with a good story with nice twists to keep it interesting.
90%



Insomnia (2002)

Remake of Erik Skjoldbjaerg's Insomnia. Doesn't bring anything worth while to the old movie, but the great cast keeps it interesting. This one proves the point again that great comedians make the best villains as Robin Williams is quite amazing as the twisted killer. And of course Al Pacino makes a great role as the insomniac detective. But other than the great cast, this offers very little new if you've seen the original and that makes it quite redundant.
68%



Memento (2000)

I think this is a bit over rated. I mean it's a great movie, but isn't really worth all the praise it gets. It's relying heavily on one twist and the fact it's told from the end to the start. If you'd turn the narration around it would be barely average movie, but that's what makes it special. It tells us nothing new, but it tells it in a way we aren't used to and thus making it seem fresh. But that's where it also fails to be a masterpiece. It only works once. Next time you see it, it's the barely average crime thriller, nothing else. Brilliant movie for one watch, but don't spoil it with another.
81%

A mixed bag of shorts

Cinema 16: European Short Films

A collection of short films from selected European directors. I'll go thru them one by one as they are individual pieces, with very little in common, just put together on this DVD.

01 The Man Without a Head (2003) by Juan Solanas

The title says the general idea, a man without a head is searching for his identity. This is stunnigly well made and quite a great little movie. The look and the feel is somewhat similar to Jean-Pierre Jeunet's movies, which is a great thing of course. And the visual part is what makes this one worth watching as it's pure eye candy.
86%

02 Wasp (2003) by Andrea Arnold

A poor unfit mother with four children looking for a solution to her problems from a man in a pub while her children are left to take care of eachother outside the pub. Filled with unglorified realism and raw emotions. Quite a sad little story and you definitely feel sorry for the children, certainly not a feel good movie. Guess I had the wrong mood for this one as it didn't strike me that well, even thou it's a strong movie.
49%

03 Doodlebug (1997) by Christopher Nolan

Early short film from Christopher Nolan, the man behind Memento and The Dark Knight. Can't say anything about the story as it's only 3 minutes long and runs on one idea. The idea is quite nice, but the outcome is a bit too predictable. As a curiosity it was nice to see this one, but in the end it wasn't that special.
49%

04 World of Glory (1991) by Roy Andersson

Roy Andersson is one of the best Swedish filmmakers. It's really a shame he makes movies so seldom. This is him at his best, similar to Songs from the Second Floor, a bizarre, weird, drop dead funny, dark comic piece of art. This man is a genius.
99%

05 Je t'aime John Wayne (2000) by Toby MacDonald

Ok, this movie is supposed to work better if you've seen Breathless by Jean-Luc Godard. Well it should be put IF you like Breathless, you might get more sense out of it. I've seen the movie and still this didn't strike me on any level. A dull movie with superficial characters and little to nothing to offer.
14%

06 Gasman (1997) by Lynne Ramsay

Well made, but quite predictable and pointless. What I liked about this one was the way it was shot, it looked really good. The characters were believable and the cast seemed to hadle the roles nicely, even thou the brittish dialect they were speaking wasn't the easiest to understand. But what I didn't like was the plot, or the lack of it. It was too predictable and pointless, it left me wondering did I miss some higher meaning or what? I got the point and even guessed the title's part of it, but it was a bit of an anticlimax.
40%

07 Jabberwocky (1971) by Jan Svankmajer

Jan Svankmajer, famous for his stop motion meat animations, is the man behind this crazy work. The stop motion animation is good quality and some of the stuff is quite brilliant. But this has no point what so ever, it's just crazy scene after another. And unfortunately it get a bit boring after a while for example to see the cat jump out again. As a shorter version and with a bit more easily approachable point this could have been a masterpiece, but now it feels like it's just visual art put together without any end goal.
41%

08 Fierrot le pou (1990) by Mathieu Kassovitz

An early film from Mathieu Kassovitz, who made the masterpiece La Haine. Well, this was entertaining enough, but left me cold at the end. Again there's no point in this one, well except the obvious white men can't jump. It was well made and the cast was suiting, but left me wondering why did they make it, didn't get the point if it had any.
29%

09 Rabbit (2005) by Run Wrake

The animation looks like it's from an old children's book, but it tells a grim tale about greed. The contrast between the candy colored animation and the quite horrible story is what's best in this one. Definitely a big positive surprise.
78%

10 Copy Shop (2001) by Virgil Widrich

Funny little film about a man who seems to be copying himself endlessly. Brilliantly made, thou at parts the paper effects were a bit annoying. Reminded me of some of the great silent era films, I could imagine Buster Keaton running around like that. Very nice movie.
81%

11 Boy and Bicycle (1965) by Ridley Scott

Ridley Scott's early student work starring none other than his brother Tony Scott. Both brilliant movie makers today, but as we can see from this one, even the best have to start from somewhere. As the title says it's a story about a boy who's riding around a small coastal English town. He's sharing his frustration with the viewer by a voiceover of his thoughts as he's pondering on about life. The text is quite corny and the movie is rather dull. Thou it looks good and some of the compositions are quite brilliant. For a true Ridley Scott fan this is a must see, but the rest can live without it.
44%

12 Nocturne (1980) by Lars Von Trier

Experimental nonsese. That's about all I can come up with this one. Sure some shots looked quite good, the start and the birds, but it had no point what so ever.
18%

13 Before Dawn (2005) by Balint Kenyeres

Wow. The whole movie is one 12 minutes long shot and what a shot it is. Stunnigly beautiful and even thou there's not much actually happening it's surprisingly touching. Sure there's some action, with cars and helicopters moving around, but there's no dialog except for a few shouts. And still it manages to tell a touching story. Hats off for this one.
95%

14 Election Night (1998) by Anders Thomas Jensen

A man remembers he forgot to vote and rushes to the voting polls before they close. On the way he meets a variety of cab drivers who are all in a way racists. This movie was quite cleverly written and nicely avoids being overly preachy. Loved the end twist in all it's irony. Not the most realistic movie, but still very enjoyable.
70%

15 Six Shooter (2004) by Martin McDonagh

Was looking forward for this one as I really loved In Bruges. This was a dark and quite brutal comedy about a man who meets a weird young man on a train. They seem to be from totally different worlds, but there's more than meets the eye. Was a bit of a disapointment as I guess I set my hopes too high. Still it was funny enough to keep me entertained and definitely worth the watch.
72%

16 Opening Day of Close-Up (1996) by Nanni Moretti

A documentary like piece about a man who runs a chain of theatres. This was a bit of an bad ending to the fine DVD as this movie is just boring. Yes it has some nice points about independent films versus the big blockbusters, but it doesn't really give you anything new.
20%

All in all this DVD is quite a mixed selection of shorts, ranging from the utter crap to the masterpieces. Definitely worth watching thou as the gems outshine the bad taste from the rotten ones.

All about Batman

The Dark Knight (2008)

This movie was hyped to the point it became ridiculous, I mean in the end no movie can live up to the praises this movie got. So I was a bit scared to go and see it as I already knew my expectations were too high. Well it turned out it really was a brilliant movie. Not only is it probably the best super hero movie ever made, it's also one of the best action movies ever made and all together quite brilliant piece of work. But it surely isn't the best movie ever made, it's "just" a great movie. First the most notable, Heath Ledger as Joker. All those people who say that the hype about his performance wouldn't have been so big had he not died haven't seen this movie. It's truly one of the best performances I've seen in a while. Of course the character is brilliantly written and he's given enough time to build the character, but still his performance is simply perfect. The rest of the all-star cast do their parts really well too, thou they of course get shadowed by Ledger's performance. Didn't really understand why did Batman have to speak like a death metal band singer, it sounded a bit corny at times. But other than that Christian Bale did a great performance as well. Also very notable was Aaron Eckhart's performance as Harvey Dent, a big positive surprise. Won't go into details about the story, there's so much happening in this movie that the two and a half hours didn't feel overly long. And it's not just a long thrill ride full of action, the movie genuinely raises good questions and brings out surprisingly deep emotions. That's very rare for these kind of super hero movies and that combined with the great cast and direction makes this one a masterpiece.
98%

This is a good opportunity to quickly review the rest of the Batman movies too.



Batman Begins (2005)

At first I wasn't too happy about the idea that they brought Batman from the "fantasy world" into the more realistic environment. But this movie does it so well I couldn't help loving it. It didn't feel like it was destroying Burton's vision, it just took another point of view on things. Christian Bale as Batman was a great choice and the rest of the cast was quite brilliant also. The beginning with all the training and establishing the motives took a bit too long and tended to drag things on for too much. But once Bruce Wayne returns to Gotham the movie really kicks into another gear and the somewhat dull start doesn't matter that much. I liked the action that it wasn't just a CGI mess, even though there is some of that also, but as most of the real action is towards the end the movie feels quite short on it. All in all a worthy remake and a solid good movie.
81%

Those were the "new generation" Batman movies, here's the older saga.



Batman & Robin (1997)

Oh boy, would be easier to say what didn't suck in this one. Uma Thurman was quite good as Poison Ivy. The rest is just horrible crap. It tells a lot about this movie that Schwarzenegger hasn't played a worse role on a worse movie, and as everyone knows his "talent" as an actor and some of the crap he has made, you can get the point.
5%



Batman Forever (1995)

An all-star cast, one of the most versatile super heroes ever and one of the biggest franchises in the history. What could possibly go wrong? Well they put Joel Schumacher as the director. I mean this movie is a lesson about how to fuck up a great plan. The only good thing about this one is the cast who all do quite an ok job, twenty percent to them. Rest is just a bad excuse for a movie.
20%



Batman Returns (1992)

Burton's second continued the saga and gave us same brilliant stuff that worked in the first one and even more. Even thou there's not a single performance as good as Nicholson's the cast is just stellar. Danny De Vito is the ultimate Penguin. There's more action, more drama, more comedy, more Batman. Brilliant sequel.
90%



Batman (1989)

I fell in love with this movie when I first saw it. I was a big fan of the comic book and this movie brought it to a level I didn't believe was possible. Tim Burton's vision is even today something stunningly beautiful, dark and weird. The cast was brilliant with Jack Nicholson as the most notable. I remember spending all my money as I went to see this so many times at the theatre. It doesn't bring that kind of a feeling anymore, being even unintentionally campy at parts. But still it's a masterpiece that will stay precious to me.
94%

That's it for the Burton/Scheissemaker saga. I'm not going to review the cartoons or the TV-series here as they aren't movies. But the old Adam West Batman TV-movie belongs here and I'll put the Catwoman spinoff here too.



Batman (1966)

As a Batman movie total crap, but as a campy fun trip quite brilliant. Bad acting, bad plot, badly made, great fun.
70%



Catwoman (2004)

Even thou it's not a Batman movie, I'll put it here too as it's a spinoff from one of the most famous characters of Batman. Pitof has made some brilliant movies with Jean-Pierre Jeunet as a visual effects supervisor. Too bad he's not a real director as he focuses on the look of the film too much and forgets what crap he's giving to us. This movie looks quite good, but it stinks too much to enjoy it. Halle Berry is quite good as the Catwoman, but the character is so hollow that it gives her very little to play with.
12%