Reviews

22 Bullets

I’ve heard a few good things about “22 Bullets” so I put some effort into getting a copy. The film is also originally in French, so I had to spend some time finding a viewable translation. I don’t really like dubbed films, so I opted for English sub-titles. Too bad the ones I got were done via automatic machine translation (I am pretty sure it was Google Translate). They conveyed the meaning, but had no authentic beauty.

Anyways, back to the movie itself. For me it was a disappointment. I enjoyed Jean Reno acting, as I almost always do. But everything else was bad. The story was very simplistic and very straight forward. No plot twists there. The acting of most other characters was mediocre. And really it was a move with nothing much happening.

On top of that, I have a problem with movies that make idols out of criminals and that promote criminal way of life. I think we have enough crap in this world already to be asking for more, especially in such a way. Maybe it was lost in translation, but “22 Bullets” seemed liked that kind of movie.

Overall, a 3 out of 5, mostly for Jean Reno.

From Paris with Love

“From Paris with Love” is a fast-paced action comedy with John Travolta and Jonathan Rhys Meyers. I found this movie by accident, but I quite enjoyed it. So much in fact, that I watched it twice in the last month or so. Sure, it has a few weird romantic moments that needed more polish, but all of those are nicely compensated by action, humor, and an explosive, brutal, yet humane character of John Travolta. It’s John Travolta at his best. The one I missed for a long time now, since “Pulp Fiction”, “Be Cool”, and “Michael”.

Remember all those James Bond movies with Sean Connery? And then how all the charm was taken out of Agent 007 by Daniel Craig? Well, this movie is a variation on a modern James Bond (an American, of course, but still in Europe), with plenty of charm, and yet with enough brutality of Daniel Craig. Without Daniel Craig. (Not that I have anything against Daniel Craig outside of James Bond role).

There is not much else that I can say about it. Not your regular family entertainment, but a bunch of guys could have a blast with it over a pint of beer. My rating – 4 out of 5.

The American

I watched “The American” yesterday. It’s a rather slow developing drama of an aging assassin, who starts to get lonely, questions his life choices, and wants to quit his trade. And as in so many other stories, that’s not so easy to do. And as with so many other stories, women are usually involved.

It’s a nice story. Not a bad movie. Some solid acting. And lots and lots of silence, which makes sense. It is somewhat slow, but I enjoyed it quite a bit. Yet, it is that kind of movie which is difficult to recommend. Because people usually expect so many different things from an assassin drama. And I’m not sure this will satisfy many. It did satisfy me though.

Two things in particular that I liked were the use of Italian language and scenery. Multi-lingual films are a challenge. If there are two many languages or too much of two languages, subtitles are needed, and they usually annoy the audience. Shooting a movie in English, when clearly other languages are involved often seems naive and childish. So the choices are hard and making a movie with two or more languages involved is not that easy. This film succeeded though. It managed to bring the feeling of Italy, the atmosphere, and the language without using too much of it. Subtitles are helpful, but not required – most of what is said in Italian are short phrases, the smalltalk. Yet, combined with the scenery of small Italian towns that brings a very realistic feeling. The place is unmistakable.

Overall, a 4 out of 5.

The Town

I went to see “The Town” in the movies on weekend. Too bad my experience was spoiled by the total failure of surround sound in the cinema and by a power cut due to the thunderstorm, two minutes before the end of the movie. But I still liked the movie so much that I downloaded a copy and watched it in the comfort of my own home (really, are there any other options left?).

Before I say anything else, I have to do a disclosure. I am biased here. Crime is one of my favorite movie genres in general, and bank robberies, con artists, and heist schemes are among my top interests in movies.

With that, I am now free to say how awesome this movie was. First of all, it’s a great story with great characters. Not particularly original, but still great. It got a slightly screwed up ending, but by now we should be probably get used to them anyway. Still. There is plenty to see – action, acting, drama, tough guys, car chases, gun fights, hot girls, Boston accent, and more.

Overall, I’ll give it a 5 out of 5. But you still remember, that I’m biased, right?

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1

The other day I had no choice but accompany my beloved wife to the cinema. Harry Potter was in town again. I myself am not a big fan at all. I think it had great potential and the first movie absolutely awesome from pretty much every perspective, but then it went south. It turned into a story of growing up characters, which is rarely a good thing. It became dark and scary. And complicated. And now it’s all over the place.

Seriously, I don’t know anymore who is the intended audience for these movies. It’s definitely not kids, due to all the darkness, politics, and complexity of the story. And I’m not so sure about adults, because it’s getting increasingly stupid. Maybe there is something for teenagers, but I can’t see that. And those teenagers who were present in the cinema seemed to be missing the point also.

Anyhow, to set the record straight, I haven’t read any of the Harry Potter books. And I started skipping the movies. I think I missed the previous episode, but saw the one before that. “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1” didn’t make any sense to me and on top of that it was as boring as they come.

It started off with too many characters who I didn’t remember and had no idea of who they were. There was some action that I didn’t see any reasons for. And then the movie simply died. It turned into the least favorites of Lord of the Rings for me. Where the hobbit people were just walking and walking and walking. It was exactly the same here. Except that hobbits had a purpose. And here, even if there was one, it was not obvious.

With nothing to engage my attention, I started looking closer at the technical side of the movie. And not surprisingly it sucked too. OK, I can understand that Harry and friends aren’t innocent children anymore and its hard to hide. But I think that excessive face and chest hair are the mistakes of the make-up team. Camera work was horrible. By now we are all well familiar with handheld cameras and the effect that give the movie. Many of us in the audience also know where it makes to use the effect and where it doesn’t. And in Harry Potter it mostly doesn’t. Yet, there are plenty of sequences where it was used. The music – one of my favorite parts about Harry Potter movies, was practically non-existing also. In several scenes, where I was trying to figure out what was going on and what was the mood of the setting, I caught myself thinking that I’d appreciate the music instead of the silence. Are they in trouble? Are they scared? Are they bored or just waiting for someone? A tiny bit of background music could help the audience answer such questions. But not in this installment.

Overall, the movie was too long for what it had to show. Too boring. Not engaging at all. And technical cheap and poor. It felt like one of those things you’d get from a pirated copy, stolen from the director’s table before the work is finished. And yet it was an official theatrical release. Bad. Very bad. 1 out of 10.