Reviews

The Men Who Stare at Goats

I got my hands on “The Men Who Stare at Goats” movie. I saw the trailer a few times in the cinema and was waiting for it to start, but either I missed it altogether or the scheduling was changed. Anyway, watched this one in the comfort of my own home. To be honest, this is not being a major visual effects movie or a new 3D silliness, I think I didn’t lose much by missing the big screen.

In short – I really enjoyed this film. It is original, weird, funny, and smart. The casting is awesome and all these people have a place to act and a role to play – outstanding performances from all of them, including the goat.

If you are not sure whether you should see this film or not – think Coen brothers. Even though they have nothing to do with this film (as far as I know), it feels like something that they would have done. If you enjoyed any of their work – this film is definitely for you. It has the same weird story, irony, and a thin line between a joke and truth. Beautiful work and very engaging. It’s one of those films where you are so busy watching it that you don’t have the time to think and predict how it will end and where the story is taking you. It’s a roller-coaster – enjoy it while it runs.

Rating this movie doesn’t feel right, because it doesn’t compare much to anything else and stands on its own, like a piece of art that it is. But I’ll give it a 5 out of 5, even though there were bits that I’d love to see changed. Well deserved. We need more movies that can take audience by surprise and engage them through the whole film and not just the first 3 minutes.

Clash of the Titans

Last weekend I watched “Clash of the Titans” with a bunch of friends. I was insisting on watching it in 2D, since it was widely known that 3D in the film was added in post-production and hence won’t be anything remotely similar to the real 3D, but my arguments weren’t convincing enough and we went to 3D cinema anyway. Don’t make the same mistake.

As I expected it, 3D really sucked. Do you remember those bulky CRT monitors that we used to have with our desktop computers, back when everyone wasn’t a happy laptop owner? If you do remember them, then you probably remember the horrible experience when such a monitor was configured for a low refresh rate, say 60 Hz. The images on such a monitor were flickering, there was no sharpness, and your eyes and had would start hurting pretty soon. That’s very similar to the experience of the pseudo-3D. Horrible experience in other words. In fact, it was so horrible that we kept taking glasses on and off constantly. One could watch this film totally without 3D glasses, but in certain places it was easier to have them on.

So, was pseudo-3D the only thing that spoiled my experience? Nope. I felt that the movie was very shallow in pretty much every aspect – acting, story, special effects, drama, scale, and so on and so forth. Just to give you some idea with a little spoiler – there wasn’t much of a clash in this film, and there were no titans. About 40 seconds of screen time were given to a rather large creature, which many might confuse with a titan. But when we are in Greek mythology, a word “titan” actually has a very particular meaning. So, no titans.

And yet another something else that didn’t help my perception of this film was a fresh memory of “Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief” – another Greek mythology action movie that was released recently. And as much as I didn’t want to watch “The Lightning Thief” it turned out to be quite a nice flick. And it happened to be way better than the titans with no titans.

Overall, I’ll give the titans a 3 out of 5. Skip it and you won’t miss much. If you really want to see it though, make sure you watch it in 2D – save yourself some money and a headache.

P.S.: I only now realized that I forgot to review “The Lighning Thief”. I will correct this shortly.

Shutter Island

Even though I am a fan of both Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio and most of their works together, I didn’t want to watch “Shutter Island“. Why? Because of the trailer.

I saw the trailer several times. And every time I saw it, I thought exactly the same: “It looks nice, but it’s just not my type of the movie”. Trailer seemed to show full plot and all the highlights of the movie. And what I saw wasn’t something to bring me in.

And that’s a pity. Because I nearly missed an awesome movie! By pure accident did I go to see it yesterday, and, boy, am I happy that I did! This film is excellent on every level. There is a twisted, interesting, and engaging plot. Just when you thought you got it, it turns and changes, and goes the other way. Even when you think the movie is at the end and you know how it will end, it ends in a totally different unpredictable way.

On top of that there is a rich visual layer. Scenes go back and forward between a very desaturated, almost grey-and-white setting to very vivid colours and shapes and textures. And it happens in a very balanced matter. It’s not a colourful film, but it’s not a black-and-white either. Colours swing together with plot twists and character moods. And music.

And speaking of characters, there was some amazing acting. The cast is fantastic and these are just the people to see in the film like this.

In short, do yourself a favour – go see this film. You’ll get a little something extra from watching it on the big screen. 5 out of 5.

How to train your dragon

The other day we had a happy family – daddy, mommy, and the kid – trip to the movies, because there was no way I would allow us to skip “How to train your dragon” – a much awaited animation from Dreamworks.

There are options to see it both in full 3D and regular, in Greek (dubbed) and in English (with subtitles). Language decision was the easiest (English of course), but the 3D option got me thinking for a second. On one hand it is a much richer experience. On the other – we were with a kid who is too hyperactive to sit through the whole thing without moving much. Finally I decided to go for the 2D version, because wearing glasses is an extra obstacle.

Now, back to the animation. It was widely promoted all over the place, with ads and several trailers. I knew that I wanted to see it for a while, and after seeing more trailers I knew that I won’t be disappointed. Just the stuff they showed in the promos was enough to enjoy. But the full length feature is so much more. It’s unbelievably good. It’s awesome. It’s fantastic. It’s an absolute must see!

It excellent on just so many levels – the story, the characters, the way it is drawn, the action sequences, the flying, the humor … pretty much everything is perfect. While I am used to being pleasantly surprised by the animation, the story got me this time more than anything. While it was childish and cartoon-worthy, there was a certain depth to it, at times it was even philosophical, going around issues which you don’t usually see in kid’s movies. And yet it was light and fun and inspiring.

Overall, a highly recommended for both kids and adults. Probably even better in 3D. I’ll give it a well deserved 5 out of 5.

Brooklyn’s Finest

I just came back from the cinema, where I watched “Brooklyn’s Finest“. It’s a rather slow developing drama picturing three separate stories of three New York cops. While there is nothing in particular outstanding about this film, overall it is quite good and enjoyable. Some of the things it shows are more realistic than in many other movies, some – not. It’s not particularly too far-fetched, but probably not something that would happen in real life. Quite close though.

I think this film is trying to give you something to think about. It actually spells out the idea in the first scene, first dialogue. But because the rest of it somewhat slow, the message gets lost in the process. If not completely lost, then for sure it doesn’t sound as clear as it did in the beginning of the film. Maybe it was the idea, maybe it wasn’t – I don’t know. But I thought it would have been better if the message was carried across a bit louder.

This is not a film for a romantic Friday evening or a family Saturday morning, but there is enough good in it for me to recommend it. Either pick a slow day and see it in the movies, or grab the DVD. 4 out of 5.