Movies

The Gift

Yet another just above average movie was on TV today – “The Gift“. It is a movie that seems to want to please everyone: crime lovers, detectives, adrenaline junkies, celebrity fans, and some more. The story is simple as in any horror movie, but the way they show it, like in detective investigation slowly unfolding films, makes it slightly more enjoyable. Dead bodies and creepy moments were minimized to allow kids to watch most of the film.

All the acting was pretty usual. Keanu Reeves was as emotionless as ever. Cate Blanchett was as unloved and lonely as usual. Giovanni Ribisi played yet another mentally confused kid. While Greg Kinnear was as pathetic loser as he can usually get. No surprises here.

6 out of 10. Watch it on TV next time. Don’t spend your pound to rent it though.

King Arthur

Olga and I went to see “King Arthur” today. I was somewhat waiting to see this movie although I didn’t expect anything great about it. The trailer was rather cheap.

The movie was OK. I could feel some budget deficit when it came to massive battle scenes, but other than that it is pretty good. The story is romantic and stuff, exactly how it is supposed to be in the knight movies. Acting was pretty good, although the film is not that deep anyway. It is a nice fairy tale to see with kids, who don’t get sick from the sight of blood.

Knight duels were a little bit boring. Maybe they were realistic, I don’t know. But there was no martial arts or choreography to enjoy. Soundtrack and sound effects were slightly over done. You could hear some really magnificant and meaningful orchestra bits at times when a bunch of guys were driving their horses from point A to point B. If they would add better fighting and better battles to it, it would be a great flick. As it is, I’d place it slightly above average.

Rating it as 6.5 out of 10. It’s seriously on the way to 7, but not just there.

Born on the Fourth of July

“Born on the Fourth of July” was just on TV. It is a rather simple and shallow movie about Vietnam war and its veterans. It is also, supposedly, about how different things make people change. Like losing legs, for example. Or killing babies and stuff.

As I said, the movie is very simplistic. Maybe it’s just me, or maybe it is because the film is a bit old (1989). Still. Single story line. Simple relationships. Simple cause-effect kind of happennings. Maybe someone a little bit more experienced than Tom Cruise could make it better. Playboy face and absolute lack of emotions on his behalf does not add anything to the movie.

On the phylosophical part: it is interesting that some people realize that war is bad for humanity without any external influence. Some need to watch a movie about it. Some need to talk to the veteran. Others need to actually go to war to see things for themselves. But that’s not all. There are some people, who need to lose something on the war, like a friend or an arm. These are not that bad. There are those who, even after shooting and sufferring, don’t realize how bad war is for them. They still talk some patriotic bull and everything. And I am not talking about an enemy invading your village. I am talking about American presense in Vietnam. Or Iraq these days. Or Russian presense in Afghanistan. Or Chechnya these days. War is crap. You don’t have to try it to know. Like heroin.

Anyway, the movie sucked pretty much, so I’ll give it 3 out of 10. And an evil smile towards all Cruise’ fans. :)

The Terminal

Olga and I watched “The Terminal” today. I’ve been looking forward for this movie and I wasn’t wrong. The film is excellent.

Somehow this movie reminded me about all those films I watched while being a kid. They were from those times when movies mostly weren’t about the special effects or technology. They were about people and their relations. “The Terminal” is exactly that kind of movie. It shows how screwed up is the way that society is going. People don’t have time to enjoy themselves and things around them. Beurocracy is getting in the way instead of helping out. Noone cares about noone. Damn. This points of this film are very applicable to Cyprus, which is a small island with small number of people on it and very strong family relations. It is not that bad, but it surely is heading that way. I can only imagine what is going on in big cities and countries, such as film’s place – New York’s airport.

Anyway, back to the film. It is an excellent piece of work. Two people made the biggest contritubion to it – Steven Spielberg directing and Tom Hanks acting. Catherine Zeta-Jones was episodical, nice to look at, but she didn’t add too much to the film.

I’ll rate it as 10 out of 10. I don’t think that everyone will like it. It’s just that I do. And that’s all that matters.

The Stepford Wives

Olga and I watched an excellent movie today – “The Stepford Wives“. It had a rather weak trailer and Nicole Kidman is playing there, who is neither mine, nor Olga’s favourite actress, so we didn’t want particularly to see it.

We almost missed an excellent, as I already said, film. Everything is great about it – story, acting, music – everything. It somehow managed to be very light and easy going while delivering few strong points and a tonne or so of satire. Amazing. Another great thing about it is attention to details – from the opening titles and through the whole movie. I could almost feel the smell of things. Excellent work.

I’ll give it an 9 out of 10. Get it and watch it. It can survive the DVD.