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.

The Departed

How many celebrities can you imagine involved in a single movie?  Try the cast of “The Departed“.  Directed by Martin Scorsese.  Main roles played by Jack Nicholson, Matt Damon, Leonardo DiCaprio, Martin Sheen, Mark Wahlberg, Alec Baldwin, and more.  Even one of the co-producers was Brad Pitt himself. There was practically no way to spoil this film.  So, no wonder it won 4 oscars plus a whole bunch of other awards and nominations.

Did I like this film?  Yes.  It was very good.  I liked the story and the way it was told.  I liked acting a lot.  Leonardo did especially well.  And Baldwin.  And Nicholson of course.  And the other ones too.

But.  Something is missing in this film. I can’t put my finger on it though.  I’d rate this film as a solid 8.5, or maybe even 9 out of 10.  But, it was so very close to 10, to a perfect movie, but it’s not.  If you have any idea of what is missing, please share in the comments.  I’d really like to know.  Because the rest of it is so good…

Raging Bull

I wanted to see “Raging Bull” for some time now. This one was chosen mostly because it is a classic and I didn’t want to leave any gaps in my movie self-education.

Directed by: Martin Scorsese
Genres: Biography, Drama, Sport
Cast: Robert De Niro, Cathy Moriarty, Joe Pesci, Frank Vincent, Nicholas Colasanto, Theresa Saldana, Mario Gallo, Frank Adonis, Joseph Bono, Frank Topham, Lori Anne Flax, Charles Scorsese, Don Dunphy, Bill Hanrahan, Rita Bennett
IMDB raintg: 8.4
My rating: 7.0 [rate 7.0]

Continue reading Raging Bull

Shark Tale

I’ve just got disappointed by “Shark Tale“. Despite all the hype around it, it turned out to be pretty boring and badly drawn animation. It had no realism like “Finding Nemo” did. Fish here were walking on two leg-like fins, used another two hand-like fins to do stuff, and had ugly faces on top of their bodies. These all loked nothing like fish. For some reason also, I don’t get it why they moved half the time vertically and half the time horizontally. Oh, and there was no water at all. I mean there was not a second with an ocean surface, and there was only a few bubles to make you beleive some liquid was involved in the environment.

First half of the movie I was thinking that I didn’t like it because I’ve already seen “Finding Nemo”, which is way better. But than I realized that it is not the reason. The real reason is that this movie sucked.

Bad animation on top of the beaten usual story is something that has no entertainment. Ok, there were a couple of jokes that made me smile, but they were by far not enough for the hour and a half. That’s a pity, it could have been funnier.

5 out of 10.