Tag: Woody Harrelson

2012

2012

I just came back from the movies, where I watched “2012“.  Initially, when I heard about this film, it sounded awesome.  I even posted the trailer in the blog, when I first saw it.  But then, it came to the cinemas and pretty much everyone I know went to see it, and I haven’t heard any exciting reviews yet.  Yes, the special effects are awesome.  Yes, they destroy the US and even pretty much all current Earth population.  Yes, it’s breath-taking at times.  But there was no excitement in those comments.  No thrill.  No sparks.  It almost felt like the movie was boring.  So, I wasn’t hurrying to see it.  But today I finally did.  First, because I had to.  Second, because all the other movies I’ve either seen or they suck.

So, I went to see “2012” with lower expectations than I initially set.  And maybe that was exactly what I needed.  Because I quite enjoyed the film.  There were, of course, a few tongue-in-cheek moments, such as mobile telephony working when everything was falling under ground or a doctor with 2 hours of practice flying planes or a computer simulation being able to predict wave impacts up to the second during the time when nothing was certain.  But that doesn’t matter.  You get these in pretty much every movie these days.

What’s important is that the movie had something to show that you haven’t seen before.  Yes, everyone saw the end of the world movies.  But not at this scale.  Ground was falling, building were collapsing, giant waves were playing ping pong with huge ships, trains were flying over airplanes, and on, and on, and on.  Some of the scenes were so realistic, that I was grabbing my armchair’s handles.  And that happens rarely.

If you are not into huge scale special effects films, then this one still has some drama, romance, and comedy to offer.   Comedy especially.  I think it actually made the film so much better.  If everything that happened in the movie would have been given with the serious attitude, it would be way too boring and unrealistic.  But an occasional joke here and funny face there brought this film to life.  As did some of the acting.

Overall, I’d recommend this film to anyone who expects entertainment from a movie.  4 stars.

P.S.: If I still haven’t convinced you to see this film on a big screen, consider this: it was directed by Roland Emmerich, who also directed movies like “10,000 B.C.”, “The Day After Tomorrow”, “The Patriot”, “Godzilla”,  “Independence Day”, “Universal Soldier” and a few others.

Natural Born Killers

I just finished watching “Natural Born Killers“.  I’ve seen it before, but it was a really long time ago, and it was with a horrible Russian translation.  Plus, I don’t think it was a director’s cut version that I got my hands on today.

The film was shot back in 1994. That’s 15 years ago.  And it still looks quite well, despite all the advances in the moving pictures industry.  I guess that’s because the true values are hardly ageing – interesting story with drama, true love and romance as well as humor;  and tonnes of good acting and directing.  Of course, some special effects are outdated, but that doesn’t spoil the experience even a tiny bit.

Overall, a highly recommended movie if you haven’t seen it yet.  And still recommended if you saw it a long time ago.  5 stars.

No Country For Old Man

I went to see “No Country For Old Man“.  I’ve heard some buzz about this film – with it getting major ratings and collecting a few Oscars – but I never read too deep into it or even watched a trailer.

The movie turned out to be pretty good indeed.  An interesting story, nice story telling, good photography, pretty good acting on all parts, and so on.  But what really captured my attention was the quietness.  This is probably the most quiet movie I’ve seen in years.   Even though it has a few gun shots here and there, I was struck by an almost total absence of soundtrack, as well as how quiet actors are speaking. It almost sounded like real life, where people don’t argue, shout, or kill each other every 15 seconds…

This quietness wasn’t only in the sound.  It was also in visuals and acting.   Many modern films, especially those that involve guns, choose to go for stunning special effects with bits and pieces flying around, smoke covering up things, etc.   None of that happened in this film.  There were some special effects, but they were very moderate and appropriate, without destructing attention.  Same goes for acting.  Although there are some high profile actors, such as Tommy Lee Jones and Woody Harrelson, they aren’t shining.  They do their job and do it well, again, without stealing any attention from the film itself.

I rated the film as 8 out of 10.