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EduardoSandrini79
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Iron Sky (2012)
A satire that works on multiple levels
Iron Sky is a satire where everything that is on screen is being satirized. From the obvious "moon Nazis" to the "I want it all Americans", from the racist jokes to the political ones, everything is a target. But the good thing is, all is made with good taste and is funny as hell.
The Australian German Finnish production tells a story where the German Nazis, after being defeated in the second World War, fled to the dark side of moon where they built a space fleet and are now preparing for their return to conquer the Earth.
The absolutely absurd plot is only the starting point for even more absurd turn of events. But a realistic scenario here is irrelevant. The preposterous story has two goals, being funny by itself and creating opportunities to make satire. It's noteworthy the criticism against the American politics and is really bold from the filmmakers how similar they look to their real counterparts. And some of the best scenes come from the UN conference room with all Heads of State, where the movie makes fun of each of them (and what makes it really hilarious is that their absurd lines are delivered in a very serious way and tone).
The acting is also spot on. It is a delicate job making a satire be funny and this movie excels at that. The very international cast with many conversations being held in German helps bringing a little realism to the few aspects of the movie where it's needed. (It surely works better to hear Nazis speaking German rather than English.)
Being a low budget film it is quite surprising how good the movie technically is. The sound effects and, specially, the visual ones are almost indistinguishable from most Hollywood Blockbusters. The space battle at the end looks terrific and both the design as well as the theme composed for the Götterdämmerung are absolutely fantastic.
With heavy political criticism, great action scenes and scenes that, in these internet times, could only be described as "epic" - such as when the American astronauts discover that there are Nazis on the Moon (this sentence by itself is already funny) or the reaction of the Nazis when they find out that the Earth astronaut is, well, black - this satire ultimately works in so many different ways that is hard to criticize it.
Some negative points must be mentioned though. Not all gags work. The effects of the "albinizer", for example, are overused in way too many gags, thus losing its effectiveness (no pun intended). And some plot points seem off (even considering the absurdity of the story as whole). For instance, the collaboration of Klaus Adler and Renate Richter with the American Government, as well as their decision to stay in the US, doesn't make much sense nor serves any purpose to the "Obernachrichtenübermittlungsoberführer" Klaus Adler's plans.
Despite some minor problems, Iron Sky is an outstanding and surprising motion picture. Funny, clever and action packed, it's guaranteed entertainment with the plus of giving you food for thought after the lights are turned on.
JCVD (2008)
Van Damme's best performance
JVCD is a movie that shows both Jean Claude van Damme, the star, as well as Jean-Claude Camille François Van Varenberg, the person.
Playing a fictionalized version of himself Van Damme shows that not only he can do more than just action roles but also that his personal story is very touching.
The movie however does start with an action sequence, actually a very long fantastic sequence shot showing Van Damme in one of the not-so-good movies of his late career. From that point on the story will follow his fictionalized self having child custody and financial problems and ultimately going into a post office to make a withdrawal where he sees himself in the middle of a bank robbery.
The movie has an enticing plot and also gives Van Damme many opportunities to show some elements of his true self in some interesting confession-like scenes.
Playing with the fact that Van Damme is an idol in Belgium, the movie has some very funny scenes, specially the one with the taxi driver. But the drama side of it would be much more impactful if the robbery scenes had been made more believable and realistic. Unfortunately the robbers look and sound more like villains in a movie than real criminals and, although still interesting, this part of the film could be more remarkable than it actually is.
***Spoiler ahead*** It is very clear that the two "endings" shown when he breaks free of his kidnapper, one very Hollywood style with his trademark roundhouse kick and cheers from the crowd and the other with him being arrested, suffer a lot from the robbery scene not being taken more seriously. The happy ending is just a funny scene, while it could have been not only funny but also another very touching moment by contrasting it with the hard reality of the unhappy one. ***End of spoiler***
Except for the robbers that are, unfortunately, way too stereotyped, the other performances are also quite good and help giving the needed realistic touch to the production.
Tecnically the movie is very well done, specially when considering it is a low budget film.
In conclusion, it is a very good movie, a surprising turn on Jean Claude van Damme's career and a must see for his fans.
Jesus Henry Christ (2011)
Cleverly funny. Delightfully entertaining.
Jesus Henry Christ is a delightful motion picture directed by Dennis Lee.
The story follows Henry's life and his extraordinary memory abilities since birth. He is a young boy genius who was conceived in a petri dish and raised by his single mother (Toni Collette). One day he discovers he has a half-sister and with that information he goes after finding who his biological father is.
Counting with amazing performances from all its main cast, and with characters carefully developed, even the somewhat absurd plot feels terrifically realistic. The story is specially satisfying, surprising and feels, in a way, real in its third act exactly for not following the standard Hollywood formulas nor predictable romantic involvements.
The plot may be nothing remarkable, but the movie really succeeds with its characters by making the four main roles special in their own unique way. And with that it is really hard not to cheer for them and empathize with what they are going through.
The movie is also without a doubt very funny. While the prologue uses some outrageous situations to be funny (and works quite well might I add), the rest of the film has a more low-key comedy style but equally effective.
In sum, it is great film that will make you laugh many times but more importantly it will make you smile.
The Vow (2012)
Predictable
The Vows suffers from a problem all bad romantic comedies have, you can see things coming a mile away.
The Vow is based on a true story, where a young wife loses her memory (the last 4 years) and has to deal with being married to someone she doesn't even know anymore. The premise is quite interesting and has lots of potential. And the fact that is inspired by a true story makes it even more dramatic.
However none of that is put into practice. The characters are unidimensional, they are just way too perfect from the get go. And when someone new is introduced to the story, they only work as a source of conflict (like the over controlling father or the ex-boyfriend that is still in love with her after 4 years and is a detestable person).
All performances are also uninspiring and trivial with special negative emphasis to Channning Tatum's work.
If you are a big fan of rom-coms maybe you can still manage to enjoy your time with The Vow. Otherwise just skip this one.
John Carter (2012)
Entertaining and better than expected
John Carter is a movie that is suffering from both a bad Marketing campaign prior to its release and schadenfreude for its flop status after being released in theaters.
Living all that behind though, the movie is extremely entertaining, has stunning visuals and some really cool characters.
The film's plot follows the story of a Civil War veteran, John Carter, that is transport to Mars.
The visuals (special effects, locations, costume design) really deserve to be highlighted. Directed by the award winning Pixar director Andrew Stanton, the film is beautiful and one of the rare cases where 3D not only works but also has very little impact on the brightness of the movie (it also helps a lot the fact that the red Planet is a very bright one).
The performances are not bad but they're also nothing special. This is mostly due to its source material (a pulp magazine from Edgar Rice Burroughs), where characters are defined by their actions.
Despite that, this is not a big problem once the movie kicks into high gear. What really is the Achilles Heel of this film is its beginning.
The movie presents the alien races in a tremendously confusing way in its opening scene, you can't really identify who is who. Then jumps to the 19th century USA to show the main character, John Carter, in the middle of a civil war. These first 10 minutes on Earth work very poorly to tell us who, where and when John Carter is. Not only it does a poor job in what it is supposed to do, but is also slow in pace (despite having many hectic scenes) and compromise the whole movie.
When JC steps on Mars we have some of the most inspired moments of movie, when he is discovering the alien Planet. However, at this point, the spectator has already had around 15 uninteresting minutes that do not explain anything at all. The director should have shortened the prologue on Earth considerably, in order to improve the pace of the movie, or invested more time in really developing the background story of John Carter. And the prologue on Mars should have been completely ditched. The way it is, most of the moviegoers will be sleeping or will already be hating the movie by the time he reaches Mars.
From that point on the movie, though not perfect, works much better and has some amazing action scenes. The only big problem, again compromising the pace of the film, during the rest of the projection is the subplot involving Sola and Tars Tarkas. Completely unnecessary it only makes the movie even longer for no good reason.
All in all, if you're able to ignore all the hate towards this picture and forgive the first 15 minutes, you'll be able to have quite an enjoyable and fun evening watching Disney's John Carter of Mars.
Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011)
This movie should transform into something else
The story is so preposterous and the characters are so stupid that is hard not to feel bad just from watching it.
The acting is by default in auto-pilot mode. No one even tries to make a good job.
And the stereotyped (and racist) voice acting is the very same that was used in the previous entries of the series.
Another problem is its length. With a runtime of 154 minutes, the movie is simply too long.
On the good side, the special and sound effects are top notch (as expected for a $200 million movie) and the action scenes are less hectic and with less use of shaky-cam than in the first two movies, but still quite annoying (During the battle scenes the situation still occurs where you simply don't know who's a Decepticon and who's an Autobot).
The movie works ultimately way more as a big ad for the Hasbro toys as an independent full length feature film. (Where do the new Autobots that weren't in the first movies come from? Probably from the Hasbro Marketing Department.)
But what really makes me scratch my head is why they would cast Frances MacDormand and John Malkovich. Their parts give them no chance at all of showing their talent, while at the same time the target moviegoer has no idea who these actors are. So they work neither as star power marketing to sell more tickets nor as a way of improving the overall quality of the film.
Therefore, unless you're already a Transformers fan, you should avoid this one at all costs.
The Beaver (2011)
A good movie that could've been great
The Beaver is a movie about how people deal with the hard times of life in different ways.
The main character is a father and CEO that is in the middle of a great depression. His family and company are both crumbling down because of it.
This is a topic that is rarely touched in Hollywood and the story raises some deep question. That is the forte of this film. However it doesn't go as deep as it could when answering those question and the third act sounds just too easy and simplistic for such dreadful problems. Moreover, the reactions towards the puppet, while somewhat believable at first, are hard to swallow most of the time.
Despite its lack of boldness in the third act, the movie has some great performances, specially from Mel Gibson (notice how the Beaver mimics Walter Black's every facial expression) as well as from Anton Yelchin. Jodie Foster does only an OK job, mostly due to her lack of screen time.
The movie could've been a classic but it is still way above average and it will still make you think about it long after you've finished watching it. I definitely recommended it.
Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (2011)
Avoid it
I am already one of the few people that actually doesn't think the first one was that bad. But this one is impossible to defend.
The performances go from bad to mediocre. Nicholas Cage confirms again his downfall with another bad work and lots of overacting.
The story makes no sense most of the time and every single character is uninteresting and bad developed.
But the last straw is that even the action scenes are boring and the special effects are on a "direct to video" level, which is unacceptable for a $57 million dollar movie.
If you really want to see the Ghost Rider again, rent the first one. Because this one can neither entertain nor scare anyone.
Retreat (2011)
A good movie
The movie tells the story of a couple that goes for a retreat at a remote island and there they encounter an injured soldier that tells them there is an incurable airborne disease that is sweeping through Europe, forcing them to isolate themselves from everyone.
The story and direction are very effective in building tension and suspense and the plot twists are interesting and don't sound absurd.
However, the movie has some pace problems during the second act, where barely anything happens. More over, the main couple is underdeveloped before the action begins.
The acting is also just OK. Jamie Bell is the one that does the best job among the main cast while Cillian Murphy and Thandie Newton are on autopilot in this film. As if that wasn't bad enough, there is no chemistry between the two.
All in all, it is a good movie. Different and intriguing, it is always good to watch something that is not just more of the same.
[Rec]³: Génesis (2012)
An instant classic
Rec 3: Genesis is no doubt a difference film in style compared to the other entries in the series. But if you are a true fan, you'll understand why.
The movie tells the story of Clara and Koldo, a couple that is about to get married, and how the infection reaches their wedding party.
The director Paco Plaza utilizes for this film the same first person shaky camera-work during its first part pre-title screen. That puts you close to the characters, specially the groom and the bride, and you quickly empathize with them. The acting is also extremely good and convincing and that helps a lot to make the "found footage" even more believable.
After the title screen, the movie shifts its style to a "normal" feature film. The decision was definitely made due to the huge limitations imposed by the POV approach. Now with total freedom, the director can follow more than one character at the same time and, moreover, play a little with the horror genre by mixing it with black humor with clear references to the cult classic Evil Dead II like, for instance, in the way the bride fights the infected in the underground scene. These homages are thrilling and, most importantly, work perfectly with the story and the movie as a whole.
Presenting a perfect mix of comedy and horror, the movie also has some hilarious moments, such as the how the groom finds his weapon of choice in a small church.
The references to the first two films are also cleverly shown during the projection without stopping the movie to give explanations, which would compromise its pace.
As a result, this entry is certainly the best in the series and builds a lot of expectation for the final part of the Rec series.