Change Your Image
luhlin
Reviews
A londoni férfi (2007)
Watching paint dry.
I feel compelled to be brief in reviewing this movie; probably because I feel the need for a counter-weight to balance the confusing snail's pace set by the director. And, what for? I'm not sure I have the time to wait for an answer given this experience and test of tedium. That said, the cinematography is wonderful and exceedingly expressive. The movie, in the main, suggested to me that the director is a wannabe Bergman, getting the Nykvist part right with the rest a dismal failure and shameful waste of money.
My wife and I wanted to like this movie and waited patiently to see it unfold, alas it merely folded.
Espion(s) (2009)
Screenplay on the fly - and, it shows.
I was looking forward to this bilingual European movie. However it turned out to be quite preposterous. The music was very good, cinematography reasonably good, interesting locations. But it became hard to believe in the characters, especially the leading man. On the one hand he is a thief, he drinks incessantly, using drugs frequently and yet he is set up to portray a doctor involved in international humanitarian work and has to pull that off against masterful forces in espionage. Not only does he tackle characters written as heavyweights in the spy business, but he clearly defies those who are giving him a break and then unbelievably gets caught up in tearful grieving for one of the characters whom he is disobeying. The script seems to have been written as the movie proceeded from one scene to another. There is no real connectivity or logic to the protagonists actions whether in his role as the humanitarian or as the hapless degenerate druggie who got caught out. The premise of using such a loser for an important international espionage event boggles the mind. The principal women of the film while reasonable good actors and very attractive really are unable to pull off two of the films turning point events, solely because of the impracticality and unbelievability of their tasks - again, it looks like a script written on the fly. Finally, what is it about films that have the central stars locate each other in one of the world's busiest airports? Most of us have trouble finding a washroom.
The Riddle (2007)
Good idea, bad screenplay.
Okay, I'm getting older and my hearing is not as sharp as it was, but that aside, I found the lead actors diction, tone, accent and overall sound reproduction frustrating. I barely understood half of what Jones said when he was on screen.
What dialogue I did get was too predictable, rather like the entire plot line and scenes. This film could have been reduced to less than 90 minutes (it might have been more tolerable).
Was this supposed to have been a love story? The woman's lead was so out of touch with reality that she seemed to be rather accidental to the entire film.
The ending was absurd and wholly unworthy of Derek Jocobi. Charles Dickens would have been so upset!
Married Life (2007)
A new direction for American films or another way to sell tobacco
The film is interesting from the point of view that it is not an obviously violent entertainment. There is of course, a plot to murder, an apparent attempt to do so, however, blood and guts with loud noises are definitely not present - does this mean that American movie making is shifting to a kinder, gentler form of entertainment? I suspect that because the film is placed in the late forties, early fifties and the characters are three quarters well into their fifties that nary a person under forty will want to view this film, unless there is some other allure.
Another point of interest, and perhaps the real allure, is an obvious over-abundance of smokers of the chain-smoking and casual sort. Okay, that went with the times, but doesn't it also suggest that this could be a tobacco company's dream come true? A legitimate vehicle to peddle a product generally considered verboten to the world. Wow! Now there's an investment opportunity - finance a film that promotes an unhealthy product by using well-known and popular film personalities cast in a nostalgic flick with just a slight irony at the end.
So, we trade off the usual brutality with the subtle message that smoking - while it will also kill can nevertheless be a nostalgic trip down memory lane.
Endgame: Blueprint for Global Enslavement (2007)
Whither wisdom?
This film is a great example of 'How NOT to produce a documentary'. Documentary films typically offer factual presentation of arguments, not blatant examples of innuendo building upon suspicion and leading to speculation. Specious arguments do not contribute to logical, reasoned and informed opinion. There may indeed, be good reason to suspect secret and/or restricted organizations, such as the Bilderberg Group, but presenting them by silly name-calling and strange assumptions proves little more than the name-caller is not very well informed.
I also note the absence of 'Goofs' category on IMDb's movie info for Endgame and agree that it ought not to be included as the number of 'goofs' clearly outweigh the number of so-called 'facts' presented in this film.
I would like to offer the producer/director a paraphrased quote from the late Carl Sagan - Belief, in the absence of compelling evidence is known as faith/truth; belief after the acquisition of evidence is known as knowledge. He may wish to gather a little more of the latter for his next endeavor.
The Wicker Man (2006)
Too much Cage
Unfortunately, the film features the actor Nicholas Cage rather more than the story. Generally speaking, Cage is a good actor, however, the story ought to be the principal draw with the actors fleshing out characters and making the screenplay believable. And, because the original was so effective the remake begins with the handicap of having to live-up to an original story and genuinely thoughtful horror story. The original has a quality of complexity not evident in this version. It also seems rather odd to develop a film with the same conclusion - but for some reason reversing the order of sexual procreative domination (from the original)while pretty much emasculating males beyond their value as a tool for impregnating the women. The saving grace was the beautiful British Columbia scenery.