Change Your Image
dslavchev
Reviews
Chaos (2005)
nothing to say
I have just watched this movie on DVD late this morning and was so disappointed that even thought it was a good joke for the audience. In other words - the creators planed to make comedy not drama. Howsoever, at the end I realized that Mr. Tony Giglio was earnest about this movie. It's a pity because: the dialogue is ridiculous, the acting is poor and lifeless, the story is a fishy tale! Poor Ryan Phillippe - despite of his efforts his character in the movie remains probably his worst performance! What to say for Jason Statham - lack of all kinds of skills to develop the role which is an imaginary fiction... For this reasons I vote: 3/10
Okhota na izyubrya (2005)
startled view on Russia post-communist years
The story seems to be a little artificial since the influence of journalistic articles prevail but the acting makes endeavors to be far from everyday life problems. A miraculous recovery of Izvolsky from hard trauma is unconvincing but sympathetic which gives the opportunity to enter into huge mentality of Russian people. The ex-cops have brutal and renumbering influence along all movie and this represents very helpless skill to explain more of the actions of the heroes. Regardless of that we may applause the attempt of Russian cinema to produce responsible and honest films among which "Okhota na izubrya" (2005)takes its place. The verdict: 6/10.
The Forgotten (2004)
unsatisfactory
The concept of erasing memory has fascinated Hollywood of late, although this ambitious thriller approaches it on a far larger scale than 'Code 46' or 'Confessions of a Dangerous Mind'. Grieving mother Telly (Julianne Moore) is convinced that the memories of her husband, friends and neighbours have been wiped when none of them recalls the death of a planeload of schoolchildren, among them her son Sam. Fleeing accusations of insanity, she investigates her conspiracy theories with a man she remembers to be a fellow parent. An intriguing premise, a strong lead and a confident pace help this tick along, but crashingly obvious exposition and dialogue lower the tone. As commercial melodrama, this entertains but fails as a conspiracy thriller, neglecting plot development in favour of action and analysis in favour of hysteria.
Flight of the Phoenix (2004)
almost satisfactory
John Moore's streamlined remake of Robert Aldrich's 1965 action-adventure trims 30 minutes from the running time, but the shortest route is seldom the most interesting. When their cargo plane crash-lands in the Gobi desert, the 11 survivors face a stark choice. Caught between flyboy Dennis Quaid's jaded fatalism and nerdy airplane designer Giovanni Ribisi's quirky optimism, they can either wait for help to arrive or use their energies and dwindling supplies to build a new plane from the wreckage of the old one.
If scriptwriters Scott Frank and Ed Burns had explored these tense group dynamics more fully, the grounded desert scenes might have generated some suspense and psychological drama. Instead, the sketchy characters and flat dialogue just fill the space between the bracketing set-pieces: the brilliantly staged opening crash and the nail-biting attempted take-off. Even given more to do, Quaid is no James Stewart, and the rest of the group barely register. So only the blond-haired, bespectacled Ribisi matches the intensity of his predecessor, Hardy Kruger.
The Machinist (2004)
A lick of Lynch, a pinch of Polanski, a modicum of 'Memento'
Trevor Reznik (Christian Bale) doesn't have the happiest of lives. He's virtually ostracised by colleagues at the plant where he operates a lathe; the only company he keeps is with a whore (Jennifer Jason Leigh) and an airport-diner waitress (Aitana Sanchez-Gijon) who he chats to nightly; he's so skeletally skinny that folks openly comment on it, and he hasn't slept for ages. Still, he's mostly a pleasant, pretty calm character until the mysterious Ivan (John Sharian) enters his life
From the opening sequence Trevor wrapping a corpse in his carpet and taking it to the sea it's clear we're in for some heavy-duty expressionism. A lick of Lynch, a pinch of Polanski, a modicum of 'Memento', heaps of Herrmannesque menace on the music track all this and Anna Massey, mirrors, dismemberment, machinery, dead mothers, doubles, Dostoevsky, post-it notes, power cuts, ghost trains, sewers, bleach
Director Brad Anderson and writer Scott Kosar toss everything including the kitchen sink into the pot, as their emaciated somnambulist protagonist tries to fathom how he got to such a bleary, bruised and scarred state of being (or not-being?). The resulting stew, frankly, is a bit messy; though it almost makes some kind of psychological sense, it never really persuades as an authentic portrait of a tormented mind. That said, it's very watchable; above all, one can't deny the dubious appeal of the spectacle of the skin-and-bone Bale, quite possibly endangering his health for the sake of his art. Against the odds, the crazed intensity of his performance makes the movie work.
Sin City (2005)
triumph of technology
The good news is that directors Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez have brought the nihilistic noir comic to the big screen without compromising the outrageous violence. But it's also kept the series' hard-boiled-to-death narration, which has all the grace of a fiery zeppelin. And while the carbon-copy visuals are impressive, the movie becomes less an adaptation than a replication. Some viewers will drool over the high ain't-it-coolness factor, but while the book succeeded in pushing the boundaries of its medium, the film merely feels like a triumph of technology. But this effort deserves confidence for 10 out of 10. Grand Merci Beaucoup.
Diarios de motocicleta (2004)
Very fine
Salles' exhilaratingly relaxed re-creation of the epic voyage that young medical student Ernesto Guevara (Bernal) took around South America in 1952 together with the biochemist Alberto Granado (de la Serna) is both a light-touched examination of the kind of experiences that began turning the former into 'Che', and - thanks to the way the film crew welcomed the locals they encountered into the movie itself - a subtle reminder that the social and political problems facing Latin Americans back then are far from resolved. Often improvising along with his able and extremely charismatic actors, Salles concentrates on character and milieu rather than plot or 'message', so that even the duo's life-changing stay in an Amazonian leper colony is mercifully bereft of rhetoric and melodrama. Gautier's camera is adept at catching the telling glance or gesture, while Gustavo Santaolalla's music contributes to the overall freshness of the approach. Very fine indeed.
Les enfants du paradis (1945)
charming
A marvellously witty, ineffably graceful rondo of passions and perversity's animating the Boulevard du Crime, home of Parisian popular theatre in the early 19th century, and an astonishing anthill of activity in which mimes and mountebanks rub shoulders with aristocrats and assassins. Animating Jacques Prévert's script is a multi-layered meditation on the nature of performance, ranging from a vivid illustration of contrasting dramatic modes (Barrault's mime needing only gestures, Brasseur's Shakespearean actor relishing the music of words) and a consideration of the interchangeability of theatre and life (as Herrand's frustrated playwright Lacenaire elects to channel his genius into crime), to a wry acknowledgment of the social relevance of performance (all three men are captivated by Arletty's insouciant whore, who acts herself out of their depth to achieve the protection of a Count, establishing a social barrier which Lacenaire promptly breaches in his elaborate stage management of the Count's murder). Flawlessly executed and with a peerless cast, this is one of the great French movies, so perfectly at home in its period that it never seems like acostume picture, and at over three hours not a moment too long. Amazing to recall that it was produced in difficult circumstances towards the end of the German Occupation during World War II.
Der Untergang (2004)
Fair view of history
Superb performances all round. The murder of the Goebbels children is one of the most chilling scenes I've witnessed in cinema. Perhaps Bruno Ganz deserves Oscar for his dedicated and multilayer character of the Monster. The other actors are also magnificent. In the scenes where we escape the underground hell an effective depiction of the Hitler Youth fighting on the streets as the Russians close in; the operation of the SS killing squads; some surreal cigarette breaks in the Chancellory grounds; the heroic actions of an SS hospital doctor working under blanket bombing; and a fanciful coda as a secretary makes her escape through Russian lines by averting her face do we perceive the director's careful, but not objectionable, awareness of modern German sensibilities. Without doubt - 10 out of 10.
The Assassination of Richard Nixon (2004)
Performance with inspiration
In 'Carlito's Way', it was the frizzy hair. Here, it's a dodgy, sleazy moustache that Sean Penn suffers for his art. Indeed it's worth the money simply to see both that and Penn's dodgy '70s car salesman outfit in this exploration of the flipside of the American dream, a story inspired by one man's failed attempt in 1974 to hijack a commercial airliner and plunge it into the White House. Sounds familiar? The obvious parallel with 9/11 lends this film a political significance that it doesn't really deserve. Still, Niels Mueller's debut film is an unsettling, credible portrait of one man's descent into madness a portrait that relies heavily on a tour de force performance from Penn. It's also a neat slice of suburban America at a specific point in history, an America overshadowed and influenced by the corruption of its government. Penn is Sam Bicke, one of life's losers. It's hard not to feel sorry for the guy, whose domestic and professional lives are a mess. His wife Marie (Naomi Watts) has left him with the kids. His oily boss Jack Jones (Jack Thompson) watches as he desperately stutters his way through a job as a furniture salesman and is eventually fired. His brother Julius (Michael Wincott) wants nothing to do with his sad-sack sibling. And the bank is not a bit interested in his application for a loan so that he can start a small business as a door-to-door tyre salesman with his one sympathetic friend, Bonny (Don Cheadle). All of which tries Bicke's patience to such an extent that he develops delusions of grandeur, espouses strong but flawed political ideas into a tape recorder and decides to do something about the figurehead of all this trauma: President Nixon himself. A riveting, if slightly undeveloped, tale. Thank God for Penn.
Kamionat (1980)
One of the best Bulgarian movies
I was 18 I saw this movie in Slaveikov Cinema. I was shocked and enchanted - the film told us through the means of cinema the truth for our life in communist state. For me this is the first time I realized the power of author and how the celluloid can influence the existence. The director of the movie is Hristo Hristov who also created A Woman at 33 - best-seller which was taken down by the communists. 5-6 years after the premiere of Kamionat I tried together with my brother to watch again the movie in Filmbox Cinema but the organizers informed us that due to accidental mistake we have to watch Kapitanat instead Kamionat. All 10-15 spectators left the cinema hall disgusted by this monstrous attempt to repress the spirit.
Hide and Seek (2005)
absolute disappointment
No one can to hide - mostly the creators of this exceptionally weak movie. A great disappointment: Ne Niro is a funny side; the others are in no room. The director reckons that he can scare us using light under face as well as strange music in the dark. The script is more absurd - weird neighbors, brave colleague, naive friend and cliché policeman are in mixture of non-sense and stupidity. I would remind with sadness the great road of De Niro - from Goodfather, Taxi Driver, Raging Bull till Casino, Goodfellas, etc. Now he is at the bottom with misunderstandings like Meet the Parents, Godsend , Seek and Hide. Perhaps Dakota is the only face to remember. Do not loose your time. 1/10