[Closed] Recent Viewing Part II

Agree with Franz.
Some beautiful photography aside, the characters were clichéd beyond the acceptable.
Especially Captain Vidal, whom I was expecting at every point to do an Evil Laugh and twist his (non-existent) dark moustache.

The film would have benefitted greatly from the realm of the fairytale NOT being mirrored by the realm of the hyperbole.

RV: The Spirit (2008)
I love Will Eisner's 60-year old creation which in its original comics run was clever, witty and at many a time quite moving (due to award-winning Eisner's genius of telling powerfully human stories through deceptively simple characters).
This film though is a by-the-numbers, lifeless, self-indulgent mess, with writer/diretor Frank Miller basically retreading every single stylistic effect of his own Sin City, which is the superior film here.

Pointless, especially as the characters in The Spirit aren't half as interesting or engrossing.
And quite boring, to boot.

1 out of 5

David Newman's score is up to the thankless task, and creates a nice amalgam of forties film noire and heroic action music.

3 out of 5

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RV: The Wrestler (2009)
Mickey Rourke does a tour de force as an old wrestler Randy "The Ram" who has reached his peak in the eighties -the heyday of American Wrestling- , but is now relegated to doing backyard and "extreme wrestling" (catch with a decidedly sadistic twist, using staple guns, barbed wire and broken glass) appearances to make ends meet next to his menial job in a major super market.

Rourke is the quintessential wash-up, trying desperately to kling to past glory and the only thing he has to work with, his body. In a diconcertingly documentary-like fashion we see his doomed relationshp with aging stripper Marisa Tomei, his bleak and hopeless trailerpark home life, and his age finally catching up with his drugs and abuse riddled body.

Yet for all his shortcomings -and this is where the film really rises miles over the inherently cliched premise- Rourke remains a really likeable, softspoken guy. He hasn't been acting very nicely -he has neglected his daughter for years and completely messes up the reunion- , but the overall impression is that he got caught up in a life that he doesn't fully understand, and that he's trying to make sense out of with a naivete and quietness that is really quite touching at times.

I found this a really powerful film about dreams and disillusionment. About the ache and heartbreak of coming to grips with the present when all that you really have to hang onto is a distant past. Those struggles, so desperate and unwinnable, struck a powerfully melacholic note in me that lifted this film -which even objectively is already very good- to a higher level for me.

However it should be noted that I am biased: In my teens I was fascinated by the then up-and-coming American Wrestling phenomenon and I was there for its heydays (though only through TV). I have since read a bit about the business and found that the sad reality is that it was a thankless world, where men by incredible muscle and stamina enhancing drug abuse completely destroyed their bodies and their minds, and washed up much like Randy.
So in many ways I have seen my erstwhile "heroes" topple.

That combined with the fact that there's a lot of harkening back in the film to the eighties, a mostly dark, melancholy and unpleasant decade for me AND the fact that lead actress Marisa Tomei is the fucking SPITTING IMAGE of my very first (obviously tragic and dramatic) love, pretty much ensures there are some very raw, very personal fringes around my experience of this film.

Still, even with all that, I would still highly recommend the film.
It's powerful, intelligent and very human.

And bloody HELL does Rourke look buff at age 57!!!

4 out of 5

Clint Mansell's electric guitar driven score is extremely sparse, which fits the nigh-documentary style of the film.

About Pan's Labyrinth

IMO the characters are not clichéd, just realistic in their depiction, so that's why we've seen em lots of times before in many other good drama's. Not everything is clear in the beginning, it's only by watching the story unfold we learn how good / evil these people are. If anything I really felt for the doctor, the woman and the young girl because of their hopeless struggle.

That is the very definition of a stereotype.
A stereotype can be enjoyable as a dramatic element, but it can easily get to be a cliché...and I'm honestly not sure how it wasn't clear from the very beginning what role these people were supposed to play (it was hammered home from the get-go! The sickly mother, the dreaming, adventurous girl, the evil totalitarian army man... ye gods. It's all the stereotypes of a fairytale!

I second the motion for an intelligent reading of that film.

I usually don't watch this kind of films, mainly because i am not too attracted to the genre (apart its music) and secondly because they're mostly cheap, crappy productions, but this movie is an exception i am happy to have made, thanks to Marcel. Best horror / thriller movie i've seen in ages, after THE ORPHANAGE (EL ORFANADO).

Martijn, i am not biased with this one since i was never into Wrestling and naturally not into 80's either, but i have to say that movie really touched me; i absolutely loved it and i am glad you did too!

Looking forward to more frequent movie reviews by you, btw; have you thought about the possibility of a movie review blog or something?

You should definitely see this if you love really good dramas. A deeply touching movie where you can follow the life of the main characters through decades and it does leave a mark in the soul of the viewer.

Martijn Martijn Martijn Martijn .....

I think we'll get that everytime Martijn feels passionate about a film he's watched.

See, this is my outlook on life.

I second the motion. In the words of the not-so-great prison warden of the Third Reich, Von Luger: "We have in effect put all our rotten eggs in one basket. And we intend to watch this basket carefully."

Twilight

Terrible movie in all aspects; if anything, the photography is really good. But the rest is so lame and clichéd. Carter Burwell doesn´t help by the way. Annoying score.

You want a good vampire story? Try "Let the Right One In" and forget copy/paste teenagers dramas like Twilight.

1 out of 5

The Uninvited

Average remake of the korean movie, and obviously, worse. Predictable since minute one (even if you haven´t watched the original film) and what is worse, much of the score featured on the soundtrack cd is not in the film (almost all the choral work is not in the film). Why??

2 out of 5

Yeah, why? I mean it was the best part of the music!

I'll avoid both at all cost!!!! Has anyone else seen Frozen River. Even Erik might feel a bit chilly.

The Lost Son
Starring Daniel Auteuil and Nastassja Kinski. This one follows the Nicholas Cage movie 8 mm very closely. Except, the subject matter is more disturbing here (kids involved). Daniel Auteuil plays a detective who is investigating the disappearance of Kinski's brother. It's a decent film. It's nice to see Auteuil play a different role than the soft/romantic types he usually does, even if it's a little unconvincing here.
I don't remember much from the score by Goran Bregovic except for the excellent end titles which features a tango-like theme on guitars with some electronics and percussion. Lovely!