Strange Days is a truly astonishing science fiction offering, part scripted by James Cameron and directed with relentless panache by maverick lady-director Kathryn Bigelow. It presents a depressing and bleak, yet worryingly probable, view of the near future, and hooks its story threads upon the impending millennium eve celebrations. Although December 31st, 1999, has been and gone since the making of this movie, it is a credit to the makers that this film still offers a plausible viewpoint about where the world might be at in the next decade or so.
Ralph Fiennes seems initially miscast, but soon wins over the audience as Lenny Nero, a sleazy racketeer who sells "memories" captured on some form of disk, similar to virtual reality but recorded from real experiences rather than computerised ones. He is desperately trying to get back with his ex-girlfriend Faith (Juliette Lewis), but she doesn't want him as she has hooked up with a music producer named Philo (Michael Wincott). Lenny acquires two disturbing tapes, one showing the rape and murder of a woman, the other showing a racially motivated slaying, and before he knows it he is on the run from the culprits who want to kill him before he exposes their crimes. The only person he can trust is his best friend, lady bodyguard Mace (Angela Bassett). To complicate matters further, his ex-girlfriend Faith seems to know something about the disks, and may either be involved in the crimes or at great risk from those responsible.
Bassett is the real star here, in the role of a lifetime as a morally strong and physically stronger heroine. Lewis plays the same old white trash girl she has played many times, but at least she has the experience to bring total conviction to the role. The production values are incredibly high, especially the party at the end which seems to realistically convey an entire city celebrating in the streets. The plot unfolds slowly, but this is a strength rather than a criticism. Each new development slots into place beautifully, and the audience is given time to get into the characters and the situations (which, in too many movies, we are not allowed to do since the pace is often too frenetic).
Strange Days is challenging and aggressive and frequently disturbing. It is also inventive and exciting and ingeniously staged. It is simply a terrific science film which any devotee of the genre absolutely must see.
I watched New Moon yesterday and overall I think it's pretty good. Some people are saying there wasn't enough action in it.. well people did you read the book? There wasn't much action in that either.
The movie followed the book fairly well I thought. In fact overall, I was pretty impressed with the movie. The wolves looked cool. I reckon the next movie will be great as it will have more action scenes in it with wolves fighting vampires and so forth.
The acting wasn't so great. The person who played Jacob did a pretty good job, the person who played Laurent did a fairly good job and the person who played Bella did better than last time and was pretty good in this movie. However, the person who played Alice wasn't very spectacular and I don't think they played her character well and as usual I think Robert Pattison can't act.
Other than that I loved the movie. If you can get past the dodgy acting it's good. If you liked the book of New Moon you should like the movie.
I'm sure my readers will appreciate that I rarely give a movie more than 3 stars, und this is only the 4th time in my blogging career that I have given 5 stars, so I'm sure that you will understand that this movie must be some great revolution in the history of movie making... in fact, I would venture to say it is very nearly the "perfect" movie...
It was with great anticipation that I went to view this movie, after reading that nearly every reputable movie magazine gave it a 5 star rating... I knew for certain that I was in for something amazing!
I had to travel a little way as my home cinema wasn't showing it, but it was well worth it, und I would recommend it to all of my readers, even if you aren't a fan of the Vampire genre!
***Synopsis***
Oskar, a bullied 12-year old, dreams of revenge. He falls in love with Eli, a peculiar girl. She can't stand the sun or food and to come into a room she needs to be invited. Eli gives Oskar the strength to hit back but when he realises that Eli needs to drink other people's blood to live he's faced with a choice. How much can love forgive? Låt den rätte komma in or Let The Right One In is a story both violent and highly romantic, set in the Stockholm suburb of Blackeberg in 1982.
Written by John Nordling, Producer
Starring: Kåre Hedebrant, and Lina Leandersson
Directed by: Tomas Alfredson
***Fantasy Take***
Excellent fantasy movie, yet not too weird as to alienate the average viewer...
***Storyline: 5 Stars***
Brilliant story, based in a perfect fairy-tale style, simple und easy to follow, yet leaving you as if you had had the most filling meal in your life!
***Graphics: 4 Stars***
Hey, it's not really that kind of movie, but for what it is, the graphics certainly do what's needed of them...
***Acting: 5 Stars***
Oh, just perfect actors! Especially the little girl (Eli), who was both sweet, but still quite freaky at times!
***Music: 4 Stars***
Excellent music, though I would have liked a catchy theme tune to hum on my way home...
***Emotions: 5 Stars***
Excellently emotional throughout, I was completely wrapped!
***Conclusion***
Well, in conclusion... It's basically perfect... need I say more?
Enjoy, nazdrovia
"It must be hard to love an adopted child as much as your own" I'm an adopted child and that quote quite fit in my persona, but I'm not here to talk about me, I'm here to talk about Orphan and goes... Kate and John Coleman, VERA FARMIGA and PETER SAARSGARD, have two children, Danny, JIMMY BENNETT, and Max, ARYANA ENGINEER, who is deaf; a baby was still-born, and, still saddened by that loss, the Colemans decide to adopt an older child, settling on a 9-year-old orphan, Esther, ISABELLE FUHRMAN, who comes from Eastern Europe. Esther proves to be a problem child, manipulative, devious, jealous ? and possibly murderous, I feel very fit to Esther, except the murder thing. This horror film about an evil child is at times genuinely unsettling and contains a not-to-be-revealed twist which I certainly wasn?t expecting. Though the plot mechanics are familiar from dozens of similar films (The omen, The Bad Seed, The Good Son), the acting is unusually strong, especially ISABELLE FUHRMANN as the very nasty Esther and little ARYANA ENGINEER as Max. One of the good things about ORPHAN, which is directed by Jaume Collet-Sera, is that it takes itself quite seriously and manages to bring a surprising level of originality to the potentially familiar material. At two hours plus it?s much too long for this sort of exercise in suspense, but it?s several cuts (if I may use the word) above the average.