Runner Runner (2013)

Genre : Crime/Thriller
Country: USA

Cast :
Justin Timberlake : Richie Furst
Ben Affleck : Ivan Block
Gemma Arterton : Rebecca Shafran

Director :
Brad Furman

Summary
Princeton grad student Richie, believing he's been swindled, travels to Costa Rica to confront online gambling tycoon Ivan Block. Richie is seduced by Block's promise of immense wealth, until he learns the disturbing truth about his benefactor. When the FBI tries to coerce Richie to help bring down Block, Richie faces his biggest gamble ever: attempting to outmaneuver the two forces closing in on him.

My opinion

"That little voice in the back of your head right now, it's not conscience, it's fear."

Besides the fact that "Runner Runner" is a poker term , and you’ll see Timberlake play online poker for a night, there won’t be anything anymore related to a poker game in this movie. So don’t expect a movie like "Rounders". "Runner Runner" is about managing an online gambling site on the Internet , the immense amount of money that is earned by the website owners and the fact that there is fraud on a global scale. "Everybody gambles !" is the first thing Richie Furst ( Justin Timberlake ) says in this film . Whether it’s on a gambling site or on the stock market , real money or fake money somewhere on an online gaming site . Gambling became a normal thing in our daily lives .

This movie is not a quality piece of work.It is fairly predictable and full of imperfections in the script .The only positive I saw were the two protagonists Affleck and Timberlake . Ben Affleck is perfect for such a role as a clever, shrewd and dangerous criminal who deceives everybody . At least he’s doing better as in "Daredevil". That was a pathetic performance . He’s super cool, but not cool enough to play a superhero.

Justin Timberlake is not a top actor , but he’s not that extremely bad. In "In Time" I thought he was only mediocre. But in "Trouble with the Curve" he delivered an excellent performance . In this movie , he plays in a convincing way a rather intelligent university student who already earned a lot on Wall Street in the past. Unfortunately, he has lost a fortune there ( also not in a nice way apparently) and now he tries to gain it back by gambling on a website of which he’s an "Affiliate". But normally he should know that this really is the worst solution . Luckily he didn’t lose all his money so he still can book a ticket to Costa Rica. Now for some implausibilities. First, no one would think about traveling to an exotic country to confront a gambling kingpin with his loss. Second, that person won’t give in for such a tiny unimportant person. And certainly not with only some dull statistics showing that the pattern of a particular player deviates from a normal gambler. And third, if that person would admit that something went wrong and afterwards offer a very lucrative job, I would scratch my head and become really suspicious about that. Those are a few questionable facts in this film , in my opinion .

Gemma Arterton again plays a stupid meaningless role in this movie. Just playing her beautiful self once again. Her makeup , hairstyle and feminine forms are the only thing you can look at admiringly.

"Runner Runner" is a mediocre crime with a few thrills on a beautiful exotic location with a good looking cast, as well in performance as in appearance. A movie that’s not to boring but so meaningless that in a week you’re wondering what it was about anyway.

My rating 6 /10
Links : IMDB

Man of Steel (2013)

Genre : Fantasy/Adventure
Country: USA

Cast :
Henry Cavill : Superman
Michael Shannon : Zod
Amy Adams : Lois Lane

Director :
Zack Snyder

Summary

A young boy learns that he has extraordinary powers and is not of this Earth. As a young man, he journeys to discover where he came from and what he was sent here to do. But the hero in him must emerge if he is to save the world from annihilation and become the symbol of hope for all mankind.

My opinion

Born on Krypton and raised on Earth, you had the best of both and were meant to be the bridge between two worlds.

Superman never was my favorite among all the other superheroes . I thought he looked like a pussy and not just because he was always wearing his underpants in the wrong way. If you compare him with Spiderman , Batman , The Hulk , The Magnificent Seven , Dare Devil and The X -men , he is actually just a lousy figure . Most of the other superheroes have been mutated by radiation , chemical waste or bitten by a spider. Superman just crashed on Earth , got his superpowers cause gravity on his home planet is much larger and gets weaker when he comes near to a simple green luminescent material called kryptonite. As a teenager I really didn’t think it was that thrilling.

I was 12 years old when I saw the first movie in which Christopher Reeve starred as Superman. I was quite impressed by this film . Compared with this Man Of Steel the special effects weren’t that breathtaking , but at that time they were state of the art . A positive thing is that they didn’t just copy the complete original movie. Man of Steel is told in a very different way . The only thing I missed was Lex Luther and the way in which General Zod and his crew were banished from the planet Krypton . I found those flat plates flying off into space quite original and a clever idea to use it that way.

However I have mixed feelings about this movie. I liked the first part on Krypton and the introduction of Superman to the people on Earth was a strong start . Until Zod arrives . Then it all feels exaggerated in a way. The layout and images of the endangered planet Krypton and the takeover by Zod are simply stunning and an indication of what was to come . Beautiful special effects and CGI that made me sit back to enjoy the rest that was to come. These images can be compared with those of the better contemporary SF .

First we see Superman as a wandering young man who tries to keep his powers to a limit and not to reveal it to mankind . The flashbacks show his difficult childhood in which he clearly struggles whether or not to use these powers . Cavill was exceptionally brilliant in his role . And not just because the costume has been restyled . Kevin Costner and Diane Lane as his human father and mother both were convincing. Amy Adams has a cute face , but as Lois Lane , she didn’t really appeal to me . The relationship with Superman was not as pronounced here as in the old movie. To me it seemed not more than an ordinary friendship between the two characters . The discovery of the spaceship and Cavill’s further development as Superman were extremely well developed. The way he discovers his powers and the way this is shown on the screen, especially him flying through the sound barrier, is stunning.

Zod and his crew land on the planet Earth and ask to turn in Superman . What we get then is a show of mind-blowing power development with such a destructive force that turns Metropolis in a ruin. Hard action was to be expected , but this was an over exaggerated display . Half an hour of collapsing buildings and skyscrapers , smashed flat cars, crashing satellites and flying debris . I thought these apocalyptic images would never end. After a while I wasn’t watching out of admiration anymore , but rather out of boredom , when Superman or Zod were thrown again through a series of buildings and tons of all kinds of heavy equipment was smashed in their face. Despite the fact that they are actually indestructible and feel no pain, they had to get up out of a painful semiconscious state to continue with the hopeless showdown . The most ridiculous thing was yet to come. After an inhuman exhausting fight it all ends with a simple snap of Zods neck. We’ve seen that enough times in a rather normal action movie. Why didn’t they end the whole matter by sending them back to the Phantom Zone like they did with Zods spacecraft and his crew ? Well, ultimately it all has to end somehow!

Finally one more fact that annoys me about Superman . He gets a job at the Dailey Planet and is (how is it possible) unrecognizable by wearing normal looking glasses. Just awful :)

Man of Steel . Not a super movie . It’s excellent in using current computer technology to make everything look smooth and slick. But what an exaggerated destructive half hour to finish. I was not really blown away by it !

My rating 7 /10
Links : IMDB

Getaway (2013)

Genre : Misdaad/Actie
Country: USA/Bulgarije

Cast :
Ethan Hawke : Brent Magna
Selena Gomez : The Kid
Rebecca Budig : Leanna

Director :
Courtney Solomon

Summary
Getaway is the gritty, exciting action thriller from Warner Brothers in which former race car driver Brent Magna is pitted against the clock as he commandeers a custom Shelby Super Snake Mustang, taking it and its unwitting owner on a high-speed adventure at the command of a mysterious villain on a race against time to save the life of his kidnapped wife.

My opinion

"He's a real asshole."

As a young kid I was watching a stunt show at the seaside somewhere along the Belgian coast many years ago. I couldn’t believe what I saw and it was a wonderful spectacle as they simply drove cars to shreds . Afterwards I received a sticker of this group and I kept it for years in a book .
In the meantime I’ve lost that sticker and slightly more than 30 years later , I’m at an age that I 'm not surprised that quickly anymore . "Getaway" looks like a film with such a stuntshow . A series of high-speed pursuits with many police cars flying around and heaps of metal that is wrecked .

The star in this film is the Mustang driven by Ethan Hawke and is reminiscent of " Roadrunner " . You see him all the time , and even though you do your best to get hold of him every time he gets away. It started as a good car-chase movie with a lot of car wrecks as a result , but after a while it started working on my nerves . The high speed chases in the streets of Sofia is shown in exact the same way all the time. The attached cameras deliver snapshots from all sides, which are then put together in a stroboscopic mind-blowing, driving-you-nuts kind of way. I strongly advice that people with epilepsy don’t watch this movie.

About the lead actors we can be short and concise. It’s just meaningless acting. Hawke is just looking sadly during the complete movie while he’s trying to save his wife by performing assigned tasks. To me it was a big boy scout’s game , only for adults. "The Kid" played by Selena Gomez is an annoying brat that ultimately turns out to be a wealthy bank manager 's daughter. She appears to have a lot of high-tech knowledge and knows a lot of things about her father’s bank. Stuff that a serious bank manager wouldn’t give away just like that. Jon Voight his mouth is mostly what we see throughout the film . You don’t need to be a star actor for that. The story is completely stupid and childishly simple. A simple bank robbery in which Voight ensures that all roads in the city are blocked and the only road left is an escape route. There are numerous implausible situations throughout the movie. For example the moment The Kid has a solution to intercept the streaming from the attached cameras. Those images are send to an anonymous server somewhere on the Internet. And with her iPad she can just simply manipulate those images. Sigh.

Conclusion : "Getaway" as fast as you can if you come near this film . If you’ve found this as a gift under the Christmas tree , it can still be used in some way : as a support for a wobbly table , reuse it or use it as a fan next summer . Worst movie of the year, in my opinion.

My rating 1 /10
Links : IMDB

The Butler (2013)

Genre : Drama/History
Country: USA

Cast :
Forest Whitaker : Cecil Gaines
Oprah Winfrey :  Gloria Gaines
John Cusack : Richard Nixon
Robin Williams : Eisenhower

Director :
Lee Daniels

Summary

Cecil Gaines was a sharecropper's son who grew up in the 1920s as a domestic servant for the white family who casually destroyed his. Eventually striking out on his own, Cecil becomes a hotel valet of such efficiency and discreteness in the 1950s that he becomes a butler in the White House itself. There, Cecil would serve numerous US Presidents over the decades as a passive witness of history with the American Civil Rights Movement gaining momentum even as his family has troubles of its own. As his wife, Gloria, struggles with her addictions and his defiant eldest son, Louis, strives for a just world, Cecil must decide whether he should take action in his own way.

My opinion

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that."

"The Butler" is a fascinating historical look at the struggle of the African- American population for equal rights and an equal dignity over the years in the U.S. I’m not sure if it’s completely accurate and historically correct. To be honest, I was afraid it was going to be as boring as "Lincoln",but for 2 hours it got my complete attention. And that for a movie that’s based on historical facts. If only history lessons were like this movie. I do think it should be mandatory teaching material. A lot of people will say that this film is strategically launched in order to qualify for an Oscar nomination and even receive a few of them. To be honest I am not hundred percent sure bout that. And if that’s a motive to skip this movie, you'll actually miss one of the best movies of this year.

A lot of famous stars perform in this film : John Cusack, Jane Fonda, Cuba Gooding Jr., Terrence Howard, James Marsden, Robin Williams, Vanessa Redgrave. Even Lenny Kravitz and Mariah Carey played in it. Although I didn’t recognize them immediately. However it’s the lead players who have made a big impression on me. Forest Whitaker is superb as Cecil Gaines, the butler who worked for eight U.S. presidents and went through the whole history. From the cotton fields to the election of Obama as president. In my opinion his best performance ever. Despite his passivity, he still shows in a way that he is ambitious and courageous. I thought he was fighting a silent battle against the injustice that was done to him. The scenes where he was present in "The Oval Room" with the president having a discussion with his advisers, I found sometimes really touching. Most of these discussions were about controversial issues that have to do with the colored population. The way they ignored him as if he was a piece of furniture while those matters actually concerned him. I also found it amazing how his aging was realized. Everything is right and put in a convincing way. On the other hand, Whitaker has a kind of a sad face with eyes like Droopy. So making him look sad and concerned wasn’t a hard job.

The person who made ​​the biggest impression on me is Oprah Winfrey who played the role of Gloria Gaines. To be honest, I started watching without any notion of what VIP's were playing here in this movie. When I finally recognized her as that annoying attention-grabbing talk show blabbermouth who always looks for commercial advantage, I was still pleasantly surprised by her acting performance. I would even say giving her this role was a big surplus and positive thing for this movie. And David Oyelowo played a starring role as the son Louis. A quiet boy who gradually hated the way his father thought about the issues that concerned the colored people and began to rebel and participated in the famous sit ins in places where blacks were not allowed, the Freedom Buses and later The Black Panthers. The peak of dullness in this film is of course the reconciliation with his father at the end.

The advantage to watch without knowing who's playing in this movie is that you always get surprised when familiar faces show up. The most successful I found Alan Rickman and Jane Fonda as Ronald and Nancy Reagan. Also Minka Kelly as Jacqueline Kennedy did pretty well. Robin Williams however was a miscast in my opinion. Not because of his acting performance but I expected every moment he was going to put on a red clowns nose and throw in a funny one-liner to finish.

The film itself covered a lot of historical events : The cotton plantation, the first blacks at a university, the Freedom Buses, the Ku Klux Klan, JFK, Sidney Poitier, Vietnam, the death of Luther King, Mandela and Obama. That’s a lot to cover in a single movie. But it didn’t really bother me.

A must-see movie for me at least. It’s basically a cinematic documentary of the darkest, ugliest and saddest period in American history. And sadly it’s still actual and happens day by day in our modern civilized society. And then realizing it wasn’t that long ago. For me definitely an Oscar worthy. But let’s hope this movie is the apotheosis on this subject cause recent years we were flooded by such movies.

My rating 9 /10
Links : IMDB

War Horse (2011)

Genre : Drama/Oorlog
Country : USA

Cast :
Jeremy Irvine : Albert Narracott
Peter Mullan : Ted Narracott
Emily Watson : Rose Narracott
David Thewlis : Lyons

Director :
Steven Spielberg

Summary

To his wife's dismay farmer Narracott buys a thoroughbred horse rather than a plough animal, but when his teenaged son Albert trains the horse and calls him Joey, the two becoming inseparable. When his harvest fails, the farmer has to sell Joey to the British cavalry and he is shipped to France where, after a disastrous offensive he is captured by the Germans

My opinion

"We'll be alright Joey. We're the lucky ones, you and me. Lucky since the day I met you."

This is a pleasant family film in which every member of the family will find a piece they’ll love most. The kids can dream about the adventurous part and the bond of friendship between a person and an animal. The women will be sobbing with all the sentimental and gooey stuff in this film while their handkerchief will get moister as the end nears. The tougher men of the family can set up for some authentic WWI footage.

The look and feel of this movie took me back to movies like "Old Yeller". It looks sometimes like a painting. I had the feeling that it wasn't always filmed outside. The storyline is much like "Forrest Gump", only that this time a horse is the subject that runs through history and all sorts of situations. A comparison with Lassie is obvious cause Joey behaves like a trained collie. At one moment i expected him to go sit on his butt like a real dog.

The characters have a wide spectrum of feelings and personality. Joey is obviously highly intelligent an extremely loyal. Everyone would love to have such a horse hopping around in the garden. Not only does he express infinite love for Albert, but he’s also that strong to plow an entire field full of stumps and boulders in one night. Albert is the lucky boy to have this wonder horse as a friend. It is a simple, extremely boring and never aging man. For his age, I think he has an unhealthy interest in horses. Instead of chasing girls and hang out with friends, he only talks and thinks about his horse. Like someone noticed on IMDb : "I guess one day he would like to settle down with Joey the Horse, get married with Joey the Horse and have kids with Joey the Horse. His character is so utterly one dimensional and bland.". Peter Mullan I thought was brilliant again in his role as the hardworking farmer who bought Joey on an auction right under the nose of his landowner. I think Mullan is one hell of an actor since I've seen him in "Tyrannosaur". Emily Watson played convincingly the bossy wife and David Thewlis played an unkind version of a harsh landowner and I often hoped that he would be trampled under the feet of Joey .

As mentioned earlier, the film shows the adventurous life of Joey. From the pasture where he was born, to the farm where he needs to work hard, into the British army who loses Joey in a failed attack and he falls in the hands of the Germans. Then he ends up with a French girl and her grandfather (peak of dullness in the whole movie). Then again back in the hands of the Germans and eventually he gets tangled in barbed wire right in the middle of the battlefield. The end is so incredibly predictable with the obligatory moment when Albert and Joey meet again and return home to embrace his mother and eventually the father.

Terribly corny and sentimental film material in a heap, but filmed in a masterful way. The symbolic nature of the film is not hard to guess. The beauty of a deep-rooted friendship in contrast with the horrible hateful war in the background. This WWI was realistically portrayed on screen even though it seemed like a fairly clean war here. No blood spattered around, not even a drop. No ripped bodies. No hideous looking casualties caused by the gas attacks. In reality it was not a pretty picture. But all in all I thought it was pretty entertaining to watch and not boring at all. Although the moment when Joey got entangled in barbed wire was too ridiculous for words. I rather think that they would have used him as a practice target. For me, the moment when five cutters flew through the air to make him loose was a humorous slapstick moment .

Conclusion :
A Walt Disney fairy tale with many war sentiment and heartbreaking melodramatic, but picturesquely portrayed. Not the best of Spielberg, but it certainly was not that bad and awful.

My rating 5 /10
Links : IMDB

The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008)

Nederlands hier ...

Genre : SF/Drama
Country : USA

Cast :
Keanu Reeves : Klaatu
Jennifer Connelly : Helen Benson
Kathy Bates : Regina Jackson

Director :
Scott Derrickson

Summary
Dr. Helen Benson is summoned to a military facility with several other scientists when an alien spacecraft of sorts arrives in New York City. Aboard is a human-like alien and a giant robot of immense size and power. The alien identifies himself as Klaatu and says he has come to save the Earth. The US military and political authorities see him as a threat however and decide to use so-called intensive interrogation techniques on him but Dr. Benson decides to facilitate his escape. When she learns exactly what he means when he says he is there to save the Earth, she tries to convince him to change his intentions.

My opinion

"Your professor is right. At the precipice we change."

What would you do when you're sitting with your family in the middle of nowhere in the Ardennes in a primitive looking cabin with only a crossword puzzle and a Galaxy tablet that doesn’t work anymore because your limit of 150MB is reached ? I was smart enough to bring along my Medi8ter and connected it with the provided LCD-TV. Finally the kids got their overdose of cartoons and were sleeping in their cozy bed so I could browse on the Medi8ter and look for something to watch. Most of it are older movies like "The day the earth stood still". I wished time would have stopped so I wouldn’t have wasted it.

Unfortunately I haven’t seen the original film of 1951 and can’t compare this remake . On the other hand I’m not so eager to watch such an antique movie with probably non-existing special effects. But when the content of this remake is identical to the original and the remake stinks , then I certainly won’t bother to watch the original. So what is wrong  with this movie ?

The moral message this film wants to preach is well known to us , and I don’t like it when a movie tries to hammer that message in my head and wave with a pedantic finger at me. I admit that if we don’t change our mentality towards our planet it will bring serious consequences.  So if we don’t change our eco plan and take care of pollution , use other sources of energy  and be more peaceful and tolerant , Earth could become a dreary place to live on . The idea that there are more advanced civilizations out there watching over us and at some point decide to save Earth by destroying mankind, is a brilliant idea for a movie. My conclusion was that these aliens are terribly ridiculous and stupid. The intellectual study they made is thrown overboard because an attractive scientist is crying , along with her ​​stepson , at the grave of her husband . So please do remember this everybody ! Should it ever come to an alien invasion, then we'll all just show an emotionally and compassionate side of ourselves . Success guaranteed! They’ll leave in a flash.

The U.S. puts billions of dollars in research and equipment to detect life in the universe and try to make contact with them. Then one day an alien arrives at the horizon , not in a flying saucer but in a giant illuminating ball, and instantly the military machine awakes and starts acting , because they have received clear signals of hostile behavior. The first extraterrestrial sets foot/leg/tentacle or whatever supporting material on earth and is shot without mercy before he can say a greeting. At that time I just wanted to stop this movie and save myself from more ridiculous rubbish.  And yes, it got worse . The alien Klaatu , is taken to a field hospital and starts to melt in some way after which a human figure is appearing out of those slimes. The logical question asked at Dr. Helen Benson was "Can you explain this ?" . Hilarious ! Off course she can't explain this since this is her first alien encounter . Dumb, stupid and making me roll my eyes. What follows is a demonstration of human arrogance . Klaatu is taken in for questioning ... What a friendly planet  we are ! Bates rules as a Female God and doesn’t want to hear about the alleged destruction of the earth and that Dr. Benson has a feeling she can persuade Klaatu to stop this. Now things start to speed up . Dr. Benson and Klaatu escape along with the stepson Jacob . An incredibly irritating and spoiled brat. It was only afterwards  that I read it’s Will Smiths son. Oh right, the robot that came out of the ball to protect Klaatu is taken by the American army to a secret bunker, where they are trying to destroy it. However, that's not a success as hoped. What remains is a swarm of insects. They start eating in a really destructive way. Everything on their way vanishes. The emotional moment at the grave of Jacob's father ,as mentioned before, is the turning point .

Is there anything positive to say about this movie ? Yes, of course . The moment Dr. Benson used a cell phone and got caught by a soldier was a emotional moment in this movie. John Cleese playing an intellectual  scientist was excellent and well chosen . Jennifer Connelly has a beautiful appearance . And Reeves plays again with that face without an expression . Personally I don’t think he’s really much of an actor, but this part as a unworldly, emotionless alien, fits him like a glove. The special effects aren’t bad and the moving truck that got eaten by those insects is pretty slick to watch . I 'm just wondering what material the bridge was made of under which they were hiding , since a few moments  before that, a complete stadium was eaten.

Had the extraterrestrial civilizations studied the inhabitants of the earth a bit longer, they might have come to the conclusion that they should just wait a bit longer. Wait till we destroy ourselves.

My rating 4 /10
Links : IMDB

The Call (2013)

Genre : Thriller/Misdaad
Country : USA

Cast :
Halle Berry : Jordan Turner
Abigail Breslin : Casey Welson
Michael Eklund: Michael Foster

Director :
Brad Anderson

Summary
Jordan Turner is an experienced 911 operator but when she makes an error in judgment and a call ends badly, Jordan is rattled and unsure if she can continue. But then teenager Casey Welson is abducted in the back of a man's car and calls 911. And Jordan is the one called upon to use all of her experience, insights and quick thinking to help Casey escape, and not just to save Casey, but to make sure the man is brought to justice.
My opinion

"And don't make promises... cause you know you can't keep'em."

An intense thriller that had my complete attention almost to the end . The basic idea is quite original. A kidnapped teenager, Casey (Abigail Breslin) , calls 911 while being kidnapped out of the trunk of a car. The person at the call center who tries to help her through is Jordan ( Halle Berry ) . Six months earlier, she had a traumatic experience with a bad interpretation of a critical situation , which caused the death of another teen girl.

Everything a decent thriller needs is in this movie . But unfortunately also the well-known cliches and improbabilities which quickly get on my nerves . Halle B. acts in a convincing way and shows in a realistic way how nerve-wracking it is to work at a 911 call center. You can feel the pressure and stress throughout the complete movie . The first thing I was annoyed about was the speed at which she got over her panic attack and had control over the situation. She seems to be a tough lady when it comes to emotions.
Breslin also played very convincingly the victim . A teenager who’s completely in a panic and starts to cry hysterically, but in the end, thanks to the coolness of the operator, can calm down . The second victim joining her in the trunk isn’t that cold-blooded and starts to shout like an adolescent. Second point of annoyance .
Eklund is the  super sick and deranged serial killer Michael Foster who apparently has an intense grief over his sister death. He looks as crazy as in " The Divide " .

A thriller fails in my eyes when there are multiple situations where my response sounds like : "How stupid can you be... " . And there were enough situations like that . Why not keep a pot of paint ready to hurl it in his face as soon as he opens the trunk ? I would have rammed that Screwdriver up his throat as soon as he leaned over me . And apparently he wasn’t that bright after all, leaving such material in his trunk after several. The old man at the gas station was pretty stupid to use a utility knife to attack Foster. Couldn’t Casey do more effort in trying to crawl out of the trunk while Foster was busy ? Who couldn’t predict the cellphone would slip out of her hand? Why not get the mobile phone first , make a phone call and then go exploring ? Why do we always get that situation where the psychopath is first beaten , and then all of a sudden appears behind the victims ? I would definitely smash the guy’s brains with a fire extinguisher or so. I know this extremely important to keep it exciting and so the protagonist may end up as heroine.
The end was a real anti-climax and totally unbelievable . Casey shows up out of the blue and the police leaves it that way without starting an investigation ? I'd never ever sleep again. Before you know it that sick bastard pops up besides my bed again !

All in all, a film full of suspense. It's only a pity that it's such an annoying end.

My rating 5 /10
Links : IMDB

Only God Forgives (2013)

Genre : Misdaad/Drama
Country: USA

Cast :
Ryan Gosling: Julian
Kristin Scott Thomas : Crystal
Yayaying : Mai
Vithaya Pansringarm : Chang

Director :
Nicolas Winding Refn

Summary

Bangkok. Ten years ago Julian killed a man and went on the run. Now he manages a Thai boxing club as a front for a drugs operation. Respected in the criminal underworld, deep inside, he feels empty. When Julian's brother murders an underage prostitute, the police call on retired cop Chang - the Angel of Vengeance. Chang allows the father to kill his daughter's murderer, then 'restores order' by chopping off the man's right hand. Julian's mother Crystal - the head of a powerful criminal organization - arrives in Bangkok to collect her son's body. She dispatches Julian to find his killers and 'raise hell'.

My opinion

It's "Drive" situated in Bangkok

Refn wants to show clearly what he's good in. Namely bringing a simple story to a higher level by stylistic and artistic tricks . As with "Drive" there is a lot of commotion about this movie and there are pro’s and contra’s of this movie. Refn apparently seems to be a huge fan of David Lynch. Some will consider it as a work of art . Others will qualify it more as complete nonsense and a waste of time when you watch this movie . My opinion lies in between those two and consider it as a great achievement to make an artistic tale of a meaningless story. The intellectual movie audience obviously will give a standing ovation for this one and it will lead to all kinds of theories and opinions. Think long enough about it and you’ll discover a deeper philosophical content with appropriate symbolism . If you don’t think about it too long, it is actually an empty box with careful attention to the correct ISO settings and lenses that were used .

Without a doubt , most images are aesthetically pleasing with its esoteric , neon exposures and the numerous moments where the characters are looking silently around. However, most passages are sometimes so absurd and hilarious. The sequence of a murder , the revenge of the daughters father and a Karaoke bar, in that order, gave me on one side a wondering impression , and on the other hand, I could not suppress shaking my head, chuckling . The karaoke is reused a few times in this movie. I’m still wondering what the symbolic value this has.

When you look at the characters it seems like a bunch of autistic persons , who react in the most unnatural way to situations ,take their time to give a meaningful response and after that start staring at an infinite point. Each of them master the best "Bold and the Beautiful"-staring technique. Gosling is actually a duplicate of his character in "Drive" . A silent person with the empathy of a good working American fridge . The news about the death of his brother, not even makes a small change in his facial expression . The fact that he’s actually totally harassed and ignored by his mother , raises the same dispassionate attitude .

The entire movie is a concatenation and a secure editing of fragments with lots of neon light and proportional masterfully placed image impressions . A snapshot of a belt , a beautiful oriental girl behind red fluorescent beads , a flash of bodybuilders , a karaoke bar , at the ceiling staring people .... Take all the moments away where someone meaningless stares at the horizon , and you keep a simple revenge story of roughly 20 minutes.

To make it acceptable for a larger audience you throw some bloody fragments in it and a realistic, lively fight where Gosling end up with a rather damaged face.

In short : a simple revenge story held together by arty interventions . In my view, not such a work of art as it should appear to be.

My rating 3 /10
Links : IMDB