The Internship (2013)

Genre : Comedy
Country : USA

Cast :
Vince Vaughn : Billy McMahon
Owen Wilson : Nick Campbell
Rose Byrne : Dana
Aasif Mandvi : Mr Chetty

Director :
Shawn Lely

Summary
Billy and Nick are two representatives whose career comes to an abrupt end. To prove that they are not obsolete, they defy the odds by talking their way into a coveted internship at Google, along with a battalion of brilliant college students. But, gaining entrance to this utopia is only half the battle. Now they must compete with a group of the nation's most elite, tech-savvy geniuses to prove that necessity really is the mother of re-invention.

My opinion

Can we talk about the on the line thing for a minute?

Vince & Owen, the witty American duo. They performed together in "The Wedding Crashers". Same routine, the same way of complementary conversations. Now they don't infiltrate at a wedding where they pretend to be family-related, but they infiltrate a high-tech company, Google, where they pretend to fit perfectly into the club of whiz kids who hang out there. Who says this is not a very devious way to put your business into the picture for the commercial part of our society, may join the large group of people who got fooled by the mega-company Google.

As a comedy I thought it was terribly disappointing. How is it that this movie gets a 6.4 on IMDB ? Very simple , it's pure American humor. And sorry, I don't exactly like that kind of humor all the time. It is a sequence of (would-be) tricky witticisms and puns. The volumes of conversations were so colossal that the subtitles sometimes could not follow so I needed to rewind several times because I had missed almost a full chapter of the two jokers their flood of words. And I wasn't laughing out loud a lot during the entire movie either. Not even a micro minute of the film. Bewildered, I read comments such as : "The movie was great from beginning to end. I laughed harder than I have in any recent comedy I've seen in the theater.". I fear that this person hasn't seen a lot of comedies in his life.

Now about the predictable events and cliches. This was a succession of predictable cliches. I admit that not all comedies can have an original design and get a new record in the category "comedy". But this was really annoyingly bad and deeply sad. From miles away you could already see it coming how it would end. The mentor who strongly dislikes the two newcomers from the beginning and uses every opportunity to make fun of them and obviously finally turned out to be the one who believed in them, because he had to start from scratch also once and also saw that spark in them. Owen meets Dana by chance, and you know immediately that this will result into something passionately. The fact that they get stuck stuck with a bunch of nerds, they will teach moral values​ so they start believing in themselves and making the victory a reality, was also obvious. Then there is the arrogant brilliant opponent who makes you look like a fool all the time but in the is the poor sucker again. After that one of them gives up because he starts realizing that maybe after all it was a big mistake to show up there, and then triumphantly returns to retrieve the loot. Sigh ... Terrible ....

The most irritating character in the whole movie was Lyle. A terrible ADHD type of guy who probably made the most effort of all to look like a comedian and be as funny as hell. Would I be there personally, I would have certainly thrown my iPad to his head after 5 minutes.
 

It's indeed a modern and newer version of "Revenge of the Nerds", but oh so bad ...

My rating 1 /10
Links : IMDB

The Conjuring (2013)

Summary
In 1971, Carolyn and Roger Perron move their family into a dilapidated Rhode Island farm house and soon strange things start happening around it with escalating nightmarish terror. In desperation, Carolyn contacts the noted paranormal investigators, Ed and Lorraine Warren, to examine the house. What the Warrens discover is a whole area steeped in a satanic haunting that is now targeting the Perron family wherever they go. To stop this evil, the Warrens will have to call upon all their skills and spiritual strength to defeat this spectral menace at its source that threatens to destroy everyone involved. 

Genre : Horror
Country : USA

Cast :
Vera Farmiga : Lorraine Warren
Patrick Wilson : Ed Warren
Lili Taylor : Carolyn Perron
Ron Livingston : Roger Perron

Director :
James Wan

My opinion

Sometimes it's better to keep the genie in the bottle.

After reading a lot about it and hearing the rave reviews, I finally sat in my cosy sofa to watch this, according to sources, extreme creepy horror and enjoy every second of it. I was very curious if this film would tickle my nerves and let a scary and eerie feeling descend all over me.
Ultimately it wasn't so ...
 

Throw together "The Exorcist", "The Changeling", "The Amityville Horror", "Poltergeist" and "Paranormal Activity", shake it well and finish it with masterly camera work, and you get this horror gem as a result. Only "Drag me to hell" also got my appreciation and I judged this one as being a decent horror film since they don't make them so well anymore recent years. Nowadays it's more teen-horror like "Twilight", paranormal nonsense like "Paranormal Activity" and crappy footage horror.
 

 

James Wan however, has the talent to make a sizzling movie using the tension and an image-building that fascinates you and makes sure you keep on watching. It's again full of cliches and situations that are used countless times in other films. And yet it's all subtly intertwined and transcends the other horror crap that I have been presented with before.
 

So, "The Conjuring" is an outstanding horror with a somewhat disappointing ending. It gave me a feeling as if it needed to be finished in a rush. Most films would still end up with an appearance in the music box. This movie is at that point masterfully,because here it doesn't happen.

The fact that this film is based on a true story (which I doubt) gives this film an extra dimension.

My rating 8 /10
Links : IMDB

Bedevilled (2010)

Genre : Horror/Crime
Country : Korea

Cast :
Ji Sung-won : Hae-won
Seo Yeong-hee : Kim Bok-nam
Jeong-hak Park : Man-jong

Director :
Chul-soo Jang

Summary
Hae-won is a beautiful single woman in her thirties who works at a bank in the Seoul city. She leads a busy life until she becomes a witness to an attempted murder case, and at the same time, things get complicated at work. When things get out of hand she is forced to take a vacation so she heads for 'Moodo', a small undeveloped island, where she had once visited to see her grandparents. And where she had befriended a girl named Bok-nam who stills writes to Hae-won asking her to visit despite the fact that Hae-won never bothered to reply. Upon arriving at the island, Hae-won is shocked to see everyone treating Bok-nam like a slave. As practically the only young woman on the island, she is a plaything for all the men and a free laborer for the women. Sick of all the inhumane treatment, Bok-nam had tried to escape the island several times in the past but had failed each time. She begs Hae-won to help her escape the place, but Hae-won remains indifferent not wanting to be involved in ...

My opinion

Korean schizo flick
Original title : Kim Bok-nam salinsageonui jeonmal

My conclusion is that I was staring practically 90% of the movie to the bottom of the screen. My lack of knowledge of the Korean language made me look at the subtitles all that time. Something I almost never do while watching a movie.

The film itself wasn't that spectacular anyway. The story itself is filled with emotions. A psychologically and physically abused woman on an island with a retarded probably by inbred stricken family. A city girl who goes on a mandatory vacation and visits the island again. Her grandparents lived there and she met a girl called Bok-nam there in those days. She notices however that Bok-nam is a plaything in the hands of the men and a willing slave for the older women. The cry for help to get her out of that situation, stays unanswered. Hae-won reacts quite indifferent. The situation tilts when Bok-nam's daughter is killed in an outburst of rage of the husband. This is the start of a killing spree where no one is spared. 

Visually it looks alright. The surroundings and atmosphere on the island. The two women act amazingly well. These are strong character roles that touch the viewer emotionally. The rest of the cast are balancing between "not very bad" to "terribly bad". Especially the men sometimes play a truly abominable bad role. The massacre is quite soft and feels a bit outdated. The images reminded me of "The last house on the left" from 1977. Not in terms of content but in terms of the visual aspect.

I wouldn't call it Horror. It's rather a psychological thriller in which the end it is totally over the top and fairly nonsensical. All in all, not a movie that blew me away by or impressed me.

My rating 3 /10
Links : IMDB

Drive (2011)

Genre : Crime

Country : USA

Cast :
Ryan Gosling : Driver
Carey Mulligan : Irene
Bryan Cranston : Shannon
Albert Brooks : Bernie
Oscar Isaac : Standard
Ron Pelman : Nino
Christina Hendricks : Blanche

Director :
Nicolas Winding Refn


Summary
A mysterious man who has multiple jobs as a garage mechanic, a Hollywood stuntman and a getaway driver seems to be trying to escape his shady past as he falls for his neighbor - whose husband is in prison and who's looking after her child alone. Meanwhile, his garage mechanic boss is trying to set up a race team using gangland money, which implicates our driver as he is to be used as the race team's main driver. Our hero gets more than he bargained for when he meets the man who is married to the woman he loves.

My opinion

Driver: I'll see you in five minutes.
Standard: I'll see you in four.

This one was standing in line already for a long time to be watched. Looking at the number of responses on IMDB, my expectations about it went sky high. Here and there I've read it would be a unique masterpiece, quite arty and directed in a Tarantino kind of way. Those forecasts were also met.

I thought Ryan Gosling would be kind of a modern version of James Dean who would make female movie-fans swoon with his blue puppy eyes. But what an excellent anti-chick flick interpretation he puts into this movie. With the leather gloves, the emotionless facial expression and the high value on the coolness thermometer he surely reminded me of James Dean. At other times, he seemed to be a fear toothpick chewing loner from a spaghetti western made by Morricone.

And "Drive" really is a brilliant movie in retrospect. Indeed, it is an arty dark movie, without a lot of complicated plots and twists, yet straight-to-the-point. Aggressive and poetic, interwoven with a slow-building romance, horrifying at times with explicit violent images. The composition and progress in this movie is sometimes enervating slow in the beginning with lot of silenced pauses that really started to work on my nerves a bit. "Rehearsing this script was a piece of cake for him" I thought after about 15 minutes. Eventually, the silence and the expressions say more than a magnificent elaborate dialogue.

The storyline itself I find masterly. A timid stunt driver/mechanic overloaded with Antarctic coolness, offering his services in the late hours as a getaway driver, eventually emerging as valiant knight for the neighbor in trouble whose wife was a cool aloof who sneaks into his emotional world of feelings in an extremely slow manner, and ends up in a complicated rip off plan of some local thugs. Beautiful atmospheric images of LA with "Grand Theft Auto"-like situations.

And yet sometimes I felt that the meaningless pauses could be safely left out, without prejudice to the overall atmosphere of the film. The soundtrack was also a positive contribution. Usually the music passes by without attracting my attention. In "Drive" it was appropriate and relevant.

I found this review at IMDB. I don't agree with it completely, but some points were right on target. I liked this because of its use of super humorous terms,writing style and content.

Plot synopsis
1) Driver is driver. He's like the Transporter from the movie, except 1/14th as interesting.
2) He goes home after job ,finds girl,girl has boy, girl has husband in prison.
3) Driver wants to be a mechanic, or a Nascar Driver, or a criminal, or a Movie Stunt Driver...or maybe a space shuttle pilot? or President of Uganda, who knows.
4) Husband of girl gets out of jail, and he owes money to mafia guys. Drivers likes girl, so he helps husband.
5) Husband robs pawn shop and dies. Seems that he's been set up by mafia guys as a frame job and Husband gets dead'ed.
6) Driver gets even. Kills everyone. For a while, dressed in a stunt driver mask.
7) Driver gets killed, but lives, or something, driver drives off.

My rating 7 /10
Links : IMDB

Fright Night 2 (2013)

Genre : Horror
Country : USA

Cast :
Will Payne : Charley Brewster
Jaime Murray : Gerri Dandridge
Sean Power : Peter Vincent
Chris Waller : Ed Bates 'Evil'

Director :
Eduardo Rodriguez

Summary
By day Gerri Dandridge is a sexy professor, but by night she transforms into a real-life vampire with an unquenchable thirst for human blood. So when a group of high school students travel abroad to study in Romania, they find themselves ensnared in Gerri's chilling web of lust and terror. Charley and "Evil" Ed must stop Gerri from drinking and bathing in the blood of a "new moon virgin," which just so happens to be Charley's ex-girlfriend, Amy. They enlist help from Peter Vincent, the vampire hunting host of a reality show called "Fright Night," to drive a stake through Gerri's plan and save Amy from a fate far worse than death.

My opinion

Again another vampire movie ....


I really didn't like the remake in 2011 of the original cult film from 1985. And this sequel is also for me just a lame excuse to bring in money, feeding on the cult sounding movie title. There is absolutely nothing innovative or original in this film. It's just another story about vampires with all the familiar cliches. Just like its predecessor, the SE's are standard and nothing spectacular. Besides one thing that I have never seen in such movies : the production of sonar-like waves to locate the two students in the dark tunnels. That was an original contribution.

The functional nudity and eroticism was taken to a higher level than in the movie from 2011. Murray as the biting vampire herself is one to bite and nibble on. Enormously tasteful to watch. But her delicious nudity isn't shown explicitly. What a pity. However, I think that this strategic move is a way to cover up the lack of talent.

This movie isn't a complete disaster and ultimately the whole movie industry is only interested in one thing, and that's money. So I have no problem with the fact that there is a weak decoction made with a huge low budget, in order to hit the market with this product for the fans of such movies. Haven't you seen a Fright Night episode before, good advice, skip this one and watch the original.

My rating 3 /10
Links : IMDB

Trouble with the Curve (2012)

Genre : Drama/Sport
Country : USA

Cast :
Clint Eastwood : Gus
Amy Adams : Mickey
Justin Timberlake : Johnny
John Goodman : Pete Klein

Director :
Robert Lorenz

Summary
Gus is a baseball scout. The team he works for thinks he should retire. He asks them to let him do one more scouting job to prove himself. His friend, Pete, asks Gus's estranged daughter, Mickey, if she could go with him to make sure he's OK as his eyes are failing. The doctor tells Gus he should get his eyes treated but he insists on doing his scouting assignment, which takes him to North Carolina. Mickey decides to put her work on hold to go with him and she wants him to explain why he pushed her away. Whilst there he runs into Johnny, a scout from another team who was a promising player Gus once scouted. Johnny and Mickey take an interest in each other.

My opinion

What are you all staring at? I'm not a pole dancer.

Clint Eastwood (Gus) as a baseball scout. A moody old grump who seemingly only has eyes for baseball. He is getting older and his eyes are getting dramatically worse. So his best friend (nice guest star by John Goodman) asks Gus's daughter to assist her father. The new generation in the club where Gus is under contract, tries to relieve Gus. Matthew Lillard, of course, plays the role of the annoying smart ass. I don't know why, but this guy just has the charisma to put down such an annoying brat

Despite the enormous accumulation of cliches and predictable courses, this movie could hold my attention until the end and I found it an enjoyable movie to watch. The poor father-daughter relationship, which is actually the main subject in this film, is ofcourse fixed in the end. The pedantic nerd is obviously put in place and sacked. The lawyer who squeezed himself in a devious way in place of the daughter so he could lead a groundbreaking case, fails and the daughter finds her prince charming in the course of the story. So predictable, but for once not disturbing to me

Perhaps a sign of my good taste (Just kidding), but it was only at the end that I knew the other scout was Justin Timberlake. All in all, he delivered an excellent performance here and briefly the words "maybe a bit of acting talent" came to me. In this movie he was more convincing than in "In Time" and he's anyway more palatable than 50Cent in whatever movie. Amy Adams played the role of teenage daughter, who has more baseball knowledge than it would seem, and is also fun to look at. And Robert Patrick has the honor to interpret the most satisfying action throughout the film : sack the sneaky Philip.

Conclusion : a beautifull entertaining romantic drama.

My rating 7 /10
Links : IMDB

Night Wolf (2010)

Genre : Horror
Country : UK

Cast :
Tom Felton : Gary
Gemma Atkinson : Emily
John Lynch : McRae
Aasif Mandvi : Mr Chetty

Director :
Jonathan Glendening

Summary
Sarah Tyler returns to her troubled family home in the isolated countryside, for a much put-off visit. As a storm rages outside, Sarah, her family and friends shore up for the night, cut off from the outside world. But something comes out of the driving rain and darkness. Something that holds a dark secret so devastating that, in one night, it could wipe out the entire family.

My opinion

Oh no, not again a werewolf ...

The only positive thing about this movie is that the werewolf appears really soon in the beginning. Daughter dear returns from the U.S.  She meets (with a British coolness) her father. Joins a drinking party with her annoying stepbrothers. And after going to the mansion, the spectacle can start and of we go for a hellish slasher story.

Now about the negative points. Well there are too many to mention. There is totally no introduction or any history about the family. The rendition of a number of brothers and the bitchy girlfriend is completely irritating. No explanation where the creature suddenly comes from. Very poor and unconvincing performances. Their actions are completely ridiculous given the situation they are in. Apparently these British youngsters enjoy themselves a lot and think it's tremendously exciting as their family is massacred. It's so exciting that despite the threat of being teared into pieces by the phenomenon that wanders around the house, the son has the irresistible urge to try to get his busty girlfriend excited. Terribly bad special effects and sickening stroboscopic effects. This movie is a mockery of the werewolf genre if you compare it with "An American Werewolf" and its magnificent transformation scene. The grimage at the end is distressing and the ending is terribly bad.

Someone described it masterfully like this : No tension, no pace, no catch phrases, no humour, no wit and unfortunately no "horror". I rest my case !

Conclusion : a boring and annoying film, with the sole purpose to show a chain of slasher-movie effects, which were also terribly visualized.

My rating 1 /10 
Links : IMDB

Byzantium (2012)

Genre : Horror/Fantasy
Country : UK

Cast :
Saoirse Ronan : Eleanor
Gemma Arterton : Clara
Sam Riley : Darvell

Director :
Neil Jordan

Summary
Two mysterious women seek refuge in a run-down coastal resort. Clara meets lonely Noel, who provides shelter in his deserted guesthouse, Byzantium. Schoolgirl Eleanor befriends Frank and tells him their lethal secret. They were born 200 years ago and survive on human blood. As knowledge of their secret spreads, their past catches up on them with deathly consequence.

My opinion

I write of what I cannot speak, the truth. I write all I know of it, then I throw that pages to the wind, maybe the birds can read it.

A non-traditional approach to the vampire genre. A new refreshing look from a different angle. Not the stereotypical image of pale creatures of the night provided with bloodshot eyes and sharp fangs  hiding in dusty basements in a coffin. No melting, burning or imploding is involved when they are exposed to sunlight. No here we have persons who are part of an alliance and inherited a centuries-old tradition.

It's the story of a mother (Gemma Arterton) and her daughter Eleanor (Ronan) who have been hiding for years because women actually aren't allowed in the alliance. And let me tell you, I'll gladly surrender myself to Gemma the female vampire so she can catch me and plant her teeth (in this case the sharp nails) in my flesh. Immediately she made ​​me think of the pulp booklets of Vampirella that used to lay in the newsstand. Same proportions and dimensions of lustful flesh.

Once again Ronan plays a convincing and brilliant part (recently I've seen her in Hanna) as the daughter with scruples and who'll sacrifice anything in order to tell her secret to a mortal instead of scribbling it down on a paper and then throw it away. Not only she looks stunning, she also has that serene look and empathy to interpret this role in a sublime way.

The images used are magnificent. Marvellous images of the coast, interspersed with flashbacks to the 1900s. Slowly the whole story unravels. The denouement of the alliance was not so obvious but the end with Darvell on the island together with Eleanor, becoming also immortal, wasn't exactly a surprise.

For me the movie was, how appropriate, drop-dead gorgeous.

My rating 7 /10
Links : IMDB

The Lone Ranger (2013)

Genre : Western/Action
Country : USA

Cast :
Johnny Depp : Tonto
Armie Hammer : The Lone Ranger
William Fichtner : Butch Cavendish

Director :
Gore Verbinski

Summary
In the 1930s, an elderly Tonto tells a young boy the tale of John Reid, the Lone Ranger. An idealistic lawyer, he rides with his brother and fellow Texas Rangers in pursuit of the notorious Butch Cavendish. Ambushed by the outlaw and left for dead, John Reid is rescued by the renegade Comanche, Tonto, at the insistence of a mysterious white horse and offers to help him to bring Cavendish to justice. Becoming a reluctant masked rider with a seemingly incomprehensible partner, Reid pursues the criminal against all obstacles. However, John and Tonto learn that Cavendish is only part of a far greater injustice and the pair must fight it in an adventure that would make them a legend.

My opinion
 
Never take off the mask

It seems like ages since I've seen a western. I'm immediately teleported back in time when I was still a little kid. There was almost on a weekly base somewhere an old western on the TV. Usually on Friday afternoons you could see one on a German channel with Roy Rogers, after a cartoon of "Schweinchen Dick" or some slapstick movie starring Buster Keaton. And in the weekends it was always somewhere late at night on ARD, ZDF or WDR. My dad thought there was only one kind of genre movie worth to watch ... indeed Westerns. Everybody was stubbornly silent about the fact that those guys walked around in that time with real crappy guns and probably couldn't hit an elephant at 2 meters. I promised myself that I'd never see a western again... or someone should force me into doing that. I'm filing this immediately under the term "traumatic experience".

And yet, I watched "The Lone Ranger". Also a bit out of nostalgia. My mother sometimes bought me a comic of "The Lone Ranger". And of course the portrayal of Tonto by Johnny Depp was also a reason to give this movie a chance.

It was clear from the beginning that this was a Disney Movie. Improbable situations, surviving a crashing speedy train and reappear unscratched, and Silver performing feats as if it was Rintintin. It's known that Depp always chooses eccentric characters. And ultimately  he always plays them all in the same manner. He always seems to be under influance of some drug. Probably it'll be "fire-water" in this movie. He really resembled an Indian Jack Sparrow sometimes. That's a guarantee for some dry humorous one-liners, as expected. And there will be quite a few that'll surely make you chuckle.

Biggest downside for me was that it's a long movie although there's very little to say. Some actions were also exaggerated and over-the-top. But I must admit, I wasn't bored. Some action scenes were very well made up and meticulously put together. Ultimately, it's not just a straight-on harmless Disney movie, given the numerous cases of victims and some imaginative explicit scenes such as the supposedly eating of Dan's heart by the really scary and evil looking Butch Cavendish. The slaughter of Comanches by means of Gatling Guns wasn't exactly suitable for young viewers.

Conclusion: a relaxing action/adventure comic hero-story with lots of action, but little substance. And I still don't understand what was going on with those rabbits ... serious form of myxomatosis, I suppose.

My rating 6/10
Links : IMDB