Been watching a lot of movies the last couple of days and weeks:
Bad Neighbors:
Pretty much a tasteless movie, it had a couple of laughs in it (this
Robert de Niro homage is well done i have to admit) but it is mostly about cringeworthy jokes and supposedly funny scenes (the moment a movie has to make fun of a baby eating a condom is a new low). I guess Zac Efron made the jump from a teen idol to a serious Hollywood actor (whatever that is today) but he is actually not a bad one, 4/10.
Grand Budapest Hotel:
Normally not my type of film but this was a real treat that will probably establish Wes Anderson as one of the directors of our time with a unique style (assuming he had not done so with Tenenbaums). The quirkiness, randomness and ridiculousness in the movie is so amusing, it does not make you laugh out loud but has you chuckle constantly throughout the movie. I guess one of the biggest merits of Anderson probably is that he has the ability to take a story that could very well be a premise for a drama or thriller (considering what Gustave has to go through and the state of the country) and make it into such a funny journey. Ralph Fiennes proves again how much of an extraordinary and underappreciated actor he really is but the supporting cast, especially the movie newcomer Tony Revolori as Zero, were also great. Not recommendable for everyone since the movie is pretty random at times but if you are used to stuff like that, try it, 9/10.
Locke
An interesting idea and experiment that, in the end, did not work for me. The basic premise is about a guy whose relationship to his father and a past mistake incite him to leave his family and his job before a really important day in order to do the right thing which obviously angers both his boss and his family. The interesting thing is that the entire movie plays in the guy´s car during his drive from Birmingham to London while the entire dialogue is basically him talking on the car phone to his co-workers and his family. While Tom Hardy certainly shows an impressive performance as the sole actor in a 90 minutes movie, the movie basically fails because of its character/s and his/their story. As interesting as the idea of shooting an entire movie in a car might be, the story and characters are painfully average and are not able to spark an interest. In addition, the actors casted for the voice acting during the phone calls may be good traditional actors (Ruth Wilson for example is great, so are Olivia Colman and Andrew Scott) but they are not really good voice actors, unfortunately, 5/10.
Captain America: Winter Soldier
I guess you may call this a blockbuster at its best. Good acting and performers who, unexpectedly, inject some emotion into their characters, though Johansson is already known as an excellent actress but it is not usual that she also gets a stage to show it in a comic movie , fight and action scenes are top notch, i don´t think there is a need to say anything further regarding the special effects, the budget is high enough to ensure candy for the eyes. I think it also helped that i like Captain America and Black Widow the most out of the Avengers, Thor and Hulk just seem boring to me while Iron Man´s cocky lines get old pretty fast.
On the other hand, the storyline was more than predictable (i mean they fulfilled every cliché there is) which was surprising considering how much praise it got for its unpredictability and high quality. All in all, a good watch, hopefully the next ones will be as good as this, i might enjoy blockbusters much more if that happens, 7.5/10.
Ida
Visually stunning and mesmerizing Polish film that is actually a nice contrast to the one above with its static long shots and close-ups, stills, minimalistic camera movement and dialogue and its character driven plot compared to the constant movement and rapid cutting of Hollywood movies such as Captain America. The story plays in 1962 and is about a young nun and orphan who is about to take her vows and is supposed to meet her last living relative, her aunt who she has never met, before doing so. Both then embark on a journey to find out what happened to the nun´s parents which leads to revelations dating back to the Nazi occupation.
I don´t think i have ever seen a movie that manages to capture the past (Nazi occupation), present (Stalinist Regime) and future (opening up to the west) of a country so accurately without actually featuring or mentioning any of it in the movie itself. Instead, the movie focuses on the two characters mentioned above who in turn represent the Polish society, burdened by the atrocities and crimes of WW2 and disillusioned by the Communist revolution. Nevertheless, it is also a highly personal story about a guilt-ridden old woman and the coming of age of her niece.
Recommendable for art house fans, might be a tad too slow for people who are used to Hollywood flicks, 9/10.
Raid 2
Not much to say about this one, nearly perfect sequel to the already impressive first movie. The action and fight scenes might even be better in this one compared to the first while we also get an interesting and maybe a bit clichéd storyline and, more importantly, a dark and stylistic atmosphere, maybe a bit reminiscent of Park Chan Wook or Wong Kar Wai, but both, in the end, only exist to underline and support the main attraction of the movie, the action and fight choreographies which are simply amazing. Recommendable for action fans, 10/10.
Come and See
Puh, this movie did not leave me for a while. It is generally regarded as the best war film ever made, though it might be more accurate to call it anti-war fil, and i can definitely see why.
The movie adapts the accounts of eyewitnesses, the writer Adamovich or even Wehrmacht soldiers among them, during the Nazi invasion 1943 in which countless villages were burnt and 40% of the population was killed and it sure does not hold back.
"Biplanes circle like buzzards above, corpses are piled like firewood against buildings, while Nazi death squads scour the countryside with bug-eyed glee. It's a journey that carriers the viewer to hell and leaves us there. Nothing, before or since, has captured the psychological carnage of war like the final shot of the boy's face, now hollow-eyed, lined and aged."
It is really quite horrifying while the relatively low budget enhances the realism of the atrocities shown, underlined by the haunting soundtrack.
I guess the existence of such a movie begs the question whether artistic media is supposed to just entertain (as most claim today) or be something more.
Since i am a supporter of the latter, the legitimacy of this movie is high since it raises awareness, even if the entertainment value is rather low.
Anyone who shares the same view, i recommend trying the movie (except if you have a weak stomach), 10/10.
Under the Skin
A movie that sacrifices traditional movie elements for a unique style and images which are sometimes so surreal and hard to understand that you need a lot of imagination to decipher the underlying meaning. Glazer fails to find the right balance between the character’s journey and heavy-handed commentary, resulting in setups that beat you over the head with thematic messaging while key plot beats are rushed and underdeveloped.
Nevertheless, it still is an interesting experiment with a Johansson who succeeds in portraying an emotionless alien in the first half, awakening to human emotions in the second half.
Recommended to anyone who wants to see an interesting experiment or just wants to see Johansson naked
, 7.5/10.
Calvary
Brendan Gleeson, who i have liked ever since Kingdom of Heaven, shows an incredible performance as a burdened priest who is trying to manage the moral decay of and the ridiculement of faith in a small Irish village, partly arisen due to loss of trust in the church after the rape and assault scandals within the church.
It is truly a delight to see Gleeson´s character, whose struggle is evident, face those villagers in a rather comical way while still having the goal to give them spiritual guidance, even if it seems to be a lost cause. The movie title is obviously not a coincidence and is supposed to draw certain parallels. Obviously, the movie also carries some controversy considering how contemporary the church scandals are, so that might motivate some to watch this movie, i can only recommend it, 9/10.
