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Reviews
Ender's Game (2013)
Couldn't be more satisfied
I had no expectations at all. Stigmatize me but I've never heard of the book. The film...well, definitely the next "Starship troopers", and that is big, real big. A bit more childish, but it is perfect as it is. It makes you think about the true nature of our species and the way we evolve our complex society driven by a single goal. How we evolve as individuals, how do we process information to perform simple tasks and what critical point of complexity gives birth to feelings, ethics and morality. All of that has been put together in a very appealing way - visuals, sound and atmosphere. The cast made the perfect fit. One can't resist to love that galactic star fleet veteran Han Solo and the ever odd, wise and charming Ben Kingsley. Asa Butterfield is shaping the personality of an introspective, sharp and mindful actor and it looks like he has so much more to offer. I will keep an eye on him.
The Darkest Hour (2011)
Atmosphere
I am giving this high mark mostly because of the impressive atmosphere of brute Russian grandeur. I've seen so many times NY, London, Paris, Hong Kong on film almost to the point I don't really believe other cities exist.
As far as the storyline goes it truly fits the clichés. It is generally predictable and the only thing you will hardly predict is the order of dying. I am somehow disappointed I didn't see some forced sexual scene between the canned beans, but I hope there will be a follow up focused on the preservation of our specie.
A friend of mine once told me I shouldn't look for science in the fiction, still I can not disregard the fact we as humans could have flipped the table only by spilling a glass of water or pointing some water guns at those insolent aliens. Those were a bunch of reckless bastards having in mind that our planet and our bodies are mainly water. I also wonder how can you harness such energies so as to travel the galaxies and sustain high energy protective suits, but still be vulnerable to microwaves which are quite normal for the space environment and also risk your own existence invading populated planet for a resource you obviously don't need. Electric aliens... come on, a Tesla coil is more sophisticated than that.
And last, I don't really think an average guy has an income large enough to afford traveling half the world and visiting a night club in Moscow. I pity those aliens who dared travel half of the universe and decided to stay at the same club. This was an expensive mistake.
As a whole, I think all of this was somehow entertaining and I don't regret watching that film.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)
That awkward moment in a thriller when the film director is the murderer
I regret to admit I fell victim to my previous experience with this title. Unfortunately when you come to the point of evaluating something you can not simply discard expectations, attitude, emotional state and finally comparison. I am a huge fan of Daniel Craig and I was eager to see his performance, which in my opinion was... decent. Rooney Mara was OK. Unfortunately "OK" is not enough in that case.
Everything felt like different parts were stitched together with no consistency. It lacked fluidity and at some parts there were gaps in the logic of the story. I don't really know who to blame. Is it the director's fault, is it the screenplay or both, but most of the time the actors were so confused about their roles as if they were waiting for someone backstage to remind them it is their part now and they should act and speak. The movie failed at capturing this really dark, perverted and deranged atmosphere I felt while watching the Swedish adaptation. This was in parts because of the aforementioned leaps from one episode to the other and also because of the shallow character development. I was waiting to be tossed into some deep emotional and psychological aspects of Lisbeth's personality and I am still waiting long after the end credits but to no avail. Noomi Rapace's acting was so intense it was almost violating. It makes you experience whole plethora of extreme emotions and crave for more. I felt nothing like this here, no compassion or rage, no sympathies, empathy or curiosity...it was if Rooney Mara's Lisbeth was just passing by to say hello. This was no interpretation as many of the comments here claim, it was a complete rip-off. Exact same scenes, angles, but hollow and irrelevant. I don't find the "James Bond" beginning even amusing.
Reading some of the reviews most of the people pay credit to David Fincher, but in my opinion he is the main weakness of the film... obviously not in terms of the gross income it generated, but in the interpretation. It was the first thriller murdered by its own director. He managed to murder the story and the characters quite easy. The halo effect around him and the cast compensates the total inability to understand and represent certain social and cultural aspects embodied in this dark Nordic story.
Fincher is most certainly the next Uwe Boll.
Krabat (2008)
beautiful
I am absolutely aesthetically satisfied by this film. So much out of the cliché. Great storyboard, visuals, acting and sound. It is actually a very profound film done with German precision. European film making in its best form. I haven't read the book and I don't really care about it whatsoever as in my opinion the film served its purpose. Passionate actors play combined with beautiful yet depressive atmosphere. Sadly sometimes sites like this one are doing us bad favours, we came to see medium ratings plus low voting activity and the film is lost...we never even give it a chance. Well, that one definitely proves us wrong. Bravo to all of you who took part in it.