Aihearkisto: Cinema

Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist

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Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist is a romantic comedy which was released on October 3, 2008. The film is written by Lorene Scafaria and directed by Peter Sollett. It is based on the novel which has also the same name. Leading actors of a film are Michael Cera (Nick) and Kat Dennings (Norah). The film was filmed in New York.

The film tells about Nick who meet Norah in the club when Norah ask him to be her boyfriend for five minutes. That is when all begins. Actually the whole film tells about one night when Nick and Norah try to find Norah’s drunk friend who is lost and also their favourite band’s secret gig place. At the same time Nick and Norah get to know each other better even though they have just met. After some difficulties they finally find Norah’s friend in some club where someone also starts a fight with Nick. After all Nick and Norah just leave the club and the film ends on the escalator where they share a kiss.

The characters of the film are very different. Nick is very sympathetic and at the beginning of the film he is a little bit depressed because he has just broken up. Norah is from rich family but she doesn’t seem to be ostentatious. Rather she is very sweet but also quick-witted. In turn Norah’s best friend Caroline loves to party and she is drunk through the whole film. There is also many other characters in the film but Nick and Norah are the main characters.

Music is a big part of the film as the name suggests. The songs are mostly rock music and they are played in clubs where Nick and Norah visit during the film. The band called ”Where’s Fluffy?” plays indie rock and it is both Nick and Norah’s favourite band.

Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist is a romantic comedy as I previously told. The film contains sensitive moments but also funny and hilarious scenes.

I chose this film because I have seen it a long time ago but I didn’t remember anything about it so it was nice to watch it again and this time without subtitles! I think this film is worth of watching and it’s a good thing that it’s not too short but it’s not too long either. I recommend highly this film for everyone!

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (2008)

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“The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas” was released in 2008.
The film based on the novel of the same name by Irish writer John Boyne.
It is a historical-drama film, directed by Mark Herman and produced by David Heyman.

This film has an interesting and new perspective to a difficult topic. A young boy Bruno befriend with another child Shmuel. Strange is that Shmuel is on an adjacent camp and Bruno’s father leads the camp. Friendship of these children will end tragically.

There are two main characters; eight-year-old Bruno who is a son of the Nazi commandant and Bruno’s friend Shmuel who is a Jewish inmate.
Bruno is really naïve and ingenuous, because he doesn’t even think of questioning of the purpose of adjacent camp, whereas Shmuel had to try to survive alive there.

Bruno’s father is also very important character in the film. He is a Nazi commandant but his children don’t know it. There are two totally different sides in his character; a loving family man and the other hand a heartless killer. His wife Elsa knows little bit of her husband’s job. Consequently, she has to suffer because of this secret. Bruno’s sister called Gretel thinks most of the time herself rather than the cruel world around her.

Asa Butterfield as Bruno is a quite good on his role even though he seems too naive order to be credible. However he is a skilled actor, in addition, he is only ten-years-old in the movie. Actor of Bruno’s father is David Thewlis. I think he wasn’t doing his best role in this film. He was way too bland. Jack Scanlon (as Shmuel) plays eight-year-old Jewish boy in the film. In my opinion he was the most plausible actress because he wasn’t trying too much.

The soundtrack for The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is composed by James Horner. Music is big part of this film because almost in every scene you can hear some music, which wasn’t a good thing . The soundtrack is beatiful but it just doesn’t match with the film’s tough topic. Those songs would work better in some love story.

I had read the book before I see the film. I think the book is really impressive so my expectations were high when I started to watch the film. After seeing the film, I was disappointed. Characters weren’t feel as real than they were in the book. The ambience was different. All in all, the main difference between the book and the film is that in the film the denouement reveals too quickly.

Batman – Dark Knight

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Movie plot based on struggle of two characters, Batman and Joker. Joker is crazy madman who makes crimes for fun because he don’t care about money but the desire to get people to fear and detect who the batman really is.

Batman or real name Bruce Wayne is Gotham city protector, which will be deployed to stop joker. But same time there is new avid prosecutor Harvey Dent who successful to get all city’s little criminals behind locks, and next he wants to get the joker.

Joker causes lot of panic in city by declaring that there will be one dead body each day as long as batman reveal his real identity. Batman and police forces receive Joker, but same time Harvey and his wife Rachel are lost. They interrogate Joker a heavy hand in order to know where Harvey and his wife are, and Joker tells two address, in the first address is Harvey, and the second his wife. They have time to rescue only other of them, batman goes to Rachel’s address and polices goes the other. When batman arrived his destination, he notices that Joker gave them opposite addresses, Batman save Harvey and Rachel dies. Meanwhile Joker get escaped. Harvey decides that chief of police must receive what he has, lose someone his loved ones because ”it’s fair”.

    Joker has made a trap for two ferry. In the other ferry were prisoners, and the other were civilians, ferries are full of explosives, and they both have other ferry launcher. Joker tells that if one or the other push the button, he will blow up both ferries. Joker has count that somebody will blow up on other, but that didn’t happened. Joker is confused and Batman catch him.

  Harvey had kidnapped police commissioner and his family. Harvey make him decide who of his family dies. Luckily batman arrives and prevent Harvey to harm anybody. Harvey dies falling from an apartment building.

Heather Ledger (Joker) was an Australian actor and director. He performed roles in Australian TV but left for united states develop his film career. He had time to act in six movies before he died. Most famous of them was jokers role at dark knight, every critic praised his performance amazing, and he won the Oscar prize for best man supporting actor. Actually he was second man who won the prize after his dead, because he died few days before dark knight premiere. He died overdose of sleeping pills. Some ones said that he had some kind of mental illness too.

Christian Bale (Bruce Wayne, Batman) is English actor who have been Batman at three different movie(Batman begins, Dark knight, Dark knight rises) and he’s also known at American Psycho movie

Aaron Eckhart(Harvey Dent) is an American actor. He Left high school without graduating but passed it later. His most known performance is Harvey Dent from movie Dark knight.

 Dark knight soundtracks were by same named album, album contain soundtracks from part of the movie. Album based previous Batman movie (Batman begins). It won the Grammy award for best score soundtrack album for a motion picture

Special effects wanted being most practical effect rather than computer graphics because the cost is about the same but it looks different. Computer effects were used only if there was no another option. Everything that had to blew up, really blew up.

The Thing (1982)

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In the year 1982 a movie named ”The Thing” was released. The Thing is a horror/scifi- movie from the freezing Antarctic. It tells the story of 12 men stranded in an isolated science station. The film was directed by John Carpenter. The writer of the original story which the movie is based on is John W. Campbell Jr. and the screenplay adjustment was made by Bill Lancaster. The most notable actor in the film is Kurt Russell who also stars the film.

Camerawork in the film is marvelous. There’s a simple indicator of this: At no point in the movie you take note of it. After all the purpose of cameras is to take you into the film’s world and show the characters perspectives. It’s smooth and helps build tension in long still scenes.

Plot-wise the movies shines. Horror films have a tendency to be boring and not that scary at least from a personal perspective. The Thing doesn’t scare you right of the bat either but the idea of the film is very scary: The monster could be any one of us, even a person you know closely. How can you trust anyone? The sci-fi plot is simple enough and easy to follow and understand. The plot avoids the mistake of explaining everything too elaborately so you won’t get caught criticizing the scientific explanation behind it. Instead you focus on the plot itself. The beginning is rather slow but the movie starts building tension slowly from the very beginning and you will get grasped by the plot from the beginning till the very end by plot twists and characters. The characters in the movie all have a certain role which you can expect in a scientific research center in the middle of the Antarctic. They all have their own personalities but the movie doesn’t delve into them and they stay a bit shallow, except for the main character. Kurt Russell does a good job acting the personality of the main character during moments of fear and chaos.

From the audiovisual perspective it’s everything you can expect from an 80s film. The enhanced version looks sharp and good even from an HD television or display. Animating technology was still in it’s baby steps in the 80s so you can expect some scenes to look rather ”raw” from a modern day perspective. The soundtrack is very good for a horror film and helps build up the tension especially in the beginning of the film. Sound effects are good but are nothing shocking. The alien sounds effects are kinda odd but maybe that’s the point of them. They are ”alien” sound effects after all. All the sounds from the real world counterparts sound realistic like the flamethrowers and helicopters. The sound of the desolate Antarctic is also great with wind blowing the whole time outside. The constant snowing and big piles of snow covering the buildings also create a great impression of the icy Antarctic.

Overall the film is solid on all fronts from the music to the plot. The movie still holds it’s charm even though it was made 30 years ago. It’s said to be one of the best horror films of all time and has influenced modern day horror and sci-fi genres by a lot. A prequel of the film was made in 2011 telling the story of the alien’s origin but it failed to keep up to the high standards left by the original.

 

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey – Movie Review

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” My dear Frodo, you asked me once if I had told you everything there was to know about my adventures. Well, I can honestly say I’ve told you the truth, I may not have told you all of it…”

In this way, begins the legendary, long-awaited Hobbit- An Unexpected Journey. The Hobbit is made into movies a well-known J.R.R. Tolkien’s book and it ranks, just like other Lord of the Rings- film series, to Middle Earth. I tried to stay as neutral as possible and unprejudiced before going to the movies, because this movie has indeed become the expected a year or two and I didn´t want my prejudices affect judgment. I think I managed to do this quite well.

The Hobbit located in time, 60 years before the LOTR movies events and the story of the main character is an old friend Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman). One sunny morning Bilbo meets Gandalf the wizard (Ian McKellen) who will be looking for a traveling companion for adventure that accompany 13 dwarves on their quest to retake the Dwarven homeland now ruled by the nasty dragon Smaug. After surviving the dwarves’ impromptu dinner party–a true display of Bilbo’s neurosis and Freeman’s knack for physical and linguistic comedy–Gandalf and the band of pint size warriors embark on their journey. And thus begins a large, unexpected and exciting adventure through Middle-earth.

Hobbit characters are familiar to many parts of LOTR movies. Founds Gandalf, Bilbo, Elrond, Saruman, Galadriel as Gollum. However, new characters, which are, however, several, mainly consist of the 13 dwarfs who have joined the adventure. Is Balin, Bofur, Fili, Kili…Characters are so numerous that only a small number of specific recall. Only one of which is reported in more detail Thorin Oakenshield. This is a pity, because I would have gladly wanted to hear more from other dwarf characters. The characters are fun, comfortable and original. Thorin is a king without a kingdom. This kingdom was destroyed hundreds of years ago, before the birth of Thorin, Smaug the dragon called. The purpose of this trip is, therefore, agreed to buy back the dwarven kingdom of their own, their home, which is a lonely mountain.

”Bilbo Baggins, I’m looking for someone to share in an adventure…”

The Hobbit is a hive of activity, which is very skillfully and carefully done. Movie outing troupe point the most diverse creatures on their way towards the mountain. There are so trolls than ordinary orcs. Action was cramming the movie almost too much. The film does not have many breaks when could go deeper into the characters. Visual effects are truly spectacular and almost concrete. The film was shot directly in 3D, and it is fitting quite well, and it works very well, almost flawlessly. In fact, I haven´t been in 3D fan, because glasses tend to irritate and cause headaches, but in this film it has nothing to complain about.

The Hobbit´s scenery is nothing short of amazing and really beautiful. Fortunately, director Peter Jackson had decided to shoot the film in New Zealand just as the LOTR movies. Rugged mountains and beautiful forests and low-lying greens are really stunning, almost like a documentary. The Hobbit`s staging (needless to say) is extremely detailed and carefully executed. And make-up is very successful, at least in the case of the Dwarves. Costumes mention to the extent that it is embedded in a lot of time for sure. All the characters have had to come up with their own style. It is mandatory to congratulate them really successful choices. Movie description is indeed very own Peter Jacksons. Describes so many shots from above, a helicopter, showing the overall picture of the scenery and events. Film music is almost as great as the LOTR movies, of course, due to the fact that the case has been the same maestro, Howard Shore. Shore has managed to create a fairly dismal and bombastic music.

The actors did all the very fine performances. Ian McKellen made ​​a definite and very skillful exhibition Gandalf. Martin Freeman was really the right choice on Bilbo. He can play a variety of emotions as a very versatile and skillfully. Dwarf Thorin actor Richard Armitage stood out among the leader and the most powerful figure in movie. Also, Gollum actor Andy Serkis was shining again. He can very well devote for his character as a schizophrenic Gollum. Performances make the film as engrossing as any other in the series–McKellan rediscovering the charm of Gandalf, Freeman being the perfect fish out of water, and the dwarf troop finding a balance between comedy troupe and faithful, heartfelt companions.

The Hobbit is exactly what would have been able to think: energetic, flamboyant and ambitious. Perhaps too ambitious, I’d say. It seems that Jackson has been trying to reach too high, resulting in some of the areas have been affected. The film is very entertaining and satisfying. Note that film making is consumed properly from behind the shoulder. Shore’s music and battle scenes ensure almost complete individual scenes. However, some of the battle lines are described perhaps a confusingly. The Hobbit is not the best film of the year, but is sure to satisfy fans’ wishes. As mere entertainment, it is amazingly good! The length would have been able to cut maybe 10-15 minutes away. The film has its moments of shock if the kids are too young for a good old fashioned Orc beheading, An Unexpected Journey is not for them but in the end, it aims to be the fantasy read, play. I don´t understand why a 300-page book is a task force trilogy. I guess not only the love of money?

Written by The Hobbit

Bad Boys

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The movie I chose was American action comedy film Bad Boys, which was directed by Michael Bay. Will Smith, Martin Lawrence, Téa Leoni, Tchéky Karyo, Theresa Randle and Joe Pantoliano were starring. The movie was released on April 7th, 1995 and it’s running time is 118 minutes. The movie turned out as blockbuster, the budget was 19 million dollars and box office was 141 million dollars worldwide. In 2003 a sequel, Bad Boys II came out.

The movie’s plot tells about two American detectives, Marcus Burnett (Martin Lawrence) and Mike Lowrey (Will Smith), who are best friends and they work in the narcotics division in Miami-Dade Police Departmend. The detectives are ordered to solve a case about stolen heroin, which value is 100 million dollars.

Special effects of the movie were quite poor, only few explosions and chasing scenes. The explosions weren’t really realistic and chasing scenes felt like they’d never end. But on the other hand, the movie is a comedy film and in my opinion in that genre, special effects and ”boring” chase scenes aren’t so necessary at all, in fact I think they are meant to be like that and of course, that saved a lot of money. The movie includes lots of shooting scenes which are salted with a great sense of humor.

If you ask me, the movie’s stars, Will Smith and Martin Lawrence are probably the best choice for starring in this very film. They are able to empathize on their roles and express their lines. The director Michael Bay didn’t like the script and often allowed Smith and Lawrence to improvise while the cameras were rolling. I think that surely resulted in better lines.

The Terminal

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I selected the movie The Terminal. It is an American drama comedy which showed up in 2004. The Director is Steven Spielberg and screenwriters are Andrew Niccol, Jeff Nathanson and Sacha Gervasi. Tom Hanks has the main role in this movie. The terminal is a successful movie with sympathetic story.

The story is quite simple and easy to understand. Tom Hanks as Viktor Navorski is a man who arrived in John F Kennedy’s airport in New York. Viktor comes from an Eastern european country, Krakozhia. After he left his country war broke out.  Now he is in JFK airport and he doesn’t have all these permissions that he needs to access New York city. He can’t come back to his homecountry because of revolution in his home nation of Krakozhia. Due to the civil war, the United States no longer recognizes Krakozhia as a sovereign nation, so now he is a man without country.
Viktor instead lives in the terminal, carrying his luggage and a Planters peanut can.

He meets many different people and soon he comes to know everybody. At first speaking with other people was difficult, because he could only speak his mother tongue russian. But soon he learned to speak little bit english, so he could communicate with other. In the airport happened this and that. One day he met a woman, whose name is Amelia (Catherine Zeta-Jones). Amelia is flight attendant. During the film Viktor and Amelia are talking a lot and they have good time together.
Viktor explains to Amelia that the purpose of his visit to New York is to get an autograph from the tenor saxophonist Benny Golson. The peanut can Viktor carries contains ”A Great Day in Harlem” photograph. His father was a jazz enthusiast who had discovered the famous portrait in a Hungarian newspaper in 1958, and vowed to get an autograph of all 57 of the jazz musicians featured on the photograph. Benny Golson’s name is the only, which is missing.
After nine months of living in the JFK terminal Viktor gets a one-day emergency visa to travel within the U.S. Viktor leaves the airport and with a taxi he goes to the Ramada Inn where Benny Golson is performing. Viktor gets the autograph and now the collection complete.
The film is inspired by the 17-year-stay of Mehran Karimi Nasseri in the Charles de Gaulle International Airport, Paris, France from year 1988 to 2006.

In the other important roles besides Tom hanks and Catherine Zeta-Jones play for example Barry Shabaka Heley, Chi McBride, Diego Luna, Eddie Jones, Kumar Pallana, Stanley Tucci, Zoe Saldana.

The Camerawork of the movie is high quality and impressive. There is no special effects in the movie and that makes it realistic. That’s the reason why I like it. John Williams has done music for the movie. He made soundtracks for nearly every single scene of the film.

Little Miss Sunshine

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Little Miss Sunshine was released in 2006 and it’s directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris. It’s starred by Abigail Breslin (Olive), Toni Collette (mom, Sheryl), Greg Kinnear (dad, Richard), Steve Carell (Olive’s uncle, Frank), Paul Dano (Olive’s big brother, Dwayne) and Alan Arkin (drug addict grandpa,Edwin ).  Film has won two Oscars and it’s a comedy.

The film tells about little Olive, who wants to win Little Miss Sunshine – beauty contest and Olive’s strange family. Family takes 800-mile road trip to this contest. Journey brings family more closer together even it’s a really hard trip for everyone. The plot is really funny but it also provokes thoughts. Film includes some black humor which makes spectator laugh but it’s also extreamly touching and could bring some tears on eyes. The story is so warm and absorbing that it never gets boring.

All of the characters are brilliant! Abigail Breslin (Olive) is so sympathetic little girl that you can only smile. My personal favourite is Alan Arkin (grandpa) foul-mouthed grumpy old man. I think it’s a bit shame that he dies at film. (Because he uses too much drugs) Also Toni Collette (mom) plays incredibly well tired overworked mom’s role. Overall i think that all of the actors have really succeed.

I think that the film’s soundtrack suits perfectly for atmosphere. Songs does emphasize the happy or sad mood well and the film becomes even more touching. Also camera work is great and brings the spectator closer to the characters.

I don’t actually have anything bad to say about Little Miss Sunshine. It’s a beautiful story about unlucky family and how everything after all goes fine. I really do recommend this for everyone who loves funny stories with unexpected plot twists.

 

 

 

The Vow 2012

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The Vow was released year 2012 in United States. The film is a romantic drama directed by Michael Sucsy , starring Rachel McAdams and Channing Tatum. The story tells about a married couple who gets involved in an car accident leading to a tragic consequences.   When Paige (Rachel McAdams) wakes up in the hospital, she thinks her husband Leo (Channing Tatum)  is her doctor. She had lost all the memories from the past few years. Leo has difficult decisions to make and great challenges concerning the saving of their relationship or at least trying to make his wife believe that there has been true love between them. Paige’s parents did not provide any support for Leo. They rather wanted to start over again with their daughter because during the past few years they had not been in very good relations with Paige.

The main reason why the movie impressed me so much, was that, the film is based on the true story of Kim and Krickitt Carpenter, who wrote a book about their marriage. The book is also known as ”The Vow”. Scriptwriters (Abby Kohn, Jason Katims, Marc Silverstein, Stuart Sender) brought up the story delicately by creating a sweet heartbreaking love story. From the very beginning, every scene and plot twists, provides the viewers feelings of sensation.

The question is: Can the love of a lifetime find a second chance?

The actors are able to convey their characters’ feelings very well, which is necessary in order to help audience fall deeply into the movie’s  emotional scenes. The viewer is easily picturing similar situation in his or her life, and evaluating the great challenges of it. It is absolutely heartbreaking to watch how Leo is trying hard to help Paige to get her memory back. Nevertheless, Paige only remembers the very old and far history of her life. The love story is genuine, and it is proofed since Paige falls in love with Leo once again, even she does not fully remember Leo and does not get her full memory back either.

For those who are interested about spectacular effects or music in the movie, there is unfortunately nothing very special to offer. However, the lyrics were very sentimental love songs, which fitted well with  the movie and its’ message about true love.

I would recommend the movie to all of those whom, both, enjoy relaxing and emotional time with their own loved ones or friends. Moreover, it can also be recommended to the male audience who wish to prove, that they are comfortable enough with their masculinity to see a movie like the Vow. This drama is not made only for women!

THEVOW2012

In Time

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In Time is a dystopian sience fiction action film written, directed and producted by Andrew Niccol. The film was released on October 28, 2011.

Plot of the film is set in a future. In the year 2169, genetic alteration has allowed humans to stop aging physically at 25, but are engineered to live only one more year. The clock implanted in their forearms, starts counting down from 1 year. If people want to live longer than 26 they have to buy more time. Will Salas 28-year-old factory worker lives with his mother Rachel. He saves a drunken 105-year-old Henry Hamilton from suffering a time-robbery assault in a bar attempted by Fortis. Hamilton tells Will that there is essentially enough time for everyone to live a full life, but the wealthy are practically taking all the time so they can live forever. Later that night, Hamilton gives 116 years to the sleeping Will and commit suicide. Timekeepers are convinced Hamilton was murdered and start looking for Will. Will travels to the city where the rich people lives in and enters a casino and meets millionaire time-loaning businessman Philippe Weis and his daughter Sylvia Weis. Will kidnaps Sylvia and brings her to the ghetto where he lives. Sylvia feels how despicable her father is and together with Will, they steal a large quantity of time and start to fight against the system.

The main cast of the film includes Justin Timberlake (Will Salas),  Amanda Seyfried (Sylvia Weis), Collins Pennie (Timekeeper Jaeger), Olivia Widle (Rachel Salas), Matt Bomer (Henry Hamilton), Alex Pettyfer (Fortis), Vincent Kartheiser (Philippe Weis) and Johny Galecki (Borel).  I think that casting is interesting but succesful. Actors fit in their characters and are convincing.

Like usually in action films there is frenetic car chases, life-threatening situations, explosions and gunplay. In this film there is just enough action in order to be compelling and exciting  but not too much. In contrast to the basic action films, this film challenges the viewer to think, which I think is great.