Broken English (2007)

Director:

Zoe R. Cassavetes

Writer:

Zoe R. Cassavetes

              Everybody needs it, everybody is looking for it, but, unfortunately, not everybody finds it.
It was and is the reason for many people to die or to kill for, even whole nations waged wars because of it and yet at the same time it was also the reason for marvelous creations.
The trouble is that you never know when you will find it and once you do, you have to work really hard to keep it. Why do we even go through all that trouble to find something that in the end could, literally, kill you or make you miserable?! It is because it is our nature, it is embedded in every living soul and life without it has no meaning. The joy that overcomes us when we find it can hardly be described by words, though many have tried to do so.
Some, that realize its power, will try to abuse it and some will, even though they know, willingly let themselves be abused. Some even fear it and never fulfill their need. The power of this feeling is immeasurable. This feeling is called Love.  

               Plot story: Nora Wilder is a young and pretty woman, but seems to be unable to find somebody worth a while. She is getting desperate and the fact that almost everybody around her is in some kind of relationship is making her nervous. When all seems lost an unexpected arrival changes the monotony of her life.

              From the reviews introduction you would probably expect this movie to be one of those cheesy romantic movies where everything follows the same pattern as in most other movies of this type. Luckily this time this isn’t one of those movies. This one subtly portrays the modern life of a young woman that finds herself wanting something more of it. She is successful at her job, but she is unhappy and she is getting desperate. It seems as though the more she tries the more she fails when it comes to love. On the opposite side her best friend has, what most people would consider, a happy marriage, but she too is unhappy because her marriage has become a habit and she longs for past times. So it’s kind of funny that Nora wants something so badly that her best friend already has, but doesn’t appreciate. 

 

 What differentiates this movie from the bunch is the way in which the characters are presented. They are someone you could easily relate to and the situations in which they find themselves are very probable in the real life too. One could say that there are lots of Noras out there in the real world. In her desperation to find someone Nora has built a defensive wall around herself and it took someone like Julian to bring it down. Julian is spontaneous and simple, what he says he means it and he was exactly what Nora needed. He is a man that holds his ground when faced with a beautiful, but insecure woman like Nora. The whole philosophy behind their meeting is that she stumbled upon a man that matched her needs after a series of failures. This is accentuated by the way in which the movie itself is conceived. There are lots of fast changing scenes with rather superficial small talk between few people, mostly two at the time. By doing this the director managed to achieve the feeling of random situations that life throws you into rather than showing liner and chaos free storyline. This way it all feels more plausible. 

Nora was brought to life by the amazing Parker Posey which earned the reputation and the nickname of being the “Queen of the indies” because of over thirty low-budget, independent movies she appeared in. Her charisma and talent for acting gave Nora that feeling of agony and pain that she went trough. Drea de Matteo (known for her role in The Sopranos) played her best friend and did a fine job as did Melvil Poupaud whilst portraying Julian. The rest of the cast blended in nicely, but Nora was absolutely in the spotlight the whole time of the movie.

Like Nora everybody goes through the path of finding themselves and finding happiness in life. The problem is that that is not easy. People have the need to feel complete, but as long as they expect others to complete them they are wasting time. The path to happiness begins within oneself.
This movie illustrates that premise with a fine touch at the end. The only “bad” thing about this movie that we can think of is that it’s labeled as a comedy. We didn’t find anything especially comic about it, but rather charming yet fast forwarded life story that could happen to anyone to some degree.

Our score:
Liz: 8,5/10
Kyle: 7/10

L'Arnaceour (Heartbreaker) 2010

Director:

Pascal Chaumeil

                           

Writers:

Laurent Zeitoun (screenplay)

Jeremy Doner (screenplay)

Yohan Gromb (screenplay)

                

                                                        
            When it comes to French movies, we cannot help ourselves but to expect a lot and much more than that, no matter what the genre is. Therefore it's not surprising we were eagerly awaiting this one. The French are mostly inspiring and original in making films. Their movies are the total opposition of typical Hollywood ones. Does this romantic comedy named Heartbreaker affirm the thesis?

Plot story: Alex Lippi, his sister and sister's husband are running this unusual business of breaking the relationships. The thing is getting complicated when they are hired by the wealthy man to break his daughter's relationship only ten days before her marriage with Englishman Jonathan.

          Not so original idea? Indeed. Though French, this movie looks like the remake of many similar, previously done Hollywood rom-coms. Usually it's the French movies that are being remade by Hollywood, but it's hard to believe that this one will suffer from such fate. (overwhelmingly reminds of Chasing Liberty, and not exclusively because of the plot).
Director Pascal Chaumeil did a terrific job of making this film an enjoyable experience and not a pain in the neck. It's very watchable with a presence of slapstick humor and there are no boring scenes. The setting of the movie is mostly in Monaco but all the other locations are also breathtaking from the very beginning making it visually effective.
        
          He sings in a church choir, he is a culinary expert, he washes windows... One can see from the start that Alex (Romain Duris) is a benevolent person, without a strict set of goals in life. He owns the rebel's charm but, ironically, he is not a womanizer. His job is to help miserable women and to open their eyes but he never goes further from the first base. Since Alex has fallen into debt, he accepts to seduce rich Juliette (Vanessa Paradis, beautiful French actor, also known as Johnny Depp's significant other- damn that lucky, lucky girl :P by Liz) though she seems to be happy with a man without blemish- Jonathan Alcott (Andrew Lincoln).

     
                 Here we encounter the typical motive of the basic intolerance, as it is usually the case.(like in already mentioned Chasing Liberty, or The Ugly Truth, No Reservations, etc.) and in order to change that, ingenious Alex, starts to play her bodyguard and makes everything possible to melt her cold heart. This includes adoring George Michael (that must have been painful), learning how to dance just as Patricky Swayze did in ''Dirty Dancing'' (he surely owns an exceptional talent learning it in few days) , eating Roquefort etc. You've seen that before? Nooo way :D

              We don't take it as spoiler when we say that during the movie chemistry developed between the two (it's very clear from the plot story) and Juliette is releasing her real self with the rebel Alex which was not possible with her stuffy fiancee. Sounds cheesy, but it's not the Roquefort we're talking about.
             The movie is full of cliches and you have a feeling that you know every next line that is about to be pronuonced, but it still manages to be charming and heartwarming because of hilarious situations and great acting. Surely one won't see anything new or inspiring, but Heartbreaker is perfect for relaxing after a hard day. Recently, and also this year, there is a lack of a good rom-coms with the charming spirit of 90's, but this one is the total opposition so it's surely not an excess in this industry. This one will cheer up anyone who likes good old romantic comedies because it's almost flawless  in its category.

Ratings:
Liz: 7,5/10
Kyle:6/10

Charlie St. Cloud (2010)

Director: 

Burr Steers 

Writers: 

Craig Pearce

Lewis Colick (screenplay)

Ben Sherwood (novel)

                It is needless to pull morals out of this movie and to reason about it when everything is clear as day after first twenty or so minutes. This is one of those movies that you watch with low or no expectations from the start. Just one look at the cover confirms that fact.
(Too) handsome baby faced teen star with dramatic look into the distance followed by a quote ''Life is for living''. Whether you indulge in watching a movie with or without these prejudices, you'll anyway reach the same conclusion.

Plot story: Charlie St. Cloud unintentionally caused the death of his younger brother Sam. He couldn't overlook that so he found a job at the cemetery where his brother was buried. As he promised to him, they were meeting everyday at the same place after the sound of firing cannon.

               The movie is based on the same story which we didn't read but despite that it was not difficult to conclude that this story was more situable for literature than cinematography. 
The director, Burr Steers, again took young actor Zac Efron under his wing. They worked together in Seventeen Again, which is far better than this one. Still, we must admit that is a wise move since Zac, recently unknown to the audience, is successfully building his career. He's very hot, blue eyed and charismatic beauty so there's no doubt many young schoolgirls will rush to cinema to see new Zac Efron movie. However, he does not deserve to be exclusively labeled as aesthetically pleasing part of the movie because it is the one who is the strongest link here - both aesthetic and histrionic. Though he hasn't got lots of  movies in his background, here he proves the ability of bearing comedy as much as drama where he does not deliver the exact same level of performance. Unfortunately, this movie still happened to be kinda waste of the talent so we sincerely hope to see him in the more "serious" roles. We're not trying to say that Charlie St. Cloud is not a demanding character but the movie is too much formulaic and cliche so that is not the ONE but one of THE.
          
                 It's silly how Kim Basinger and Ray Liotta, undeniably exquisite actors, got roles which are reduced to the minimum of minimums. Amanda Crew (Tess Carroll) and Charlie Tahan (Sam St. Cloud) were also good, so the cast works just fine. Screenplay doesn't. So, again and again we encounter the ''I see dead people'' motive and the story is engineered as the Ghost Whisperer episode. The only person missing in all this was Jennifer Love Hewitt. We think that cinematography is saturated with these themes.
The story IS touching and Zac successfully conveys the feeling of sorrow and pain but it's still not enough to create a tear jerking movie (except maybe to people who survived the same ordeal).

                Charlie St. Cloud movie works it's ass off to be melodramatic and inspiring but the result is not much more different than already seen, full of cliches, scheme which will more likely make you roll eyes than cry. Not even to mention that again we have the situation where a teenager quotes big writer (in this case E.E.Cummings) as in, for example,  The Last Song. Just as there, as an extra you get the other teenager (the significant other) who immediately recognizes the quotation. It's praiseworthy when young people are conscious about the world of literature, but come on.. If you manage to find one, in a sample of ten average teenagers, who would recognize it (and let alone two of them in the same sample) - we'll pay you a beer.

               Of course, there are many more heartbreaking moments and messages. The good news is that there's the twist in the movie and the bad news about it is that you won't  be that much excited it since it's nothing you won't have already figured out. Naturally, we've seen worse movies than this one. In fact, this is not a bad movie, but it's only that. Not a bad movie. Don't expect any laughs or cries which consequently lead to the result of watchable, feel good movie (with nice camerawork) that won't make you think about it later and you will soon forget you even watched it. The younger population may even like it, but only because of the main actor or if they missed Ghost or even Just Like Heaven. If you're not staunch fan of Zac Efron, better watch those instead.
Score:
Liz: 5/10
Kyle: 4/10

Altitude (2010)

Director:

Kaare Andrews

Writer:

Paul A. Birkett

             There is something about watching young and beautiful people dying. It has become a standard that the lead protagonists of the mainstream horror movies are teenagers or students who just happen to be very beautiful. Our guess is that the logic behind this is that people (especially Men) will gladly go and watch a movie with a couple of hotties because even if the movie sucks they will at least enjoy the view and it will, more likely, produce greater revenue. Well that's not a bad reasoning if you ask me (Kyle), but it, nevertheless, diminishes the reality and the value of the concept. This movie falls into that mainstream, but it has an original idea behind it promising us something new. This time the teenagers/students are in an airplane. That certainly ruled this one out as being a typical slasher horror flick since they are confined in a small space well above the surface of the earth.

              Plot story: Five teenagers rent a small airplane (how about that folks!) and amidst their flight they get stuck in a mysterious storm. 

              Flying on the airplane is by itself scary. No matter if you have flown many times or if it is your first time the feeling of being so helpless is always there. Anything could go wrong at anytime and there are not so many choices one could take if faced with a problem high up in the air. Well at least the view is pretty, unless it's a cloudy day :).

One may assume that, since the flying is so risky, the planes could only be flown by experienced pilots, but that is not the case here. Here we have a teenager pilot and her friends that decide that the train or the bus drive are too lame for them (that's for losers, right?!). They were probably saying something like: "Lets rent an airplane and get shitfaced while we are at it, woohoooo..." :). So they actually came up with enough money to rent an airplane ( We would like to meet their financial adviser). The stage was set for the inevitable disaster. But wait, there is more! If a fact that there are five teenagers in the air is not enough for a series of disasters then we have a monster that will make sure that something goes wrong.

A monster you say?! Yap, that is right, a monster is in the air (opposite to the "Love is in the air" statement :) ). And it's not any kind of a monster, it's a large squid like creature.

 
Kraken in the air?! :)

              The acting itself was mostly ok, but the main problem are not the actors as much as the badly written script is. There are way too much unbelievable dialogues and situations. The most annoying of the bunch was the bully (Jake Weary). The things his character does are on the edge of retardation. The whole teenage drama issues that get resolved in a confined, small space of an airplane are nothing short of ridiculous. That kind of behavior is passable on some generic horror set in a dark house or similar, but not here. None of the characters are someone you could relate to, so in fact we couldn't care less if they all die at some point. 

              Given all that we were hoping that the main plot surrounding the mysterious monster would, somehow, save the movie from the obvious flaws. When we saw the trailer it reminded us of one of the Twilight Zone episodes. Twilight Zone, in its time, was a synonym of good written mystery with an intriguing plot and an intelligent ending that kept you wondering for days.

Unfortunately that is not the case with this movie as it doesn't hold a candle to the Twilight Zone and its level of deepness. The monster did not scare us at all (at some point we were wondering what it would taste like on a salad, actually that would be a "mega squid salad" judging from its size, it wouldn't be surprising to us if you could buy something like that in Japan or China :) ). The ending of this "mystery" tries to be intelligent, but it falls short in such attempt.

The "monster". Yummi!

              The camera work was very good especially given the fact that 90% of the movie was shot in the small ariplane cabin. Special effects are nothing you will write home about, but are actually quite believable. They are a good example of the fact that you don't need lots of money to create something visually acceptable.

                We all dream of flying, it is the ultimate experience of freedom one could ever imagine to achieve in our reality. We bet that all of you, at least once, dreamed of flying or have looked up to the sky wondering what it would be like. Well the flying part would be fun, but the falling not as much, so in order for that not to happen lets be real and let the flying business to the experienced pilots with years of training behind them. 

The idea of a couple of teenagers flying an airplane is, frankly said, silly. This movie "flew" away very fast from our minds and as such we don't recommend it to anyone. If you, however, must watch it then, at least, get shitfaced like a teenager on an airplane would do :).

TeenAIR - at least they look good

Our score:

Kyle: 2/10

Liz: 2/10

The Social Network (2010)

Director:

David Fincher

Writers:

Aaron Sorkin

Ben Mezrich

           The movie about Facebook? What was your first reaction? Probably the same as ours. You were probably skeptical that it would be the movie whose primary goal was to earn money to burn based on this, immensely popular, topic. Today is just as normal to have a Facebook account just as owning a cell phone. It's almost on the same level of intensity anchored in our lives. Despite of the fact that Facebook is accompanied by notoriety, not the a day goes by without logging in. However, this movie is, certainly, not exclusively about Facebook and its invention. It's about everything: about you, about me, about us. Facebook is used just as bait to grab your attention which, obviously, worked. Much ado about nothing or something? Let's see.

              Plot story: We all know what Facebook is, but very few know how it came to be. This is the story about the founders and co-founders of Facebook and their relationship.

               The Social Network, based on the book "Accidental Billionaires", hit the jackpot on the Box Office, despite of all 3D sensations that were screened at cinemas at that time. Without any special effects, violence, blood, explosions, it stood out from the mass. Perhaps partly because of the human curiosity about something we use everyday. Since we are talking about David Fincher - a man that was born to brilliantly convey letters from paper to the screen, there's no wonder this movie was spoken about only in superlatives. Also he can pay tribute to the successful adaptation of the story which is apparently "non-filmic". Many people still doubt the credibility of the movie, but we don't really care about it (thought it is nice to see Mark Zuckenberg saying that he is appalled because it's so real). 

                An extraordinary effort of the director, actors, writers and complete cast created harmony that works without flaws. (Justin Timberlake proved again that he is multi-talented embodying character of Sean Parker, greedy owner of Napster website). 

The Social Network is not far from The Curious Case of Benjmain Button and Seven (our personal favorites of David Fincher). Of course, there's the presence of dark tones and melancholic atmosphere just as it is in his style. 

                Screenplay is concisely written, it's utterly intelligent and pleasant. The story leisurely runs from the past into the present which contributes to effectiveness and dynamic. Despite of great acting, yet the biggest compliment go to Jesse Eisenberg whose role in this movie is his best performance to the day. Evidently, we'll continue to watch him on the big screen in the future. His role wins you sympathy from the very beginning and his was as a sight for sore eyes. He's enchanting in his inability of "normal" integration into society, not knowing what to say in appropriate moment nor how to express his emotions. It's because he's programming genius with subtle sense of sarcasm and cynicism. One just can't hate him although he pulled the wool over his best friend's eyes- Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield). Andrew also deserves all the best words for his performance convincingly embodying someone who was betrayed. You feel sorry for him and adore Mark at the same time. Perhaps because Mark was just possessed with his genius idea (which is a whole new version than that of the twins) and he acted as an idiot towards his friends unintentionally. He created an everyday thing for people of the future an ensured his place in history books.

                 It is clear that Mark loves what he does more than money from the scene where he says that he uploaded application for free instead of selling it to Microsoft. His creativity an ingenuity cannot be stolen by anyone, that's for sure. It's his weapon against his socially conscious friends. 

   

                The movie is filled with mix of various emotions we encounter every day: jealousy, betrayal, anxiety, euphoria over big success and so on... Honestly, two hours went by flying. No doubt this is one of the best movies of the year so it would be kind of a disappointment leaving it denied of Oscar. This movie is about who we are - voayers. We like to know everything about everyone: what they do, with who they are, what do they like or dislike etc. Mark was conscious about it inventing Facebook and giving people complete freedom to do what they like the most - to enter into other's lives. That also leads us to a conclusion that we all are part of Mark finding it easier to get to the people behind the computer screen.

Speaking of Facebook, today's most popular invention, is that much of media attention on this movie justified because of that? No. It's justified because it's the movie which is a whole package that borders on perfection we were eagerly awaiting for.

Our score:

Liz: 10/10

Kyle: 8/10

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010)

Director:

Edgar Wright

Writers:

Michael Bacall, Edgar Wright

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Once upon a time being called a geek would make you an outcast of the society and you would be ridiculed by those "cool" guys from the school and in general. In these last few years or so we are witnessing a dramatic reversal in these events. Suddenly being a geek has become a desirable trait. This has, of course, had an impact on the popular culture.

             Plot story: Scott has to defeat seven evil exes of the girl of his dreams. Yap, the story is that simple.

            The very beginning of this movie is so original and something you have never seen before. That's hard to achieve when we see all kind of movies that successfully or less successfully try hard to be different and innovative. Opening scene uses the classic Universal music intro played as 2D video game tune (which elicited a smile on our faces having a flashback of video games we played as kids such as Mario Bros, Contra, Mortal Kombat etc.). Every next scene is unbelievably dynamic because of innovation and diversity. If you are keen on new, fresh and unseen before visual style, you will appreciate this one at least for that reason alone.

Edgar Wright is very clearly using it as an ace in his sleeve which is good because we were overblown and impressed by the huge palette of visual effects mostly based on video games and comics. Since the movie is based on a, not so well known, Canadian comic book it is full of CGI effects depicting various situations in a way a comic book would. There are lots of fast scene transitions that include clever and witty dialogues that start in one location just to, suddenly, be continued in another. 

             

              The script is very witty and refreshingly deprived of "bathroom" humor. Speaking of acting, Michael Cera, Ellen Wong, Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Kieran Culkin all did a great job delivering what they were supposed to. Regarding the actors one can't go without noticing that Michael Cera again delivered the exact same performance he gave in his every single movie. That might be a problem in his future career (we are not sure if he is a chameleon), but again this time his goofy charm adapted perfectly to this role. He is always this laid back, insecure, slow talking, lost in space kind of a guy. It's not as though we are expecting him to suddenly become an action hero like Bruce Willis, but it would be refreshing to see him try some different roles. Oh yes, and occasional change in facial expression would be nice. 

              Scott Pilgrim is a big baby, clumsy in a cute way while radiating with innocence. We feel and see his low self-esteem when he is worrying about his hair cut, but saying out loud his every thought. Just as kids do. He is in love with total opposition - girl named Ramona with questioning past behind her. In order to save her from the haunting past he has to fight against her seven exes (just as we said in the plot story). Scott is very clumsy in those fights against them, but still manages to look adorable. 

               The movie mostly consists of fighting scenes in Tekken 3, Street Fighter, etc. style which was a big no no to us since we are not really into stuff like that. It was somehow bearable for the first two exes because of witty lines (Indian dance in the middle of the fight) and impressive special effects, but the rest of the movie was literally drowned in it making it almost boring and exhausting while approaching the end. Despite of all mentioned innovations and quick pacing, the movie managed to be overlong and repetitive because of many scenes of that type. Instead of so many action scenes the movie would have benefited out of a more in depth character presentation. 

     

                 This IS a romantic movie portraying young, insecure and naive love with young protagonists. 

This IS NOT a typical romantic teen movie - far cry from that. Though on a higher level of an intelligence (yes you have to use gray cells at times) it has that Youth in Revolt, Role Models or I Love You, Beth Cooper atmosphere just as we were afraid of. This one is a bit better because it can be taken as a kind of a teenage version of Sin City. 

We are sure that any video game geek would enjoy this one as much as a kid would enjoy getting a new toy, though they might not be able to relate with Scott because he is actually dating girls and has a life.
No offense to geeks :).

If you are not expecting much of a story, like arcade video games and want to be amused by light and intelligent humor in excessive levels then this is a perfect movie for you. Those who seek for romance will be less happy because it's masked by plenty of metaphors. We don't recommend this to an older audience. 

Not much more to say then give it a try if you found yourself in the targeted audience.

Review over.

Our score:

Liz: 6/10

Kyle: 6.5/10

The Human Centipede (First Sequence) (2009)

Director:

Tom Six

Writer:

Tom Six

                The Human Centipede, the very title grabs your attention. As a two horror lovers we are always on a search for a fresh and original horror movies. We stumbled across this move a while ago, but never actually wanted to see it because we somehow tought that it was not worth watchig. It was too hard to believe that idea like this could be successfuly translated into a good movie. Even our friends who watched it told us that it was unwatchable. Since the two of us are known for watching the groosomest of the groosome movies we just couldn't betray our "good" reputation by not watching this one. We must commend the title of the movie because we realized that we have been talking about it for at least a couple of months without even watching it.

                Plot story: This is one of the bizzarest plot stories we had to write. The main character is a renowed doctor Heiter who is a retired specialist in the field of separating Siamese twins. His goal is to create a new pet for himself, and in doing so, he will use the two american girls who accidentaly stumbled across his house in a search for help and a japanese man whom he kidnapped.

                This Dutch movie was awarded for the Best Horror Feature film and the Best Actor (Dieter Laser) on the Fantastic Fest film festival that takes place on South Lamar in Austin, Texas, USA.

No wonder that the Best Actor award was given to Dieter Laser because he put on an amazing performance. His embodiment of the mad scientist can easily be put in the hall of fame of the movie mad scientists of all time (Dr. Frankestein, Dr. Brown, Dr. Strangelove,  Dr. Mabuse ...). He has a perfect physical appearance of one (the white medical robe, the facial features, his eyes and his accent). We know that it's a cliche, but he would have been the perfect nazi mad scientist (I think that, because of his looks, he has to wear a jew friendly sign on him all of the time just in case :) ). The very focus of the movie is on Dr. Heiter and his experiment. People being used for the experiment are less importnant since we don't know anything about them and you can't really relate to them. Actually, in some moments, you might even feel more sympatetic for Dr. Heiter then for them. We must point out that Ashley C. Williams (Lindsay) stood out amongst them in the way she used her eyes while being the part of the human centipede. 

                     After watching this movie we can say that we are dissapointed by some peoples opinions that this movie is dull and flat written. People have unrealistic expectations and we believe that many of them didn't get the point that this movie was aiming for. It is evident that the premise of the movie is to be a gortesque dark comedy and in a way it mocks many of the modern high budget horrors that lack originality. This clearly can be seen in the way the movie uses standard cliches souch as the flat tyre, two stranded hot chicks, no GSM reception (come on, this is Germany we are talking about), a zoomed in telephone in one of the scenes where one of them tries to escape. Considering all this, we think that people took this too seriously analysing all of those plot "holes". This movie is not even trying to be serious and we must applaud the director and the writer Tom Six for his sophisticated sense of the dark humor. Judging by everything we heard and read about this movie we expected it to be very grose, disgusting and disturbing, but it didin't have that efect on us.

Actualy we found it to be more concentrated on the idea then on the realization itself. We can't remember when was the last time we had so much laughter during or after some movie ( if you have a sense of humor like us you'll be laughing, for example, at the scene where the japanese guy has to shit and starts to pray for forgiveness while the girl on his ass has this terrified look of inevitable horror that is coming her way).

During this whole time Dr. Heiter was having the time of his life. He was excited like a little baby when he saw his relized experiment for the first time after the operation (kissing his own image in the mirror :) ). The way he treated this newly formed centipede was even more hilarious (he was training them to behave like a dog :).

                     We believe that the writer had a serious problem from trying not to laugh too much while he was coming up with this whole scenario. Since this is called the "First Sequence" we can't wait to see what will they do in the next one. The one thing that is hard not to notice is the fact that the European doctor used three non Europeans to be the part of the centiepede. This makes us imagine all sorts of the scenarios where an American doctor takes on revenge on the Europens and makes a centipede out of them :) ). That would give the whole European Union a new meaning, Europede!

                     After all said and done we would highly reccomend this movie if you are into a fresh and amusing ideas, but we are also real and know that this is not for everyone because it can easily be interpreted in a wrong way.

Our score:

Liz: 8/10

Kyle: 7/10

The Final (2010)

Director:

Joey Stewart

Writer:

Jason Kabolati

             Have you ever gone balistic because someone treated you wrong for no apparent reason and you would gladly skin him alive so that he would apologize and have regrets about it? In reality you never had the guts to do anything about it and not even wanted to do it for real but kept dreaming about it? (we feel many of you are noding your heads, oh, we almost feel like Oprah and Dr. Phil :) )
Well, these kids certainly had.

             Plot story : The story is about bullied high school kids that have had enough. They devise a sinister plan to get their revenge on the ones who did them wrong. 

             We must admit we weren't expecting a lot from this movie since we're not thrilled that much about After Dark Horrorfest movies. In fact, the most of them did not impress us at all. This one is a far cry from that scenario. It delivers much more than expected, especially if you start off with low or no expectations. The movie grabs your attention from the very beginning which is supported by the fact that there is nothing worse than a scared face. We dare to say that the first and the last scene were the most interesting ones. Although this is a low- budget movie and is limited by it in its possibilities, we didn't feel it. Those funds were obviously used rationally (unlike the funds used by our goverment). The thing that is not so good is the costume design. Halloween costumes were not interesting at all and those that were supposed to be scary did not succeed in its purpose (they all looked like a cast from a porno movie audition). That could have been done much much better. Acting also isn't worth of applauding and maybe Marc Donato and Lindsay Seidel stood out the most. Photography, camera work and the direction were all well done masking the movie's (in)abilities. Ruminant premise of the movie and the message that wants to be given is very commendable since this is everyday in this world.

             Anyone of us can relate to some of these characters but if we choose the violence as the answer to violence, what makes us different?! We are just stepping into a dangerous magic circle with power of negative and destroying act. Young kids all over the world do not understand that being different is better than being part of the mass (except in China :) ) and the parents are the most responsible for that because they don't talk enough with their kids which can also be seen in this movie.
The intention of this movie is good trying to show us that we can't beat someone not our size and to respect diversity which is, let's face it, impossible especially in the world of teenagers who can be really cruel. The thing that worries us is that bullied teenagers watching this movie might come to an idea of realizing something like this. The Final is not the type of horror movie which you watch on the edge of your seat and there is not much blood or torture. Torturing scenes are not disturbing and are far from originality but they are kind of playing with your mind so we would rather call it a psychological thriller than a horror.

               The confusing thing about this movie is that you can't choose the side. As much as you sympathize with the bullied kids and wish for a revenge at the beginning of the movie, that much they become very unlikeable at the end of the movie because the students have become the masters.
Also, writer's insecurity is delivered to the screen because there is lack of a concrete idea and just as it is about to reach the top it plummets down suddenly. In other words, it's missing the dot on the i to make the story complete.

              Despite of all of the defects, there is still the feeling that remains. This one will stick with you and and will make you think about it and will leave you wondering if you are treating other people properly yourself.
This movie is ''what you see is what you get''. There is nothing less or more than the plot story says.
Do we need another movie of pissed off victims of bullying after so many of greatly done ones (Ben X, Bully, Elephant....)? Probably no, but we're glad that this one exists because it entertained us and it doesn't leave a bitter taste in your mouth.

Our score:
Liz: 7/10
Kyle: 6.5/10

Ils (2006)

Director: 

David Moreau, Xavier Palud

Writers:

David Moreau, Xavier Palud

               Don't you love it when a horror movie starts off with a notice that it's based on a true story? In a way it makes you feel more anxious to see it because you know that it actually happened and at the same moment you feel lucky that you are the one watching this movie and not the one that the movie is based on. This is one of those movies where that feeling of luck mixes with disbelief, anxiety, adrenalin and discomfort making it a perfect experience for the horror lovers. This one will grab your attention from the very beginning.

                Plot story: French School teacher Clementine and her husband Lucas recently moved to Bucharest, Romania. They live in a big suburban house. One night Clementine is awakened by the strange noises from the outside of the house. Suddenly they see their car being stolen and moments later the lights go off. They find themselves surrounded and isolated in their own house by some strange people.

                The movie is short in its duration, the run time is only 77 minutes, but that is more than enough to pull you in. You know, good things come in small packages, and this one is the real bomb and scares the living daylight out of you :) If it were any longer it would have lost much of its dynamic and probably would result with lots of absurd and non sense situations. The two main actors Olivia Bonamy and Micahel Cohen did a great job of presenting us with people in fear struggling to survive by all means necessary. They convincingly embodied reactions of a person that finds itself in a such situation, deprived of random idiotic acts. Directors David Moreau and Xavier Palud (The Eye 2008) made a good choice of the locations and the way in which the movie was filmed (we are not sure if the locations portray the ones from the true events but the ones selected were really scary). Movement of the camera, the dark and the old house isolated in the woods emphasized the overall tension.
The camera work and lightning are the most interesting thing in the whole movie. That was director's ace in the sleeve and it proved once again that the less is more. It gave it a level boost portraying fear and anxiety. Without any special effects, that many nowadays directors use and still do not achieve scariness, this one gave the chills to audience with some simple, ''old school''  tricks. The most memorable are banging on the doors, barely visible and scary outlines of the bodies, creepy sounds etc.

                It's not a secret that we are keen on horror movies and this one kept us on the edge of the seat through the whole movie (which is a success since we saw too many horror movies and almost none of new ones cannot satisfy our expectations).From the moment that the lights go off till the movie ends you will be on tenterhooks and at some moments you will probably want to help the characters in their ordeal. While the story is simplistic and maybe sounds like you seen it a hundred times, this is not just another horror movie. Simplicity is used so well that it is precisely its advantage and makes it better than many of those with complex story and forced twist at the end. In the last review we said that it was well done because the director could not do much with one location and not many characters, but this one on the contrary proves us wrong and crashes all of the stereotypes. We're blown away how it manages to pull you in without giving you any space to blink. Feeling of claustorophobia and panic is conjured credibly and you feel like you would get your fingers burnt. It's very frustrating to feel that helpless as they do when there is someone that is always one step ahead of you. It is as though someone was playing with them. One of the most interesting things is the fact that there is not too much blood or violence and it still successfully makes your blood run cold. It was nice to see that there are still horror movies which suceed in their purpose without unnecessary gore scenes. Special applauds go to the last scene with Clem which portrays the meaning of tension and adrenaline rush at its best. This movie also has a little twist and it keeps you wondering about the creepy things that you pass by every day on the street and take for granted.

              Still, if you are devotee of gore and harsh violence and not that much of psychological horror movies, this one is not for you, and if you are one of the others, this is a must see and try to watch it before sleeping (like we did) because it will make you sleep with one eye open.

Our score
Liz: 9.5/10
Kyle: 9/10

P2 (2007)

Director:

Fracnk Khalfoun

Writers:

Alexandre Aja

Gregory Levasseur

              Have you ever been in one of those underground parking lots late at night? Imagine that you get stuck in that situation, the doors are closed and the only way out is for you to wait until morning. But what if that wasn't your biggest problem? That's the situation in which our main character got herself into.

               Plot story: It follows a workaholic Angela that got stuck in a multi-level underground parking garage in New York on a Christmas Eve. But she didn't get stuck by an accident. There was somebody down there with her, somebody that wanted to share this Christmas with her.

               The movie quickly moves from the introduction to tension and action. Angela, was one of the last people to leave work, she promised her family that she would be at their place in 20 minutes or so . She got packed and was on her way to the underground garage. There was nothing unusual about it until a serious of events got her stuck in the building. It all looked like a series of unfortunate events until the security guard from the parking lot showed his true intentions. From that point the movie keeps your attention by an interesting dialogue and scenes. Direction and photography is nicely done followed by great acting. Wes Bently successfully embodied the character of the psychotic man and again proved he got skills just as he had shown in his first more memorable performances in the classic American Beauty. Rachel Nichols also put the great performance embodying strong and brave woman fighting for survival, and off course while doing that she was successfully using her physical attributes to let us know how brave she really is (even Liz noticed that :) ).
There are not too many characters in this movie and the only location is that parking garage. That sounds like the breath of fresh air, but unfortunately, that remained the only original thing. The play of cat and mice is "been there done that" kind of scenario which includes all possible events of saving your ass and we guarantee that you have already seen most of them at least once (The Hitcher, When a stranger Calls are just a few of the examples of that kind of movies). Not to be very harsh, this movie was undeniably entertaining and what more could you want from your average psycho, busty chick victim, evil dog and a garage? Well, maybe that's the main problem of the movie. The idea sounded interesting and the movie which could have been done in 30 or so minutes had been prolonged on purpose which consequently led to a drop in tension and too many absurd situations which didn't make any sense. So the problem with this movie is that though it has some good and thrilling moments, which you might enjoy (but only if you don't take it too seriously), is the missing dynamic. That means that the movie becomes diluted almost 40 minutes before the ending, and the absurd scenes start coming at you in waves. For example our psycho can teleport, read minds, fix remote cameras that had been destroyed a few minutes earlier etc. On top of that he is an Elvis Presley impersonator :). If it weren't for his tendencies to kill people we would be even willing to hang out with this guy :). In other words he is not scary, he is a clumsy guy that needs a girlfriend and has a wrong way of showing his needs.

               All in all we don't know if here is an unintentional presence of a black humor, but we sincerely hope it isn't so judging by the previous works of this coordinated trio (funny credits may also confirm this conclusion). That  would be the only excuse of making this movie which, in the best case scenario, could be taken as a guilty pleasure type of slasher flick.
If you, however, seek for a clever, twisted horror movie (which Haute Tension at least tried to be) with a dose of goreness (spoiled by the brilliantly done The Hills Have Eyes) skip this one because here you won't find any of these. To give it a neat finishing touch they could have at least revived Tom one more time at the ending.
Did I say Tom? Ups, Tom really hates when someone calls him by his name. I'll stop here and leave Tom alone. Sorry Tom :)

Our score:
Liz: 5.5/10
Kyle: 5/10

Hachiko: A Dog's Story (2009)

Hachiko: A Dog's story (2009)

Director:

Lasse Hallström

Writers:

Stephen P. Lindsey (screenplay)

Kaneto Shindô
(motion picture "Hachiko monogatari)

            "I tend to think that there's an element of music that cannot be captured. Life cannot be captured. Human heart cannot be captured. The moment of creation itself is fleeting."

             Liz's side of the story: Since I'm not a a big fan of family movies, especially not of the ones with animals as main characters, I've been avoiding this one for a long time though it catched my eye on IMDB because of high ratings and, of course, Richard Gere. 

I thought: "Oh no, just another movie about the dog" (but little bit more interesting judging by the rating). Then, my dad (also a movie freak, he got me into it as a little kid) told me this was a terrific movie. I must admit I was a little bit jealous that he forestalled me because usually I am the one who gives him movie recommendations :).

Kyle watched it one day later based on my recommendation. I still remember how enthusiastically I told him about it (she sure did :) ).

Hachiko can be everything but just an ordinary family story about the dog.

             Plot story: Hachiko is an American remake of Hachiko monogatari (which we haven't wathced) based on a true events. If you want to know more details about real Hachiko you can find it on wikipedia ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hachik%C5%8D - contains SPOILERS). No wonder this dog got his own movies, books and also video games. Movie follows the life of the music professor Parker who takes an abandoned dog into his home and in time gets emotionally attached to him. This special dog accompanies his master every day to the work on the train station and greets him after work at the same place.

             The real event of this story took place in the 1920's but we don't mind that this movie doesn't cover the same period, although it's a bit unrealistic that a stray dog would wonder freely without being noticed by the pet control and taken care of in contemporary time. 

The direction is excellently done deprived of excessive characters and places. Richard Gere's charisma worked perfectly in portraying a family man of great heart and gentlemanly manners.

Not only is he an actor in this movie but also the producer. Despite of great actors (Joan Allen as Parker's wife - "The Bourne Ultimatum", Sarah Roemer . "Disturbia", Jason Alexander - there's no need of special introduction for legendary Seinfeld's character, or is it? :) ) the dog and Richard Gere steal the show just as they should. Their on - screen chemistry works just perfectly. Just as peaches and cream go  together. Special praises go to the scenes when we see things and events through Hachiko's eyes that are made in different imaging technique which relates you more to him and his feeling successfully making him the main character of this movie. Few people would remain indifferent while watching this movie because almost every human being is part of Hachiko symbolizing goodness, joy, vulnerability and loneliness.

I'm almost sure there's no human or animal that would be so much faithful as he was.

They say he chooses his master and not vice versa. Unlike most of the people, animals express their feelings with more ease and unconditionally love their masters. And then we think that we're at higher level. That's our big problem, people always tend to be better, stronger...

It's very frustrating how his wife and daughter abandoned Hachiko with such ease without even visiting him when he was practically part of Parker, but we do understand why it was made like that.

        I will never forget this movie because of tears I cried off and I dare to say that never in my life I have cried that much (and I cried many times). The thing that contributed to it was my lack of expectation for something like that since I haven't read or heard anything about it before watching it. I cannot put this movie in any drawer, not even in "a sad story" one.

I was not prepared for crying and buying tissues (and I almost ran out of them).

The night I watched it my sister got back from the party and I was just finishing the movie. She asked me what had happened when she saw me.

Unlike me, Kyle was well prepared for crying because I had the need of expressing my emotions so he did not cry emphasizing that he is a guy :p (what else was I supposed to say :) ).

The sad part of the story starts relatively soon and rest of it was a real masterpiece perfectly portraying Hachiko's feelings of loneliness, emptiness and sadness.

From many of the sad scenes we would never forget these three heart breaking ones:

Hachiko lying on the rails, the old and dirty Hachiko still full of hope, and of course, the last and the most devastating one.

           So, what we did expect was a sad story, but we didn't expect an emotionally charged masterpiece. 

It was almost like getting a cherry on top of the cake.

If you haven't seen this movie yet, hurry up, because this is a must see. Don't forget that crying is not a disgrace. Go and release Hachiko in you and launch yourself into this magic.

Don't forget the tissues :)

Our score:

Liz: 10/10

Kyle: 9.5/10

History of Violence (2005)

Director:
David Cronenberg
Writers:
John Wagner, Vince Locke

             Arnold Schwarzenegger - no, he is too old. Silvester Stallone - nop, he is also too old. Bruce Willis - yap, you got it, he is also too old. Jean Claude Van Damme - no, he had a heart attack recently. Steven Segal - no, he is busy beating up his wives. Chuck Norris - He - Who - Must - Not - Be - Named :)

Ok, so you are wondering why we listed all of these action heroes here, well there is a good explanation for that. Prepare to meet THE hero of the heroes, the best of the best or simply put the chosen one.

You would never suspect who he is, but after watching this "masterpiece" of a movie you will realize His greatness.

             The movie, based on graphic novel, follows an ordinary family living their American dream. There is nothing unusual about them, until one day the family father, Tom Stall, becomes a local hero after killing two violent men trying to rob and hurt his customers in the diner which he owns. His act of heroism gets the attention of the local media and some unsuspecting people.

              In the beginning of this movie we see two guys doing some killing. We don't know who they are or what their reasons are, but we soon get to find out. Those same two guys were the ones that half an hour later tried to rob our Tom. Until that point we were following Tom and his family preparing for the usual work day. Tom owns a diner in the center of the town where he works and where he, the next day, becomes the local hero by killing those two guys from the beginning of the movie. The thing that catches your attention is the way and ease in which Tom got rid of them. It was as if Tom had been born with a gun in his hand. 

Until that point the movie was quite interesting. Tom became the instant news and was all over radio and TV.

Off course, Tom didn't want any fame or publicity as most people would react. That didn't prevent the news of this event from spreading and getting unwanted attention. When Tom get's back to work his diners is full of people who all came to see the hero. Among them were three suspicious people that start to provoke Tom by calling him Joey. These people are convinced that our Tom is this Joey guy although he repeatedly denies it. We could see that Tom is anxious and that there was going to be trouble, but before any incidents could have happened the three guys left. We had a feeling they would be back.

The next 20 or so minutes were boring as hell as those three guys were persistent in trying to convince Tom to accept that he is Joey and that he should go with them. When these three guys pushed Tom far enough he fought back, and when we say fought we mean he became RAMBO, dodging bullets, snapping necks etc.

              Now this is where the opening sentence of our review gets its full meaning. Tom beats every action hero up to date. Who could have ever imagined that a guy selling coffee and pies could be so dangerous. The last 15 minutes of the movie was like watching Steven Segal an Chuck Norris mixed in one person or better said like Superman in redneck outfit.

Tom is never tired, he was driving for 15 hours and when he gets to this bar he immediately orders a beer like any warm blooded American man should do. Not to forget the night in America, it lasts 24 hours. 

Anyway if you or any other member of your family did anything wrong to Tom we wouldn't like to be in your shoes. We wish our dad was like Tom.

             The Director decided that this much action could not go without sex so throughout the movie you could see some juicy sex scenes: "naked hairy pussy, 69, rough sex...". Nobody expected that, right?! So what's the problem with this movie? We have some great actors and some great acting, which we couldn't say for the actor that plays Tom's brother (you'll know what we mean), but the rest of them are great. 

Ed Harris put on the best performance of the bunch proving once again his greatness of acting skills. We think that the movie was saved by terrific cast and that it's success relies on Cronenberg's old fame (remembering The Fly, Naked Lunch, ExistenZ). No doubt Cronenberg's fans would like it. So the actors are not the problem, the problem is that the first part of the movie was interesting and professionally done, but the rest of it was like the Director decided to let his 12 year old son have some fun. In some reviews you could have read that the movie is full of brutal scenes, well, by our standards we didn't see any (if you want brutality rather watch Martyrs). Many people are overblown by this movie's premise, so to clear this out, we do understand the point. It tries to show how any of your neighbors or even member of your family who seem to be normal can turn out to be violent monster.We also see relation between past and future.

In the end we were disappointed by this movie and we don't recommend it to anyone.

Our score:
Liz: 3/10
Kyle: 4/10