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007: QUANTUM OF SOLACE - REVIEW

November 4th 2008 12:54
quantum of solace review
After much awaiting the new Bond movie, ever since the success of Casino Royale, I was finally able to see it this past weekend. And ever since the success of Casino Royale, a Bond movie never had as high expectations.
It begins few moments after the last movie, with a wild car chase. Bond's Aston Martin is closely followed by an Alfa Romeo (some policemen even mention it's an Alfa Romeo, in case the audience didn't notice). Then the credits, with the new Bond theme, a fitting tune if you ask me. Then we get into the real story, where Bond meets girl, girl tries to kill Bond, and both ultimately end up in the same team. The villain is called Dominic Greene, an appropriate name for an environmentalist. His goal is to take control of a country's water supply in South America, which is what Bond tries to stop through a global hunt. But really, deep down, James Bond is out for quantum of solace, some personal comfort [definition].

This time, directed by Marc Forster, we get a different style than what we're used to. There's a lot of action, too much at times, and the editing is as if it was made by a hypochondriac. Think "Jason Bourne", but even more of that. It's fast paced and a lot of action. So much action that almost every scene ends up with someone being killed, or something in that direction. It's not bad, but unfortunately it causes the story to sore. Marc Foster is a great director, I genuinely enjoyed his other movies, like Finding Neverland or Kite Runner, but looking at his previous work, I can't see a single action flick. Maybe that's the problem. Like a little kid that hasn't had candy in ages drops head first into it when it's finally offered.

quantum of solace review

Performance wise it was as good as usual, nearly flawless. I was pleasantly surprised by the so called Bond-girl Camille who gave great likability to her role. There's a fire scene towards the end where we can see through her whole character. Of course the real credit for that should also go to writer Paul Haggis, who really knows how to translate emotions into pictures.

As for the villain, Mathieu Amalric, I can now understand why they didn't need any scars or something of that sort to make him bad, because he is incredibly creepy as it is. My only problem with him was he never used this creepiness in action. We never see him do anything bad or disgusting (other than pushing forward his evil plan with verbal threats), but on the other hand, there are moments when he acts like a wimp. I'm not sure that's so good.

It was refreshing to see Judi Dench as always, you can see she really enjoys her part, and Daniel Craig as well, who played a meaner, more straight forward Bond. Yes, I miss the "shaken not stirred" (his drink this time is a coctail of a whole different sort) and the cool gadgets, but there are so many other new things to balance that out and make me wait for later installments to see that stuff.

All in all, an entertaining time, maybe not all the way up there with Casino Royale, but very close. I still hope Marc Forster does another one, because having had Quantum of Solace as his first big action experience it could blow our minds, hopefully more metaphorically this time.

3.5/5


Watch the trailer of Quantum of Solace here.
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the year my parents review
Filmpeek.net got an early DVD-preview of The Year My Parents Went on Vacation, Brazil's selection for this year's Academy Awards. In Portuguese with English subtitles, released by City Lights Pictures.

MOVIE
The movie is a touching tale taking place in year 1970, about a boy, Mauro, left by himself in a Jewish neighborhood while his parents go on "vacation". It needs to be said that 1970 was a special year, since both dictatorship and winning the world cup happened in Brazil. Mauro meets Shlomo there, an old and lonely Jew living next door, who takes responsibility in making sure the boy gets by alright. Next door is also a strong-willed girl, Hanna, who becomes his friend and guide in this new town.

Following a boy's inner coming-of-age story during Brazil's success in the world cup and on-going military turbulence we get a story with lots of drama and humorous moments.

The Year My Parents Went on Vacation has an honest approach to the characters, making us get deeply involved with what is happening. The picture remains nostalgic throughout, and the director Cao Hamburger managed to get the best from all the cast members, especially the younger ones. Michel Joelsas plays the boy in realistic and sympathetic ways. Of course with all the incredibly young talented actors out there today the competition is tough but Michel gives a good performance nevertheless.

As for the story and Mauro's relationships to the different characters around him, it's not very original. However, since it's not the central theme, it doesn't really matter much anyway. What's important is Mauro's own inner struggle being alone with big responsibilities to get on with his life during this difficult period - for him personally and for the country as well. And in that sense, The Year My Parents Went on Vacation definitely achieves with top scores.
the year my parents vacation

DVD
The DVD has a good selection of bonus material, like cast and crew interviews, a behind the scenes featurette, extended scenes and bloopers. The interviews aren't quite as interesting as I would like, pretty much just summing up the movie from each character's point of view. I mostly enjoyed the featurette which gives a nice idea of the production, from the auditions to the shooting. Of course it's not very long, so you only get so much. And then there are the bloopers that are always amusing and appreciated. All in all, the bonus material is enough to give a pleasant touch to the film.

The DVD is available in stores July 15.

CONCLUSION: 4/5

Trailer:

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THE INCREDIBLE HULK - REVIEW

June 13th 2008 23:22
Hulk review
This is a review of The Incredible Hulk, which I looked forward to since the success of Iron Man. It seems like Marvel has found the correct way to make these movies and I am hungry for more.

If you remember about 5 years ago Ang Lee made a movie about The Hulk, that became a total disappointment. For me the movie sucked for what it tried to be, but I still think it's one of the most original and technically advanced Marvel movie yet. However, when you go to watch Hulk, you don't care. All you need is lots of action and noise.

The Incredible Hulk is a character I consider to be the toughest to make a serious story about. I mean the tiniest misstep and everything can become quite ridiculous. A big green guy that can't speak in complete sentences and smash things up... could might as well be my 7 feet high clumsy cousin as far as I'm conserned (ok, he's not green but that's the only exception).

But what we get is far from ridiculous. It manages everything Ang Lee's version didn't and gives us exactly what we expected - action and noise. The effects are beautiful, the Hulk looks real, and you really sit through the whole movie with an open mouth from all the excitement. Entertaining is an understatement. When the movie ended I felt like only an hour or so had passed.
Hulk 2008

Edward Norton and Liv Tyler do great performances and the chemistry between them is very believable. To be honest, I'm actually more impressed with Tyler, she gave her character a unique and likeable personality. Tim Roth is also great, but his character was a bit too plain for an actor of Roth's caliber. Then again, the villain always is a monotone and plain type.

Louis Leterrier, the director, has taken a big step from movies like The Transporter and showed that he can do more than superficial watch-and-forget action flicks.

In comparison with Iron Man, well, I don't know how to compare them in this review because they were executed somewhat differently and while I enjoyed Iron Man a tiny bit more, plenty of my friends chose The Incredible Hulk as the better one. And I can understand them as well. If you have the ability, go and watch both of them to decide by yourself. But make sure to make it on the big screen, cause they're certainly worth it.

8.5/10

Watch a TV spot of The Incredible Hulk.
See pictures of smashed cars on the set of The Incredible Hulk.

Watch Tony Stark's (Iron Man) cameo in The Incredible Hulk.
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Indiana Jones 4 review
Better late than never, finally here's a review for those of you that haven't already seen Indiana Jones, followed by the waay too long title, The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Therefore we'll simply call it Crystal Skull from now on.

Of course it had a lot to live up to considering the first three films are on the top of modern history. Make the "brand" justice and the fans proud. I'm not a fan, but still appreciate Indiana Jones for being a unique character with adventures full of action and humor. This, Crystal Skull achieved as well


[ Click here to read more ]
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JUMPER - MINI REVIEW

May 28th 2008 20:11
Jumper review
Since there are a lot of movies and we're a small team of writers, I thought of introducing something I call "Mini Review". I know, it took a lot of imagination to come up with a title like that. I'm sure you understand the point of it, to keep it short and simple. This way, we'll be able to have more reviews and guidance to what movies are excellent, worth seeing, or awesomely bad.

This is a mini review of Jumper, the action/adventure movie a lot of people saw the trailer of and thought "wow, this looks really cool!" Of course I had some female friends just saying "I don't care what it is, Hayden Christensen is really hot


[ Click here to read more ]
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RAMBO (2008) - REVIEW

May 18th 2008 19:05
rambo review
Soon to be released in DVD, I guess it's time to have a review of this new movie with a cult character - John Rambo.

PLOT
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GIFF 2008 - HERZOG, SUICIDE AND KID ART

January 27th 2008 23:16
As you know I attend the Gothenburg Film Festival 2008, and so far it's been quite entertaining.

The last couple of days, Saturday and Sunday, I saw two documentaries and a very low budget movie from Chile. The idea with festivals is to catch movies that you regularly never would've had the chance to see, at least on the big screen


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GÖTEBORG INTERNATIONAL FILMFESTIVAL

January 25th 2008 20:21
gothenburg filmfestival, films
I'm currently in Sweden, at the International Filmfestival of Göteborg (aka Gothenburg), which took off today. I've managed to see one movie, before the big opening party.

The movie is Lars and the Real Girl, with Ryan Gosling amongst others. Its screenplay is also Academy Award nominated for best screenplay, so I had ok expectations. The concept was interesting, about a guy who falls in love with a doll because of social issues... At least there's a fair share of originality


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THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM - REVIEW

September 9th 2007 11:32
bourne ultimatum
Cheers guys, it's been slow lately, but a review should get things in speed again. I'm sure many have either seen or already read few reviews of The Bourne Ultimatum elsewhere, but for those who haven't or who got some kind of a review-fetish, here it is.

PLOT
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TRANSFORMERS - REVIEW

July 20th 2007 13:52
Transformers Review

I'm actually late with this review, considering I saw Transformers pretty early - 3rd July. But like they say, better late than never.

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