This may be my favorite movie of the year so far. This is a great British film about a couple of assassins that takes place in Bruges, Belgium.

The strong point of this movie is the writing. The dialogs between Ray (Colin Farrel) and Ken (Brendan Gleeson) are great, they are vulgar but always funny. Ray in particular is a very cynical man who likes to make offensive jokes. The dialog reminded me of the early Guy Ritchie movies.

The plot itself is simple, but there is a lot of emotions surrounding Ray’s character. Ken is almost like a father figure to Ray, so he tries to help him as much as he can. They have a few great serious conversations about their line of profession and the ethics surrounding it.

Ray also has some misadventures with a girl he meets, which bring to some very funny scenes. But everything comes crashing down when Harry calls. That was a great scene, a long funny telephone call between Harry and Ken, that ends with the real reason for the call, and everything gets serious.

When Harry shows up it gives this movie another boost, his presence is just great. He’s not only funny but scary at the same time. The conversation he has with Ken, leading up to the tower is just great. It might seem silly, but it totally made sense to me. These people are like criminals with principles.

I did have a problem with the many coincidences at the end, all the characters of the movie basically bump into each other in the span of 1 hour. It just didn’t make sense, even considering that Bruges is small. However the emotions around that ending were so powerful that it felt like a minor problem to me.

This is really a great film, highly recommended.

Rating: 4.5 Stars

If you’ve read my reviews for a while, you know that Ang Lee is a personal favorite of mine. Not only are his movies great and diverse, he’s also from Taiwan.

That being said, I was a little less enthusiastic about watching this movie after reading so many critics not liking this. The running time was also a bit of a problem. But I finally caught up with it and I couldn’t be happier.

This is a spy story charged with a lot of emotions. It’s not the James Bond type of spy story. All the background needed for this story is that it takes place in Shanghai and Hong Kong during the Japanese occupation.

A group of theater actors try to incite nationalism with their play, but they decide to do even more when they locate a traitor for working for the Japanese, Mr Yee (Tony Leung). I thought the scene depicting their play really worked to incite nationalism.

When Wong Chia Chi (Tang Wei) infiltrates the Yee’s I really liked the tension of trying to kill the traitor vs the fear of being discovered. That tension certainly reaches a high when the first murder occurs. It was a gruesome scene and it worked perfectly.

I was also surprised at the length Wong Chia Chi was willing to go for her “mission”. Her motivation is very complex. She didn’t seem that patriotic at the beginning, I felt she was just following the group. But once she started to get involved with the spying and Mr Yee, she felt compelled to continue. At least that’s how I interpret it.

What this film is famous for are the explicit sex scenes. The first one was basically a rape scene, though the woman was basically consenting. So she wasn’t trying to get out of it, but the man was very forceful. The following scenes were less violent, but still explicit. However, all these scenes were not gratuitous, they totally served a purpose, which was to explore the relationship between them. Their expressions in those scenes told so much about their relationship, there were a lot of emotions and not just of sexual nature. Those scenes really showed the acting talent of the leads.

I think the ending is based on that relationship, Wong Chia Chi makes a very big decision that affects everyone. I must say at first I was totally surprised by it, I just couldn’t understand why she did it. However my wife said she totally got that decision as a woman, and thinking about that relationship I can sort of see her point. I don’t totally understand it, but I trust my wife.

There is plenty to like in this film, I am so glad I watched it. Ang Lee can do no wrong in my book.

Rating: 4 Stars

This is the type of horror movie that I like. A moody horror with great characters, an interesting plot and no gore at all.

The plot is nothing original, it’s the typical ghost story. But what makes this great is the great performance of Belen Rueda as Laura, a desperate mother who lost her son Simon. She really grounds this story with her performance, I really felt for her loss.

The scene with the group of ghost experts was a bit of a cliche’ for me, nothing we haven’t seen before. That being said, the performance was good enough to make it work. The husband’s reaction as a skeptical is also cliche’, on the other hand if I were him I would probably be skeptical too. Though I would try to support my wife as much as possible.

The red-herring was provided by the old lady, who became the main suspect for Simon’s disappearance. When she turns up again I was shocked by what happened. That was a quick way to crush (no pun intended) our suspicions of her.

And then we get the finale. The final act was not only very well shot, it provided great tension (especially when she’s playing that game with the children) and it gave us great hope for Simon. I knew something was not right, but the  reveal was totally unexpected. And then we get the final scene between Laura and Simon, which was both endearing and heartbreaking. In that sense this ending reminded me of Pan’s Labyrinth.

This is really a great movie with some scares but great characterization and a good plot twist. But most of all a great ending. Check it out.

Rating: 4 Stars

This is a very powerful story about personal freedom, society and man’s rapport with nature. The story is adapted from a book about the real story of Chris McCandless.

The timeline jumps between Chris’s present journey and his past, starting from his graduation and the beginning of his travels. He travels all over the country and alternates between periods in the wild without much human contact, and periods in which he has relationships with random people and has jobs.

At times we also follow his family’s reaction, narrated by his sister. We only see glimpses of their life, not much dialog, just the sister narrating. We do have an understanding of what their family life was like, and though it may have been simplistic, it helped understanding Chris.

Chris meets some important people during his travels, many of them played by famous actors. Cathrerine Keener plays Jan, a sort of mother figure to Chris. Vince Vaughn plays Wayne, a mentor. Hal Holbrook as Ron was like a father to him. All these people affected his life, and he affected their lives. But in the end he continued on this journey.

I can symphathize very well with Chris’s desire to break out from society’s rules and roles (get an education, get a job, get married, get kids etc…), not that I don’t want to do those things, or that my parents are anything like his. But I can understand why he felt tied down, why he felt he couldn’t do whatever he wanted.

His parents obviously didn’t help with that, but I don’t think they were the only reason for his departure. I do think he could have contacted them somehow, just to let them know he was fine. Or at least his sister.

In a way I admire him, I am sure a lot of people (especially men) have thought about living a simple life in the wild and not being bothered by all little things in their every day life. The difference is that not a lot of people have the guts to do it, but Chris did it and he lived a full life. I am sure he’s found happiness in his travels.

I do think this movie captured his spirit and motivations, without spelling them out with his dialogs or narration. The only words he used were quotes from his favorite books. This movie also didn’t make him a hero, so it was also possible to see him as a stupid brat, if you were so inclined.

This is definitely a story worth telling, and I think writer/director Sean Penn did a good job at presenting it to us.

Rating: 4 Stars

This is a movie that a lot of critics praise as one of the best of the past year. I finally got to see and I can see why it was so beloved.

The story is a simple one, but it all comes down to the characters and the performances. Ellen Page as Juno is definitely the heart of the movie. She is a real complete character, not just some stereotype. She starts off as this quirky character who always knows what to say, very confident despite her age (she even says “I’m 16, I am not a kid” or something like that). However as we go on we learn that she is also vulnerable and still hasn’t figured it all out as she wants people to believe.

The other supporting characters are also well rounded ones, despite having little screen time. Juno’s parents are real down to earth people. I loved the scene where Juno tells her about her pregnancy. They were so calm and supportive it should have sounded fake, instead it felt natural.

The adoptive parents were even more interesting. At first we root for the husband, he seems more hip and seems to click with Juno. Whereas the wife seems too uptight and serious. By the end our perception totally changes, not because the characters change, but because we realize what’s important in life.

There are so many great scenes in this movie, I loved the scene where Juno confronts the father of her baby after she discovers he’s going to the prom with another girl. Michael Cera worked very well with Ellen Page.

However this is also a comedy, and there are plenty of laughs in this movie. Mostly they come from Juno’s witty dialog, she really is a funny girl. One scene that pops in my mind is when he goes to the abortion clinic and is stopped by his schoolmate.

There is a lot of heart in this movie, the characters feel real and there is also plenty of laughs. What more can we want from a movie?

Rating: 4 Stars

4 luni, 3 saptamani si 2 zile: Drama about a woman who assists her friend to arrange an illegal abortion in 1980’s Romania.

If you are looking for an entertaining movie to relax your mind skip this movie. This is a haunting movie, one that will remain with you for the rest of your life, one that I think enriched my own experience.

It starts out as a very mundane story about 2 young girls, who share an apartment in Romania. Their day stars and we follow their everyday routine. The first 20-30 minutes are almost boring to watch, they’re just “normal”. Something is hinted at, but we don’t know what it is.

Once we do find out what they’re doing, I was glued to the screen and couldn’t stop being tense and emotional. One of the girls is attempting an illegal abortion, and her roommate is helping her.

The rest of the movie chronicles the events that occur that day, until late at night. Again this is not something that I’d want to watch again any time soon, it’s a really difficult subject, but I think it is very well done.

The movie is filmed in a hyper-realistic style, with long takes where we’re just following a character walking through the streets. Also there is no soundtrack at all, all the sounds are from the street or the environment around.

It’s amazing what Otilia does for her roommate/friend, but I think she does it because she knows she could be in the same situation, and Gabita would do the same for her.

I can’t say I recommend this to anyone, but I do think this is a movie well worth watching that will remain with you.

J.S.A.: Joint Security Area (2000): In the DMZ separating North and South Korea, two North Korean soldiers have been killed, supposedly by one South Korean soldier.After watching the Vengeance Trilogy by Park I have been a fan of him. So I have now tracked down his earlier movie JSA. This is a great story about the two Koreas, that takes an unexpected turn.

At first this film presents itself as a mystery, complete with an investigator, his assistant, the suspects and even their different versions of the story, ala Rashomon.

This was interesting to me, but certainly not groundbreaking. However around halfway through the truth about these characters relationship is revealed, and the story changes from a mystery to a character drama.

The friendship struck between these 4 characters feels real, and even though I am not aware of the detail political situation in Korea, it is not necessary to understand these people.

This is a drama, but as all Park movies there is plenty of comedy as well. They are not laugh out loud jokes, but they are amusing/funny scenes of interaction between the leads. They all help making the characters real.

Towards the end the real events are finally revealed, and they are devastating because we are now attached to these characters and we like them. Not to mention the final scene, also heartbreaking.

Another great movie by Park, can’t wait to see what else he has in store for us.

Rating: 4 Stars

No Country for Old Men (2007): Violence and mayhem ensue after a hunter stumbles upon some dead bodies, a stash of heroin and more than $2 million in cash near the Rio Grande.My expectations for this movie were very high, and they were met. This is a very simple story, the plot is not at all complicated and there are not many dialogs. But what’s great about it are the visuals, the tension and the great acting.

The movie opens with Javier Bardem as Chigurh. Everybody’s singing praises for him and with reason. This is a very scary performance, everything about him gives me the creeps. His haircut, his voice, the dialog, his expression, his movements, his weapons. I love the two weapons he uses, and the way his mind works is just scary.

But he is only half of the story, the other half is Josh Brolin. He also gives a great performance, making us root for him in trying to escape Chigurh. He gives the impression of being bright, but also out of his league.

The technical side of this film is perfect. I loved the scene in the dark, where it is possible to see in the distance the second car and people around it. Then the chase scene is just beautifully shot, culminating with the swimming dog.

There are so many other scenes that grab you by the throat and never let go until the end. Most of them involve Chigurh. Him chasing Moss through the streets. The sheriff entering the hotel room at the end, etc…

There are also many supporting characters that give great performances themselves. Tommy Lee Jones, Woody Harrelson, Kelly McDonald…

This is just an enjoyable movie, each scene can be appreciated by themselves. The plot is simple, so repeated viewing will not be ruined by knowing the plot at all. This is a film that needs to be experienced.

Rating: 4 Stars

It’s a Wonderful Life (1946): An angel helps a compassionate but despairingly frustrated businessman by showing what life would had been like if he never existed.I’ve had this movie for a long time, but I wanted to wait for the right moment to watch it. And this was it. I knew this was one of the best liked movies of all time, but I had no idea I would love it just as much as everybody else.

I’ve already said that I like life stories, and this was a little bit of that, depicting the life of George Bailey from a kid to a grown family man. Just like Clarence I got to know George, what he did for his family and friends, the way he sacrificed his dreams for them.

I thought James Stewart did a great job at depicting a man full of enthusiasm for life, but also responsible and completely unselfish. By the end he was totally hopeless and angry. So Stewart got to play a wide range of emotions.

However behind every great man there is a great woman, and Donna Reed as Mary did a good job. It is Mary that saved George numerous times, she stood by him through all the difficult times, she also sacrificed her comfort for George, because she loves him and she knows what a great man he is.

After Clarence appears and changes the world I felt so bad for George, but at the same time I knew that he would learn from this and go back to being himself.

I knew that things would resolve at the end, although I didn’t know exactly how. And usually I don’t like knowing the end, but in this case there was no other way this could have ended. Yes it’s a happy ending, it’s very Hollywood, but it’s also right.

This really is a great movie that lifted my spirits for the end of the year. I am glad I watched this during this time.

Rating: 4 Stars

Gone Baby Gone (2007): Based on the Dennis Lehane novel about two Boston area detectives investigating a little girl’s kidnapping, which ultimately turns into a crisis both professionally and personally.This is the directorial debut by Ben Affleck, who does not appear in this film at all. Instead his brother Casey is the lead, and both brothers do a very good job.

The structure of this story is a little bit unusual to me. It first builds the case Patrick is hired for, it presents all the characters involved and it gives us an ending halfway through. That’s already a surprise.

Once that’s done, we get an action scene that brings us a moral question, and I think this is the main point of the film. What is the right thing to do? This question comes back again towards the end, when Patrick finally finds out the truth.

This was a reveal much like any other crime/detective story we’ve seen, but I thought the plot was very well thought out and the flashback scenes were filmed very well so that once we learn the truth it made sense.

I really loved the way the moral question was answered, Patrick knew the consequences of his decision and we were also told very clearly. But this being a Hollywood movie I was afraid we’d get some form of hope at the end. Instead we get what we’re supposed to get. Ben Affleck did not bail at the end, he went all the way through.

All the performances were excellent, Morgan Freeman, Ed Harris, even Michelle Monaghan. Casey Affleck was the star though, even though sometimes he mumbles and I can hardly make out what he’s saying.

This is definitely a movie people should check out without preconceptions. Ben Affleck surprised me and I can’t wait for his next project.

Rating: 4 Stars