Mystery Manor Adventure Forum

I'm way behind again. First three, more on its way.

A Good Year
Max Skinner is a succesful banker and he earns loads of money on the stockmarket. But then he finds out that his uncle Henry died. He left his mansion and the winegardens to him. He leaves to France with the intention of selling it as fast as possible for as much money as possible. But old memories, the gorgeous France and two beautiful women, make him overthink his decision.

Russell Crowe and Ridley Scott are not the first names that comes to mind when thinking about a romantic comedy. Still Crowe took the lead and Scott was the director. And this was probably the reason why I didn't really got into the movie.

First, big compliments to how gorgeous the movie looks. On one side, we have the chill, cold, blue London which looks soulless and hasty. On the other hand we have the wonderful France. It looks fantastic on it's own with the nice mansion, great nature with a fantastic way to light it. But they used a colorfilter here as well to make it very warm, relaxed and really give it a feel good feeling. This is also noticeable in the flashbacks with Albert Finney, unfortunately, there aren't many of them.

The story is not that special and very predictable. But that's not a problem. It is a romantic comedy. But they could have done more. There were different storylines that got started and closed that could have a lot more potential. The legendary wine for example. But it hardly got any attention. The lovestory isn't very credible either. This is mostly the blame of Crowe. He is not believable. I've got a feeling that romantic comedies aren't really his genre. When he tries to be funny, it is forced and not believable.

The script isn't helping either. It makes him look like someone who only gives a crap about himself. He goes to France, but not because of his uncle's death, but because he could get a lot of money for the mansion. Sure that's logical, but it takes such a long time till he cares for something else. Actually only after he returns to London. There it shows that he hasn't changed a bit. But later he realise that. That he don't fit in the blue, cold, hasty England, but he belongs in hte warm, relaxed France. This realisation is just to sudden and not credible, and that didn't help the movie.

The acting is gooed. Crowe may not convince in funny intended scene's, but in the serious parts he is a lot better. The rest of the cast is great. There are two gorgeous women that looks very nice, but can act very good too. The flashbacks are stolen by Albert Finney and the little Freddie Highmore knows to convince me again.

So I enjoyed this movie, especially the nice images and the good acting. Too bad that storywise they missed some changes and thanks to Crowe and a for him unsympathetic script, the lovestory never really gets started.

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The Italian Job
Charlie Crocker has just been released from jail. He finds out that a friend of his, was planning on stealing a lot of money in Italië, right under the nose of the maffia. But he didn't survived it. Charlie decides to finish his plan succesfully. He only needs a team, a bus and three Mini Coopers. But is that enough?

Last year I saw the remake which was fantastic. Of course I was curious and wanted to see the original with Caine from 1969. And unfortunately, it dissappoint a bit.

The story is different then the remake. It really is all about the heist. They take the time to build up the story and prepare the heist. There are some great scenes in it, where they practice and test certain aspects of the heist. With of course the fantastic oneliner: "You were only supposed to blow the bloody doors off!" Great line. Then they go to Italië to preform the heist.

This last part is certainly not bad and the pursuit in the mini's is a lot of fun. Only the moment of the heist was pretty uncredible and silly. This could have easily gone wrong in the the way they did. That could have been better. What is bad too, is that they decide to throw some slapstick in the mix. For example, there is a completly useless scene on the roof of an airport. Why this scene is in the movie is a mystery to me. And then they deleted a slapstick scene just because it wouldn't fit the movie. Not very logical. Besides that, the team are a bunch of morons which also didn't help the credibility of the heist. And the financial mastermind is a dumb character too. Same for the professor. No idea what they do in the movie. Thankfully Charlie Crocker is credible, otherwise the heist was doomed to fail.

The ending is ok, a real cliffhanger. Only there wasn't a sequel and you are left with a unsatisfying feeling. Why the financial mastermind takes credit for it is stupid too. Personally I would have done the ending different. The storyline with the maffia isn't closed either. But they would have continued that in the sequel.

The acting is not that great either. Thankfully Caine steals the show als Charlie Crocker. Fantastic character that always stays cool. But what people like Noel Coward and especially Benny Hill do in this movie, is a mystery for me. They are not only unbelieveable characters, they bring down the credibility of the story. The rest of the team too.

The movie looks great, especially the shots in the mountains. Gorgeous. The chase scenes are of course less spectaculair then the remake, but I enjoyed the chasing in the mall, the tunnels and on the roofs a lot. The songs are good. The Self Preservation Society is a nice song, but after a few times it gets annoying.

So if though it can't reach the same level as the remake, I enjoyed it. But the not so credible characters bring down the story and the credibility of the heist.

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Valentine
It's 2001 and Valentine's Day is approaching. Everyone is looking for it. Especially a group of rfiend that were in the same class in 1988. But before this day filled with love comes, one of the girls is killed in a horrible way. They also receive sick presents and Valentine's cards. The police are left without a clue. Who is behind all this? A jealous ex? Or someone from the past with revenge on his mind?

A standard slasher that never gets really bloody or shows a lot of gore. The story is predictable and you know who remains in the end. I watched the movie a few years ago but I wasn't sure about who the real killer was. And now, I'm still unsure. Some things don't make sense or are correct. Yes, it creates confusion, but you don't do that with giant plotholes. I don't understand what some of the characters do in the movie and why some got killed. There are also some confrontations between characters that happen really sudden, come out of nowhere and don't make any sense. What I did like (and I didn't notice it until some online said it) is that the murders take place like the characters said it in the beginning. If someone didn't said it, I wouldn't have noticed it. But a very nice detail. Same with the Valentine's gits. Very nice.

The acting is not special either. The victims are only used for as meat for the killing machine and you don't care for them because they aren't really sympathetic. They are also stupid and do dumb things. Being half naked and call things like "Hello? Is someone there?", walk in dark rooms and investigate every single creepy sound. All cliches are used. Only David Boreanaz and Katherine Heigl (who haven't read the complete script) are good. Denise Richards is very nice to look at. Especially in her last scene. The rest of the characters didn't do anything for me.

So this is a clichematic slasher with out anything special and without interesting or sympathic characters. The Valentine's Day theme is nice, but they do nothing with it and there isn't very bloody or gory either.

Push

A cross between "Heroes" and "Jumper" this low budget action flick stars Chris Evans and Dakota Fanning.

There are people in the world with powers - "Movers" can move things with their mind, "Watchers" can tell the future, "Sniffers" can track people and "Pushers" can alter peoples minds and make them do things.

Most of them are hiding from "Division" the evil gov agency who are trying to track down and experiment on them.

Dakota Fanning is a 13 year old Watcher who enlists Chris Evans "mover" to find an escaped girl and recover a package that could save or kill all the mutants.

The film was pretty decent for a low budget effect although it suffers too much from rough hand camera style footage and excess shakycam during the fight scenes.

The film sags drastically in the middle as they end up just wandering aimlessly through a very pretty Hong Kong.

Strangely there is also a complete lack of an ending. It's like it was a 2 part movie as it leaves far too many loose ends unfinished at the end for my liking with no guarentee of a sequel.

Reasonably enjoyable hokum.

6/10
__________________
Che Part 2

October 1965: Fidel Castro (Bichir) reads a letter from Che Guevara (Del Toro) in which he resigns from the Cuban government. Two years later, Guevara tries to bring about revolution in Bolivia. Things do not go well.

I'm glad I watched this in 2 parts as watching the whole 5 hours would have been a slog.

Not that it isn't a decent film, because it's a great film, but the 2nd part is a darker film than the first making it draining to watch.

Conveniently jumping over all his rumored crimes in Cuba it jumps forward in time to Bolivia and the failed revolution. Che hides out in the jungles as the locals refuses to side with him, and US trained soldiers pick them off.

This film is like a mirror image of the first as we witness him become more isolated and follow him to the end as the camera closes in on Che and then we become his eyes.

Benicio Del Toro is superb throughout the movie and it's a travesty he wasn't nominated for an Oscar.

8/10

Push sounds interesting. I always like super hero movies or movies about people with special powers. Too bad about the negative points in the movie.

Bolt
Bolt is a dog with superpowers. He uses this powers together with his boss Penny, to fight the evil Man with the Green Eye and his accomplice.But Bolt is the only one who doesn't know that he is the star of his own television serie. When Bolt escape the set to rescue his "kidnapped" boss, he discovered that he doesn't have any powers at all.

I went to this movie with a total blank mind. I only know that it was about a dog, a cat and a hamster in a ball. That was all I knew. Nothing more, not even about the plot. I didn't even saw the trailer. So I sat down, the lights went off, the trailers were terrible and the movie started. And wow, I was very pleasantly surprised. What a fantastic movie. I was sucked in it from the very beginning to the very end.

It begins with a very sweet scene with a young Bolt in the petstore. It was so cute. Then came a incredible awesome scene from the serie (which I didn't knew about). This was edited so fast I almost thought I was in the wrong cinema and this was only a trailer of Bolt. It was very spectaculair and the powers of Bolt were brilliant. Then they show that it was all fake and only Bolt didn't knew it. Bolt thought it was real. I didn't expect that, and that only made it more fun. When he escaped from his trailer on the set and try to make it in the real world, he notice that he don't have any powers. What follows are some extremely funny scenes and I laughed my ass off. Especially when extra characters are added. Like the Italian pigeons for example, pussy Mittens and the hamster Rhyno. Especially the last one is hilarious. They all have their own personality and that makes it a lot of fun.

But they still know how to bring emotion in the characters. Some scenes were very emotional and really got to me. Very well done because it shows that you care for the characters. The ending is of course predictable, but that couldn't have been any different.

The movie looks amazing. The animals are fantastic, the people looks good, but realistic, but that's a choice they made. The surroundings are brilliant there is a lot of variation. The voices are great too. A lot of familiar names and all believeable and convincing, without taking away from the characters. Open Season can learn a lot about this.

I can go on for hours. I can't come up with anything negative about this movie. It was fantastic and I enjoyed it a lot. Go watch this one.

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Finding Nemo
When Marlins son Nemo goes to his first day of school, he gets abducted by a diver. Marlin does everthinh to get him back. Together with Dory, the experience exciting adventures to save Nemo.

I've watched this movie before and he still is great. But I still can't believe that the beginning is pretty shocking. Not a good beginning for a fun happy family movie, but it is an excellent build up for the rest of the story and the movie.

It begins really sweet and easy going with Nemo's first day at school. But it won't take long when we will be in a big adventure filled with colorful and fantastic characters. It's all very funny and I especially laughed a lot about Dory. But there are many funny scenes and situations where Marlin and Dory get themselves in too and meet so many great characters. From the sharks, the turtles, the pelican Nigel and the fish in the aquarium of the dentist. One by one they are great, with an own personality and very funny.

The movie still looks amazing. Fantastic characters and the underwater world is breathtaking. It all looks gorgeous.

The voices are excellent too. Open Season can learn again because the voices fit the characters great and really adds to them. At one point I even didn't feel like I was watchin fish. Very well done. On a side note, Alexander Gould is excellent in the movie as Nemo, but awfully annoying in one of the extra's on the dvd. Thankfully it's all about the movie.

It doesn't matter how many times I've seen this movie. It remains a wonderful and funny animation movie that really makes me laught and I can enjoy over and over again.

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Knick-Knack
A snowman in a snowglobe really wants to be together with the other souvenirs. But his glass prison keeps him from his goal.

This is a very fun short from Pixar full with humour. The snowdoll does everything in his power to break out, and this brings a lot of funny and creative ideas and scenes. The movie is from 1989, but the animation is very good and the song that is used fits perfectly.

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Exploring The Reefs
Jean-Michel Cousteau tries to make a new documentairy about the coral reefs. But he didn't counted on Nemo, Marlin and Dory, the cast of Finding Nemo.

Very fun extra on the double dvd of Finding Nemo. It is basically a shor documentairy from Jean-Michel Cousteau in which he tells us more about the coral reefs. But he constantly gets interupted by Dory and later on also by Nemo and Marlin. So much that at one point he gets crazy. Very funny, with nice jokes an it looks great. Not only the characters, but also the real movie footage from the reefs.

But besides that, it pretty educational too. Learned a few interesting facts combines with humor and nice images. What I didn't like that much was the moralistic tone after the break. It then tells us that we destroy the reefs without giving a solution. Maybe that isn't really the purpose of the documentairy, but it doesn't fit the light anf funny character they build up before. Thankfully the continue with the best part of the reef. The reproduction. Looked very special.

In all this is a very fun extra and well worth the watch.

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Flightplan
The husband of airplane engineer Kyle Pratt has died in Berlin. Together with her daughter, she flies back to New York for the funeral. During the long flight and all the traumatic events, she falls asleep. When she wakes up, her daughter is gone. But there is no sign of her and nobody had seen her on board of the plane.

This started as a very good and captivating movie. It was all very exciting, well worked out and I hoped for a psychologic movie where the question was what is real and if Kyle Pratt can think straight after the tragic events. And in the first part, it went in the right direction. I really enjoyed it and was curious about what exactly was going on. A lot of interesting storylines are started and it was all very interesting.

But then it goes wrong. There is a twist that is not very believeable and farfetched. It was completely unneccasary and instead of a great psychological thriller it became a simple, standard action movie. It was fun and exciting, but very predictable and you saw the ending from miles away after the twist. But it was such a big let down after the very promising first part of the movie.

The acting was pretty good. Jodie Foster was sometimes very irritating as a hysterical mom. On the other hand, I wouldn't know how I would react in her postition. But she crosses the annoyance line a couple of times. Especially since you can't talk to her at all. The staff of the plane does very much for her. Even more then I would have done for her. But she isn't thankful for it. Ze decides to blame anyone without evidence. Ridiculous. I hated the ending of her sort of demanding an apology but not giving one. Peter Sarsgaard is ok, but not credible as an air marshall. Sean Bean is excellent as the captain of the plane.

The plane itself looks great and the action and the spectacle is shot very nicely. But that can't conceal that the very promising story ends weak and pretty standard. Too bad, because the film certainly had potential.

I thought about the same about Flightplan. However, I thought the design of the flight attendants' station was unbelievable - it was friggin' huge! Even if the airplane is really big, it's just a waste of space. Other than that - agreed. When the passangers clapped when the woman was finally stopped I took rtheir side. Of course she had the right to be angry, but sabotaging the airplane? Not nice.

Last night I saw Shoot 'Em Up. Why aren't video game movies more like this? The movie doesn't take itself seriously and has some awesome and hillarious action sequences. Our comments while watching ranged from 'this so cool' to 'this is so ridiculous', which sums it up nicely.
Only bit I thought was done badly is the sky-diving bit. It just looked so fake. A cool idea, but ruined by how computer generated the sky looked.
Other than that, great film.

Yeah, that was ridiculous. Same for blaming the Arab even after they have shown evidence. And then in the end of the movie not even apoligizing for that.

Shoot 'Em Up sounds great too. Heard a lot of good things about this movie.

It's great to experience a film (or a book or a game) without any expectations, but I rarely manage it. "Bolt" was well-made, but not a classic film in the way "Toy Story" was for me.

Movies that take themselves lightly can be a lot more fun than the serious ones. I'll probably see both "Watchmen" and "Dragonball Evolution" when they come out - think I'll enjoy the second one more!

I don't know about Dragonball Evolution. The television serie was awesome. But what I've seen so far of the movie didn't impress me at all.

I expect "Dragonball Evolution" to be a silly movie, but now and then silly movies amuse me. Thanks for keeping us posted on your impressive viewing record Sneaker!

Gran Torino

A movie in which Clint Eastwood stars as well as directs.

Here he plays an old racist grouchy bastard, a vetren of the Korean war, who recently lost his wife. He rails at the whole world, his family and especially the new Asian neigbours. The neighbourhood that he grew up in is now predominatly an imigrant area, ruled by gangs.

After an unintentional act of heroism he starts to grow an uneasy friendship with his new neighbours especially the 2 kids. He takes the young boy under his wing, teaches him about fixing things, how to talk to other men (With lots of racist comments of course) and gets him a job in construction.

Unfortunatly the gangs keep getting involved and it's up to old Clint to come to the rescue. He growls through this film in fantastic form and the movie is held together by the acting.

I loved it and it would be a perfect swansong as Eastwood the actor, and further proof that he is a great director.

9/10

Sita Sings the Blues

An indipendant animated musical. It available for free due to copyright issues: http://www.thirteen.org/sites/reel13/blog/watch-sita-sings-the-blues-online/347/.
From the website:
Sita is a goddess separated from her beloved Lord and husband Rama. Nina is an animator whose husband moves to India, then dumps her by e-mail. Three hilarious shadow puppets narrate both ancient tragedy and modern comedy in this beautifully animated interpretation of the Indian epic Ramayana. Set to the 1920’s jazz vocals of Annette Hanshaw, Sita Sings the Blues earns its tagline as “The Greatest Break-Up Story Ever Told.”

It was nice... and weird. You need to have patience because, true to the musical form, this movie is slow. The songs are heard in full, which can be a little tiring, especially if you don't have much patience for old tunes.
I liked the shadow puppets. They're not 'hillarious', but their attempts at telling the myth come out as very honest and are fun to listen to (their Indian accents help too).

I didn't much like how the modern story is connected with the myth. The scenes of modern times are few and far between and are not similar enough to the myth to justify their presence. They are apparently the director's actual story, but it would've worked better if they were more prominent.

Punisher :War Zone

3rd time lucky for Punisher?

I'm in a minority that I actually like the Thomas Jane version that came out in 2004.

This one though was dreadful. Ray Stevenson plays the armed vigilante who's family is murdered and he goes on a one man war against the mob.

This is so gruesomly violent as to be hilariously funny. Heads, legs and arms are seen exploding with showers of blood as he guns his way through an army of cannon fodder enemy.

Dumb and stupid with little going for it.

4/10

Few movies behind again. Look very forward to Gran Torino BTW. Only hear praises for this movie.

The Forgotten
A year after the death of her nine year old son, strange things are happening in the life of Telly Paretta. Pictures and videos of their son disappear and nobody remembers her ever having a son. Is Telly going crazy?

After the very disappointing Flightplan, I wanted to see this movie again. The story of Flightplan reminded me a lot to The Forgotten, but it has been a while since a last saw it.

And he was very good. It started very strong als a psychological thriller. I was constantly asking myself what was really going on. It was very well done even though it went a bit too fast. They should have added more scenes to add mystery to the story and make the transistion more smooth. But it was still very interesting, exciting and with a lot of tension.

Too bad that the movie derails half way. It goes from a exciting psychological thriller to a science fiction movie. It didn't fit the first part of the movie and wished if it stayed realistic. But thankfully is worked out good. Some very good scare moments, well build up tension, a creepy atmosphere and the last scene in the hangar is fantastic. Especially thanks to the next point.

The acting. This is very good. Where Jodie Foster in Flightplan sometimes was over the top and annoying and because of that lost sympathie and credibility. In The Forgotten however, Julianne Moore is very strong and credible. A fantastic part. The last scene is brilliant with only Moore en Linus Roache as the fantastic bad guy. He was supernaturally good. Furthermore Gary Sinise and Dominic West are great and the rest of the cast is very good too.

The movie looks great too. Convincing special effects and the scene in the hangar is superb. But I was annoyed with the constant movement of the camera. I managed not the get sick, but it was annoying. In the fast, action packed scenes I didn't mind because it added to the chaos. But why in slow scenes with just a conversation. Very annoying.

But apart from that it is just a very good movie with great acting. Too bad of the shaky camera and the unnecessary science fiction twist at the end.

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The One
Gabe Law lives in a universe where he is a cop. But during the transfer of a prisoner, something goes horribly wrong. Someone is attacking him and his colleagues. From that point on, this person becomes his biggest enemy. A person who wants to kill him. This person is... himself. An evil version of himself from another universe that does everyhing it takes to be the only one in every universe.

The story could be interesting, but there isn't much done with it. It could have gone a lot deeper and of course it is very predictable (the clothes of Jet Li). But the story is not the important things in the movie. It is just a simple thing to tie together the action and the fights.

And those are awesome. The Jet Li's are great and the fight between the two Jet Li's is fantastic. There are some awesome things (especially the slow motion bits are brilliant) en everything looks great and believeable. It is accompanied with nice, high paced music.

Acting is good. Statham and Lindo are a great duo and steal the show. Statham is always cool to watch and it is a pity that he and Lindo doesn't have more scenes. Jet Li is actually only good in the action scene's. But as soon as he opens his movie, he disappoints. His English is not very strong. He is the coolest and at his best when he is the silent bad guy. In the romantic and comical scenes he isn't very good. It is fun to see a lot of familiar faces in small roles.

So even though the story isn't very deep and Jet Li is weak for the most time, the movie was enjoyable. Especially thanks to the action scenes and the fights (which is what it's all about). Still, they could have done alot more.

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Survival Island
Far away from the Antarctic Ocean there is an island called South Georgia. For almost the entire year, it is too cold for anything to live on this island. But when summer comes, thousands of animals and birds come to the island to reproduce and take care for their kids.

A very impressive and beautiful documentary. It is bizar to see so many animals in one place. It looks fantastic. I watched this movie on a enormous screen called The Omniversum. Because of the immense size of the screen makes it that more impressive. In some scenes you literally gets sucked in the movie. Especially in the openingsscene. It felt like I was lifted from my chair and flew with the camera. Very very cool.

But even without the enormous screen of the Omniversum, this is a excellent documentary. It is fantastic to see how all the animales live with each other even though there numbers are immense. And the stay organised. It is a mystery to me how to managed to film everything so fantastic, clear and so up close. Very well done. But this movie also shows a horrible side of nature. From animals who didn't survived the long trip and get eaten by birds (which is some really bloody), or a bird who breaks open the egg and eat it's contents under the eyes of the mother. Or how to males are fighting and don't pay notice to anything around them. In the process crushing a little baby. There is also some talk about the humans. But thankfully it never gets moralistic. It also shows that people trie to help and check everything. There is a brilliant scene in which a human is trying to measure and weight an egg. Great scene and the reaction of the mother when he almost drop the egg is fantastic. But it is also interesting to see how the mother accept the humans and don't disturb their examination (except when he almost dropped the egg).

The voice who tells everything was unfortunately Dutch. I prefer the original English voice (in this case of David Attenborough). You could listen to this it with a headset. But it was so extremely loud and mono that I decided to stick with the Dutch voice. But too much to complain though, Dutch voice was pretty good.

So in short. A wonderful and impressive documentary in which all the animals get enough attention. I really advise it to watch it on the huge screen of the Omniversum (or IMAX). It really adds something special.

Lost in Translation
Bob and Charlotte are two Americans that stay in Tokyo. Bob is an actor that is there to shoot a commercial, while Charlotte is accompanying her husband for his work as a photographer. But he is gone so much and she doesn't see much of hum. Both are bored and lonely in a incomprehensible city. When neither of them can sleep, they meet in the bar of the hotel. There is where a special bond is forming between the two.

To celebrate the number 7 position of my number 1 in the What I Watch Top 100, I decided to watch Lost in Translation again. And I enjoyed it immensly again.

What is this a fantastic movie. It is all about the two main characters. First there is Bill Murray. He is extremely funny without going over-the-top (like in some of his other movies). I don't mind an over-the-top Murray, but this time he brings the humor very subtle and that really adds an extra dimension to his character. He gets in hilarious situations thanks to the language barrier. For example while they shoot the commercial or in the hospital where he tries to have a conversation with an old man, while two women on the background are laughing about it. Scarlett Johansson also gets in funny and weird situations. For example in the arcade hall, the hospital or during her discovery of Tokyo. She plays her character innocent and very pure. Fantastic to watch. This also counts for the chemstry between the two. They life the movie to such a high level. Without these two actors, the movie would never have been as good as it is now.

There is one scene in the movie where the connection between the two is broken. This too is excellently done by the actors and it shows that without words, they can tell a exciting and captivating story.The first time this movie, I didn't like the scene. It just didn't fit the movie and I was upset with Bob. But after a rewatch, I felt that this was because as a viewer, you have the same special connection with the characters. Excellently done and it fit the movie perfect. This all leads to the ending. I won't talk about that. Wonderful, pure, emotional and a perfect way to close this movie.

The movie looks great too. You got nice images of the hectic Tokyo and the gorgeous hotel. But there are also many nice small scenes like Johansson crossing the pond in a park while taking the stone path. Or when she is sitting in her hotel room near her windows while overlooking Tokyo. It all looks fantastic. But Sofia Coppola still know to creates a excellent atmosphere which manages to really feel for the main characters. Familiar situations and feelings create a special connection with the characters. The pace of the movie is low though. This will scare some people because they may find it boring. But it's all but boring. It is very interesting and a perfect pace to dream away with.

So this is a masterpiece where everything makes sense. Why this movie didn't receive more Oscars is a mystery to me. Why Johansson didn't even get a nomination is a mystery too. A masterpiece I can enjoy over and over again.

Watchmen

Ok, this one has a huge heritage to live up to. Seen by many as the greatest Graphic Novel ever written, it has a huge following and is seen as unfilmable by the author. Would it be safe in the hands of the director of "300"

Could it live up to the hype.......of course it can't nobody could condense every idea from that novel into 3 hours, but who cares.

It bloody rocks.

It's an alternate 1985, tricky dicky is still in charge and the USA is on the brink of a nuclear disaster. Rorschach is one of the only "Superheroes" still plying his trade as Masks are outlawed. He starts off investigating the death of the "Comedian" a fellow hero from the glory days and uncovers a conspiracy that threatens the entire world.

Watching the film it is obvious that the director has a real love for the Graphic novel, there are iconic shots that mirror the comic panels very closely, from the initial comedian out the window to Rorschah's ever shifting mask, to the nite owls ship etc etc etc are all just like you remember from the novel. My main concern is that unless you have read the Graphic Novel you might be lost. Is it accessible to newbies...probably not.

It's certainly dialog heavy (it needs to be) and the horned in fight scenes are all thrilling with occasional slow mo (not overdone thank god), the sound track an eclectic range of 80's tunes to accompany the action.

Visually it is stunning, with some amazing SFX on Dr Manhatten.

It's an amazing attempt to film the unfilmable and a very enjoyable film to boot. Not your typical comic book movie.

Just don't expect it to be the Graphic Novel.

9/10

I'm curious about Watchmen. Never heard of the comic, but the trailer looked fantastic.