filmfestival rotterdam

no new posts for a while folks, im a volunteer at the filmfestival!

Around the bend

Around the bend (usa 2005)

My personal opinion is that Christopher Walken is great. To parafrase Neil Young: ‘I like the way he walks, I like the way he talkes, I like the way he wiggles, he wiggles when he walks.’ Plus the man sure can dance so he’s Great casting example nr 1. His father is played by Michael Caine. Great Casting example nr 2. Josh Lucas plays Walkens son.
Together they play three generations of fathers. Caine is the grandfather, an archeologist, who sends his asstranged son and grandson plus a great-grandson on a roadtrip to scatter his ashes. Walken abandoned his son years ago and there is a dark secret. Lucas tries to get the whole thing over as quickly as possible
It’s a strong script, well told and with good acting. There’s humour and emotion as well I would have liked to see more screentime for Caine, but he doenst need much time to make you believe in him. Lucas does a good job but its hard not seeing him as the average slick guy from American Psyco.

bilmflog review: The World's Fastest Indian

The World's Fastest Indian (usa 2005)
Anthony Hopkins can really, really be a great actor if he’s in the right mood. Remember Meet Joe Black or ChrisRockisfbi-pieceofcrap? That Hopkins laughing all the way to the bank. But Titus, the Human Stain or Burt Munro… the man at his best.

Loosely based on facts, this is the story of a new Zealander called burt munro and his love for his Indian motorbike. He wants to go to the Salt lakes in California to test how fast she can go. The motor doesn’t fit safety measures of any kind. Needless to say burt succeeds and meets a lot of nice and strange people on this way to SoCal. I enjoyed this endearing film, probably some men in my family had similar interest.

Just one thing: Deaf old men can be really annoying. That’s why I propose a mash-up with Pulp Fiction. Then the Dialogue would be more like this:

SamueL Jackson: eh?
Munro: Whats that love?
SLJ: Marcellus Wallace!
M: What? (looks puzzled). I’m from New Zealand you know. Yeeh, come to ride my Indian motorcycle that’s what.
SLJ: Do you think Marcellus Wallace is a bitch!?
M: To see how fast she can go! (waves arms enthusiastically)
SLJ: (raises gun)
M: Eh? What’s that then eh?
SLJ: SAY WHAT ONE MORE TIME MOTHERFUCKER! I DARE YOU!
M: what? (still dancing)
SLJ: I DOUBLEDARE YOU! SAY ‘WHAT’ ONE MORE TIME!
M: I’m from new Zealand you know. Yeeh.

Come to think of it, where’s Little John when you need him?

Bilmflog review: Batman Begins

Batman Begins (usa 2005)

Bruce Wayne is a frigging ninja. I knew it! That’s just great. He receives his friggingninja-training from (former Darkman, another comic character-) Liam Neeson. On succeeding his training he learnes that the Neesonninjas are planning to destroy Gotham city. Whoops!
Somehow Wayne returns to Gotham, his butler Alfred (a brilliant Michael Caine), Wayne Company, and a fridget Kathie AlienCruiser. Then he ‘becomes’ batman. I can tell you exactly how he did it. He ordered Alfred to make popcorn, and popped in a ‘Batman’ dvd in his Wayne Industries Bigscreen tv. Christian Bale as the dark avenger imitates Michael Keatons batman uncanny, including his ‘I’m Batman’ monologue. Who knew Keaton was a ninja?
Plusses: Great cast: Rutger Hauer, Morgan Freeman (not playing a cop for a change) and Gary Oldman. Minor points: Once you’ve seen jack Nickolson kill mom and pop Wayne, it’s kind of hard to believe someone else could have.

Bilmflog review: P.S. I love you

P.S. I love you (usa 2007)

Director:Richard LaGravenese Writers: Richard LaGravenese and Steven Rogers

My friend and co-bilmflogblogger Zeb warned me when I told him I was going to see this movie that it was going to be a corny tearjerker. I didn’t mind, because I was with my wife and the last movie we saw together was written about in this blogs first post. Go figure. I take her to Hugh Grant movies and in exchange I’m allowed to enjoy Die Hard or Wayne’s World.

Here’s the story: Hillary Swank and Gerard Butler are a young couple living in New York. (He showed his sixpack of a lot, so I kept hoping for some Persians coming though the door 'THIS... IS... SPARTA!')
Alas Butler gets a braintumor and dies, leaving letters for Swank helping her get on with her life. I’m the first to admit its sounds corny. Almost Kevin Costners Message in a bottle corny.
But here’s the good news: they don’t tell the story like that at all, but with humour and great dialogue instead of self-pity or endless crying. For instance; they could have shown Butler dying slowly and mumbling ‘I –cough- love you’ with his dying breath. Instead we fall in on his wake were music from The Pogues is played and when the bartender hears how Butler dies he replays “Nice!”

The Bartender is played by Harry Connick jr. I really enjoyed his role and my guess is you will to. He’s rude with a lot of dark humour. I didn’t think he’d be funny cause his acting on Will& Grace sure as hell isn’t.* I have to mention Kathy Bates too, she’s one great actress. (and Gina Gershon, you’ll always have a special place in my heart – in a Showgirls kind of way). The acting and the dialogue is really very lifelike, and the film has a few surprising turns.
Fellas, go see it with your special lady friend. If you’re lucky, she’ll respond to the scene where Swank sheds a few tears in bed like mine did: “oh… I love those drapes.” (She’s cute that way.)

ONE thing bothered me. Why cant there be Irish characters in a movie without including all Irish clichés? Butler as ‘Gerry Kennedy’ wears a lot of jewellery, and porkpie hats, drinks only Guinness, and listens to Irish bands only. They even pulled that guy who played an Irish psycho on OZ out of obscurity. My advice: next time you go overboard, for feck’s sake bring in Ardal O’Hanlon or Graham Norton from Graham Linehans Father Ted.


* He’s gay, she’s Jewish. That joke isn’t funny enough to last eight seasons.

bilmflog review: My blueberry nights

My blueberry nights

Director: Kar Wai WongWriters: Kar Wai Wong & Lawrence Block

Norah jones doesn’t make my sort of music. I like jazz, and all the Blue Note greats. Personally I feel jazz music should be wild and a little dangerous. Jones isn’t. Her music is not to interruptive, all sounds the same and gets a little boring. (Bytheway, people who call music “Jazzy” should be shot.)
So I wasn’t to wild about MBN being marketed all about norahjones debuting as an actor. And in the first ten minutes I was right, but it got better. In the start of the film Jones starts off whining to the coffeeshop-owner-aspiring-philosopher Jude Law–who-gets-about-a-hundred-customers-a-day-but-we-hardly-see-any about lost keys. After that she decides to roam the earth (within the American borders) in search of ‘her true self’.
No offence, but to me it all sounded like it was written with a solely female audience in mind. Why? 1) Jude Law 2) surrounded by cake 3) remains single and dreamy for about a year for 4) Norah Jones 5) a girl he met only a couple of times. 6) did I mention cake?
Anyways, Norahjones wanders off to the South and to Vegas working as a waitress. These parts of the movie were a lot better, a bit like short stories in it self, with reliable actors like David Strathairn. Natalie Portman as a gambler overacts a bit but its allright. Norahjones acts a bit low-key with appears quite natural. I still wont play Norahjones’s music, but wouldn’t mind seeing her act again.
Overall this movie could have had a little less needles slow-motion bits or close-ups on food (witch in this CSI day and age is just gross, until you realise its just food) and a lot more dialogue such as “lets get you out of these wet clothes”.

A few jokes could have really helped this film. The only thing in this movie that made me lauch were the names on the end credits such as Jacky Pang Yee Wah, Telly Wong and Suk Pin. (I’m sure they’re all beautiful individuals with great personalities, but they sound funny.)

dvd-review The Last King of Scotland

The Last King of Scotland dvd-review (usa, 2006)

Director: Kevin Macdonald
Writers: Peter Morgan and Jeremy Brock (screenplay)

Since this is my third dvd-review for this blog, let me start by saying piracy isn’t a crime. Overpricing movies and boring me with stupid anti-piracy ads is or should be.

That being said, The Last King of Scotland didn’t do much for me. I never was very interested in Uganda or its history. I only heard about Ida Amin because Tom Waits sang about him on a Chuck E. Weiss album. This movie could have gotten me interested in Amin because he was an interesting character, but it didn’t.
I did like the way of filming, witch looks like movies from the 70’s, but neither Forest Whitaker as Ida Amin or James McAvoy as his doctor convinced me to care about their characters, or what happened to them. McAvoy as Amins doctor is not a bad man, but naive and opportunistic. Whitaker can be charming, threatening and paranoid, but not really convincing. Maybe they lost me in the first minute of the story: it starts with a Scottish family drinking alcohol and eating stew. (the only thing missing is Stuart Mackenzie and his Scottish wall of fame). Later on Amin wears a kilt without explanation. Its al just a wee bit to much.

We are supposted to believe in the love affair between the doctor and one of Amin’s wives, after we seen him having sex with somebody he met at random on a bus and his flirting with another doctor’s wife. Not bloody likely I say. (Talking about bloody, there is one torture scene you might want to fast forward. It could really ruin a romantic evening.) I think Whitaker should do some indiefilms or choose more carefully. He did some great flicks, like Smoke or Ghost Dog, but those movies about scientology with Travolta were total crap.