roar-18 Reviews

Casino Royale (2006)

James Bond just got better

[8/10 · 26 November 2006]

I have just arrived from the cinema, and what i have experienced is.. WOW. For too long James Bond movies have been heading downhill, i will not go into details why i think so but this movie is a huge step UP.

Daniel Craig is really someone who must have surprised a lot of people out there, with the campaigns that have been going on, the protests, all the talking about his height and hair color. Well after this film none of that matters, as Craig did a superb performance, he was a real pleasure to watch as Bond. And not just that, he have saved Bond.

The movie has great acting, great directing, really moving and great dialogs and great music. It is maybe this years absolute best action film, no matter what people thinks of Blonds. ;)

Bond is back, for a long time.

Cars (2006)

Pixar = The kings of animation

[8/10 · 25 August 2006]

They made Toy Story, A bug's life, Toy Story 2, Finding Nemo, Monsters Inc, The incredibles........ No need to say much more. Pixar don't loose the grip in this one, another fabulous animation flick with insane humor.

I really wish i had their fantasy. These guys have so many hilarious ideas you keep on laughing veeery often through the whole movie. But OK, we have all seen this story before, trust me. But sometimes, what matters is how the story is told.

And the animations is really something, it's eye candy. These guys know how to work their computers. And WOW how it was nice to hear Paul Newman's voice again, it really fits. Well, Owen Wilson also do a great job there. Actually every actor does a hilarious performance in this movie.

I have to give this a 8. Well you know, the story. Seen it like 50 times, in 50 different movies that is. But hey. I loved the movie. GO SEE IT!

Hostel (2005)

Creepy as hell

[7/10 · 21 August 2006]

I just watched this movie, after sitting here alone in the dark for the past hour or so i can honestly say that i had to take my eyes of the screen a few times. Some of the scenes are directly painful to watch, you will feel it hurt in every part of your body.

but this is not like a meaningless horror movie, this movie has something else. Maybe it's in the dialogs and the story or maybe in the acting and the setting. I don't know really, maybe it's all of them.

The actors do a great job, the music score is really horror, the story is a little weak, but it keeps it going, and the director is really a genius. I just love the way he plays with camera angles. And the cast in the movie, really says it all. What do a butcher look like ?. See the movie and you will agree. "That is what a butcher looks like". This is also the truth in the other roles.

I loved the film, it is extremely horrifying but still very very entertaining. They brought horror to a new level with this one. And once again Quentin Tarrantino have involved himself in yet a genius flick.

I give it 7 out of 10. The story was a little weak.

Walk the Line (2005)

Masterpiece!!

[10/10 · 3 August 2006]

I just saw this movie and i got to tell you, its one of the best movies ever made. This movie got the grip on you from the first frames to the end. Oh my, have i been impressed today :D I think this movie is superb wherever you like country music or not. I'm not a huge fan of country, i have heard a lot of songs but never bought a country CD or things like that. This movie isn't actually about country music. It's a story of a man, which had a very difficult growth and he somehow manages to slip into the record business and by a boom he's known all over the country. But success don't come cheap and he ends up in even more trouble, and this is told in a very sad way, i seriously got a tear out two in my eye corner.

The love-story is so damn realistic it twists in your gut and it stroke me right through the heart as hard as it could. I really felt the pain in this movie. HUGE credits for the actors, producers and director. I cannot say how much i love this film.. One of the best ever made..

Oh boy were i glad when it worked out in the end. :D Congratiolations.

Superman Returns (2006)

No No No :(

[4/10 · 2 August 2006]

Oh my god, i wish i could understand why.. Why Bryan Singer have chosen to make this movie as it is, It seems he's going for the X-men strategy. In the first movie he does everything to get us viewers to know the characters, their feelings and behavior. That worked very very well in X-men, It does however not work in this movie at all.

The story in Superman returns is really bad, the dialogs overall are nothing else than simple. And you can imaging this were a huge disappointment to me when i saw the movie.

I watched Superman from 1978 when i was little and the movie have followed me through me growth, Superman 2 as well. I don't think to much of Superman 3 and Superman IV, Superman IV is extremely bad BTW.

And i haven't seen any episode of Smallville either, but i read the magazines in the 80's, especially the ones written and painted by John Byrne. So in my head Superman is what it should be, i guess. This movie is supposed to be a followup to superman 2, and in that movie superman gives away all his powers to be able to be with Lois Lane. A very drastic thing to do when you are a man with such great powers.

Well here is what troubles me then. This movie tells a story of a Superman so soft and so simple and human as possible is, and just to say this right away, There is nothing wrong with a soft superman which can be hurt and killed, A superman that peaks at others through walls and cries. All this is actually okay, but then the ones telling the story must be very careful. As they make the movie as a direct followup to Superman 2 we can very well See a BIG character change in superman.

I don't like this at all. When i saw the movie in cinema i sat there for two and a half hour wondering when the movie was supposed to begin. It uses all that time to soften Superman so much it's painful to watch. Bryan Singer announced that he don't like that Superheroes must be hard and tough all the time, this is as i said, very okay. But then he should have made the movie to a better script.

After the movie i used several hours to wonder why the hell Mr Singer have made the movie as it is, and it suddenly came to me. He Wants to let us all know Superman first, with undressing him, make him vulnerable , make him weak, make him humanly small and simple, but still paint him as a superman, someone very special. BUT, This is actually to much for Brandon Routh which in this case have big trouble filling Christopher Reeves shoes, Brandon actually acts great as Superman, but he lack tons of Charm as Clark Kent, and instead of trying to be his own Clark he tries to BE Mr Reeves Clark. This shows very well. And that would also been okay IF he were to actually make it look credible.

So Bryan Singer wants to show us a Superman with tons of feelings. Well okay, when superman "2" then comes in a few years he will make Superman harder, here he will fight harder powers and need to put him self to the test, and we viewers need to know what the "test" is. And that is why this movie is made as it is, we must all know where Superman hearts lie. We must know how he is vulnerable, we must know how human he is. This will off-course bring the next movie to a real hight. The plan is made.

BUT.. Wasting over 100 Million $ to build up a soft superman which do not even show 10% of hes capabilities in the first movie is a HUGE disappointment and it is not Superman worthy at all. If i were Singer i would have forced a serious anger in Superman in this movie to really let him go berserk for about 10-20 minutes. But this never happens.

Superman Returns is told in a dark way, kinda like the usual Suspects.

I Think this movie had all the potential in the world, it is so sad to see the result. Though i think the sequel will be awesome, that is well written in the cards so to speak.

But there is off-course something nice in the movie as well :) Lex Luthor is a very good character now, much better that he was in Superman and Superman 2. Kevin Spacey really knows how to bring life to a character. Well nothing wrong with gene Hackman BTW, he is a terrific actor, but the character Lex Luthor in Superman were boring next to this one.

The effects are amazing, but that is least expected. There is one thing i did not like though. Superman always carries things in this movie, lifting over his head and fly vertical when he have something in his arms, no matter if it's a car or whatever. He never slams his hands into things, destroying things and lift things horizontally. This makes superman really really monotone in the way he "saves the day". You must see this to understand it. It looks like every shot is the same, just putting other things on top of Brandon Routh :) And frank Langella is really great as Perry White.

These few light-points lifts this movie up to a 4.. And it hurt-ens my very soul that the movie did not become anything greater than this.

12 Angry Men (1957)

The Story is Amazing

[10/10 · 10 February 2006]

I saw the 1997 TV version of this movie in 1998 and i was thrilled by the way the story is told in this movie. I saw this version a few years later and were more thrilled by this one, as it is so extremely realistic in its way. The clue sits with the actors and the director who can make such a movie out of only a few film sets. Yes the whole movie is filmed in a single room with 12 men in it, and the tension rises for every minute, and for every minute something twists and turns.

It's about 12 men who are about to vote for the chair on a man on trial. But one of them want to hear more about the case, can this man alone make all the others turn their statement from guilty to innocent ? This is one of the best movies ever made, and proves that the storyline is what make great movies. See this, and enjoy.