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Reviews
Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008)
Huge disappointment
I must admit I had high expectations when I saw this film. Taking into account the great cast and of course Woody Allen the least I expected was very good laughs! Instead I got a huge disappointment and a "huh?" feeling after the film ended.
It starts in a simple way and the plot rolls pretty nice and smooth. I wasn't very excited with the narration but that is not that important. It wasn't up until the middle of the film that I finally realized that it was lacking basic elements. Firstly and most important of all Vicky, Cristina, Barcelona is missing the notorious humour of Woody Allen. Even Match Point had a weird and morbid sense of humour in some moments. But VCB has none of it. Secondly the characters miss eccentricity and that special something. Not a contemporary artist leading a bohemian life, not even an open love triangle can't keep the interest high enough. And lastly we come to the end. I have nothing specific to say about that, it's simply disappointing.
The cast is great and their performances are pretty neat and professional. Overall it's not all bad but it's lacking basic things as I already said. I'm a Woody Allen fan, not a fanatic, but I have loved films like Annie Hall, Love And Death and even Match Point. This is not a Woody Allen film.
[Rec] (2007)
Gave me shivers
I can't remember how long it has been since a horror movie managed to give me such genuine shivers of shock and anxiety. This Spanish low budget film unexpectedly did.
Rec consists of classic horror movie elements so in many aspects it is not really original. Still, it is brilliant how all these are combined with simple and smart directorship to give an absolutely terrifying -in the good sense- result. This film does not try to frighten you with obscene gore scenes and loud sudden sound effects. It pulls you in gradually and drags you to a night of horror. This style kind of reminds me Michael Haneke's films.
I won't ramble about it anymore. Call your friends over on a Friday night, or even if nobody wants to come, grab some pop corn and a soda, shut off the lights and enjoy this good horror film.
The Happening (2008)
Great idea, bad directing
I just saw this film, one that should, at first glimpse, come with high recommendations. Instead, I was highly disappointed for numerous reasons.
At first I think the ideas that mold the plot were smart and original. Not only have I not seen something similar but it was a nice method to also pass some messages to the audience. However, although the idea was good, it was developed to an almost childishly plain and ridiculous scenario. The characters were shallow, predictable, too much of a "wiseguy" and abnormally trusting to science. What I mean with my latter remark is that when a normal person finds oneself in such a disturbing and dangerous situation, one cannot think and act in a logic manner. Even more, he or she doesn't try to explain "the happening" scientifically. People panic when in danger. So, seeing people act that way was very silly. Also, the scenario was "leaking" because too many things came conveniently, at the right place, at the right moment.
So, in general, it was a nice idea that submerged in a very poor and uninspired implementation and thus resulted in a not really enjoyable film.
Ti ekanes ston polemo Thanasi (1971)
One of Greece's best
In a politically troubled Greece, this film is more than important to the country's cinematographic history. When I first watched this film, I was stunned by this rather plain and simple production, being so meaningful as to stand out strikingly. Although, the plot takes place in a different time in the past, again politically troubled, the parallelism are obvious.
In a very creative way, the director, Dinos Katsouridis, managed to incorporate different aspects of everyday life under harsh circumstances and produce a result filled with melancholy and nostalgia. Thanassis Vengos offers an outstanding performance in the first role, proving that he can do much more than comedy.
Overall, it's simple, meaningful in various ways, with discrete tasteful humor and touching. It is worth watching by anyone.
Baby's Day Out (1994)
Ordinary and absolutely not funny
I just caught that film on TV and I took the time to watch it. To be true I never expected something really good but I was surprised by how ridiculous and awful it was. What we have here is a bad Home Alone copy with a lost baby outside of his home instead of a young boy inside his home.
So we're starting already with a suffocatingly trivial storyline. Then there comes a series of jokes which again are very ordinary. A lucky and smart baby makes fool of the, almost-stereotype, silly bad guys. A smart boss with two goofy partners find themselves in trouble trying to catch the baby! All these scenes not only are very unreal but they are not funny at all. Some reminded me of the death plans in Final Destination 3. For example there's a scene in a construction site where the three bad guys fall in traps a science fiction novelist would not imagine. And then the boss slips and falls down, gets smacked in the face by a flying hammer (what is so funny about that?) and then an extraterrestrial slime (which is very commonly found in construction sites) falls on him. Hmmm, I think I've seen that before in like 100 films.
So we come to the ending where the "wisdom wind" strikes the baby's nanny and she finds out that the baby has followed the exact story as in a fairy tale she used to read to him. How touching!!! The happy ending comes and reassures the audience that there's absolutely nothing new and nothing funny at all. In my opinion this film is a loss of time.