"A Horror Delight"

VIY

Original Title: Вий (Vij)
Year: 1967
Country: Soviet Union
Language: Russian
Number: 477
Director: Georgi Kropachyov
Starring: Leonid Kuravlyov, Natalya Varley, Aleksei Glazyrin, Nikolai Kutuzov

Viy is by many stated as the very first horror film ever created in the Soviet Union. It's based on the Ukrainian 19th century story by Nikolai Gogol. It's the tale about the young seminary student named Khoma Brutus who's send out from his studies to go to a village to perform exorcism on a young maiden who just died but still haunts the village. Her father gives Khoma the task of spending three night alone with her corpse inside the church, which something of course is all other than a nice experience.

Looking at Viy with today's eyes, it's special effects are poor, and indeed with some very laughable blue-screen effects that is kind of awful, even at that time. But then again it's just funny, even though I feel that it's all done in a studio, which kind of destroy the experience. But it's still some very scary moments that would probably traumatize young children, but is a horror treat for the adult audience. I specially liked Natalya Varley's performance as the possessed girl. It's really scary. It is in fact a spooky film, and exhilarating horror film in true Tim Burton style, with some disney horror as we seen in Pinocchio and The Black Cauldron. Overall Viy is a horror film that passes the test as a horror film, but not the test of time. Thumbs up.

Grade: B-

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"Fassbinder = Fassbender"

SHAME

Year: 2011
Country: United Kingdom
Language: English
Number: 1092
Director: Steve McQueen
Starring: Michael Fassbender, Carey Mulligan, James Badge Dale, Nicole Beharie

Steve McQueen's (not The Steve McQueen) Shame is a masterpiece, with a lot of shocking scenes that we are not used to, but that many of us boys will relate to so much that we feel the shame come over us. So just in case, just see it alone.

Shame is set in New York were we follow the thirty or something Brandon (Michael Fassbender) who seems like an ordinary New Yorker with a good looking face and body, a well paid office job and a fancy apartment. He does't stand out of the crowd if you had seen him. But behind closed doors he's a sex-addict who masturbate as much as possible, even i public bathrooms. He like to have sex with prostitutes, and some times stalks girls that he sees. Many of these doesn't sounds that bad, but it's when his sister, Sissy (Carey Mulligan) has come to live with him, because she has nowhere else to stay. And it's then the Shame comes to it rights, when she is down and need a brother now more then every, she's rejected, and her brother want's her out since shes in the way. The sex-addiction start to give consequences to the people around him.Shame is a macabre film to watch, but at the same time also a beautiful and sexy film thanks to it cinematography. It isn't only contains naked bodies, but also minutes long shots which is McQueen's trademarks. For example the scene where Brandon is jogging trough New York while listening to classical music, or when Sissy is singing Sinatra's New York, New York while we see the look at her face which show the quiet opposite of what the song is saying. We get a perfect view of the real New York as the city that never sleeps.

Michael Fassbender does what's to date his best performance, and I hope we get a lot of better competitive once. He does a marvelous performance, and is truly believable as the characters he's playing, plus he also doesn't look to pretty as most other actors these days. While most other actors still have something boyish with them, Michael Fassbender looks like a grown up, a average looking man, with a average looking body. And that is what makes him believable, plus he's character give us that impression that he's not what he is, that he seems a little shy and does't always want's to be the center of attention. But all this makes him interesting and attractive to most women. He plays a character with a wide range of personalities who he's able to hide. He's always wearing a mask, and in the end we don't really know who the real Brandon is. Fassbender is without a doubt the new Marlon Brando, and that's mainly because he's performance can be compared with Brando's performance in Last Tango in Paris.

I could go all the day talking about Fassbender but I think I said all that's important. My conclusion about Shame is that it's a movie that is strong, that we recognize us self and identify with Fassbender's character so much that's I think it's better if you see this movie alone. This is really a mind-blowing film, that might set your own life into perspective. Thumbs up.

Grade: A

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"The Girl with the Advertisement Tattoo"

THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO

Year: 2011
Country: United States
Language: English
Number: 1095
Director: David Fincher
Starring: Daniel Craig, Rooney Mara, Christopher Plummer, Stellan Skarsgård
Oscar wins: Best Editing
Oscar nominations: Best Actress (Rooney Mara), Best Cinematography, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing

I tried to be open minded. I tried to not compare it with the Swedish version. I tried to tell my self that this is an american adaption of the same book. But I failed. David Fincher's version of the Swedish best-selling novel by Stieg Larson, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is for me just another american thriller with all the same american crap, like product placements, long unnecessary flashbacks that can be told by a few words, Stereotypical characters, to much information of who's who, while the excitement of finding it all out on your own is totally gone. And the fact that they chose to do the film in Sweden with some of the actors putting on a laughable Swedish accent. It seems like this movie was made hasty.

I didn't like any of the acting. I didn't like Rooney Mara as Lisbeth Salander. I think Noomi Rapace was better, creating a more mystical adult character with a dark past, while Mara is just a troubled teenagers which I don't feel any affection for, because it's seems more like a phase, rather than a way of life. And Stellan Skarsgård's performance is probably the one I hate most after Mara, because of his low key villain character with his stereotypical villain grunting voice. it's almost like a parody of a villain featured in a Naked Gun movie.

I don't care if this movie is closer to the book. All that I care about if this is a good film or not, which it wasn't. Maybe it's because I liked the Swedish version. Maybe it's because I'm to hanged up in movies and criticize every tiny detail. But the fact is this movie dragged. I can't understand what other people sees in this. I am probably the only person who didn't like it. A big thumbs down from me.

Grade: D

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"World War I with Disney Sparkles"

WAR HORSE

Year: 2011
Country: United States/India
Language: English
Number: 1098
Director: Steven Spielberg
Starring: Jeremy Irvine, Peter Mullan, Benedict Cumberbatch, Emily Watson
Oscar nominations: Best Picture, Best Musical Score, Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction, Best Sound Mixing, Best Sound Editing

Steven Spielberg's War Horse is based on a children novel with the same name, and then I have to look at it as if I wear a child, because it's darn difficult to even like it as an adult. It all starts in a small quiet town in England, where a mare is giving birth to a young healthy colt, whom the teenage boy Albert Narracott is looking after and shows a great deal of love for, and names him Joey, and to all the villagers amazement is able to plow the whole field on just one day on a very young age. He is without a doubt a miracle horse. But when the first world war breaks out, Albert's father takes Joey to the town to sell him to the military, so he can pay the rent on the farm which he's about to lose. Joey is drafted into the war as a cavalry horse on the British side, but is after a bloody battle used by the Germans, and then is owned by a little French, and then the German again, etc. etc.

As an adult I think this movie could have been more realistic, more macabre, more merciless on the characters to really get the message through. But what we see here is that the feeling called Hope is what gonna get you through a war safe. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas had no difficulties to tell how it was, and so could this film. And it's very difficult to be amazed or surprised when movie trailers these days reveal the whole story. I also don't like the main character Albert with his crystal blue eyes, with an innocence of a Disney character, and so is it with the rest of the characters, by looks you know who's good and evil.

It is a good looking movie though, But if I look at it as child it's actually kind of a thrilling film. The horses in this movie really had a soul that was worth to keep and relate to, and we also can understand them as people, with the same feelings, compassion, bravery, hope and anger. They don't need any narration of any kind to be understood. John Williams delivers once again a good score, and the cinematography is great. I'm kind of split when it comes to the question if I like the movie or not. But I think if I ever had children I would probably watch it with them, and they would have cried. I know I'm a little sentimental but I give it a Thumbs up.

Grade: C

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"Trouble in Paradise"

THE DESCENDANTS

Year: 2011
Country: United States
Language: English
Number: 1101
Director: Alexander Payne
Starring: George Clooney, Shailene Woodley, Beau Bridges, Judy Greer
Oscar wins: Best Adapted Screenplay
Oscar nominations: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (George Clooney), Best Editing

Alexander Payne's lasted drama-comedy The Descendants is another deep film, with an extremely well chosen cast that hit the right notes. Although I don't think it overcomes none of his earlier films like Sideways and About Schmidt it's still a pretty solid peace, and a superb performance by George Clooney in his prime.

The Descendants is set in Honolulu, Hawaii where the lawyer Matt King (George Clooney) is trying to prepare family and friends for the horrible news that his wife, Elizabeth who have been in a coma for weeks, and the doctors have told him that she never will recover, that she's in a comatose state, and that it's better to pull the plug. Matt already has enough trouble with his two daughters, Scottie and Alexandra whom he don't seems to understand. Alexandra who is in her late teens, suddenly tells her father that her mom had an affair with another man behind his back. And the rest of the movie we follow Matt trying to find the man she was sleeping with so he can inform that's his wife is dying.

This is a pretty good concept that Payne picked up. The idea of Hawaii as any other ordinary place in the states, with the same problems and crisis. Just because there's sunny beaches doesn't mean it's a permanent vacation. It's like Terms of Endearment, only set in Hawaii. George Clooney's performance isn't over done, he plays a perfectly realistic dad like Dustin Hoffman did in Kramer vs. Kramer. And there's also Shailene Woodley who does a perfect movie debut as Matt's teenage daughter. Thumbs up.

Grade: B+

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"The Perfect Cold War Tone"

TINKER TAYLOR SOLDIER SPY

Year: 2011
Country: United Kingdom/France/Hungary
Language: English/French/Russian/Hungarian
Number: 1096
Director: Tomas Alfredson
Starring: Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Mark Strong, John Hurt
Oscar nominations: Best Actor (Gary Oldman), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Musical Score

Tomas Alfredson's adaption of the famous John le Carré novel Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. This is the story about the British Intelligence (Internally known as the circus) where the old top agent and acting chief George Smiley (Gary Oldman) have to clean up the mess from his deceased boss, Control (John Hurt) who have suspension of a double agent in the circus, who's been there for years. Every one is a suspect.

Well I haven't read the book, but I am familiar with le Carré's books, and I can see why the film is what it is, because most of the plot evolves inside the characters heads. But in this case it's kind of slow down the film, and it feel a little long, but at the same time you can almost hear the sprocket-wheels rotating inside Smiley's brain while he's thinking. Gary Oldman delivers what must be his life performance, he's totally convincing with his new look that doesn't look any think like him. The rest of the cast is also pretty strong. And the feeling of a on going cold war is clear. The possibility of war is still there.

Why do I give it a grade of three stars when I give this film so much good feedback? Because it felt to slow, and some times I felt some thing didn't happened. I tell you what I do; I read the book and then re-watch it. But for now I give it a marginal thumbs up.

Grade: C+

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"Nostalgia on it's Best"

THE ARTIST

Year: 2011
Country: France/Belgium
Language: Silent (with some english dialogue)
Number: 1103
Director: Michel Hazanavicius
Starring: Jean Dujardin, Bérénice Bejo, John Goodman, James Cromwell

Michel Hazanavicius' The Artist is actually a silent movie made in the 21st century, using only title card and a musical score to tell the story besides the moving images. Who could have thought that they would eventually make a silent film now and that it would be a good one, a serious one with all the same elements, and with some meta film themes. This is the greatest tribute anyone could have made, and I hope this movie that can be as immortal as any other silent film.

The story takes place in the late 1920s where the silent actor George Valentin (Jean Dujardin) who's the most popular superstar of his time. But one day he bombs into and fall in love with the young Peppy Miller (Bérénice Bejo) whom he meets out side of the premier of his newest movie. And they meet again at the set where Peppy and George really fall for each other, but it will never work because of their differences and George already got an annoying wife (Penelope Ann Miller). But suddenly an invention named talking pictures is about ruin George's career, while Peppy becomes the new star. How will George survive this?



This is simply the best way of celebrate the magic of movie in general, both silents and sounds. Many of the movies within a movie is pretty funny because of all the typical silent film trademarks. Jean Dujardin is simply a delight, and he's smile is so contagious that I can't help myself from laugh. He's screen partner Bérénice Bejo is also pretty charming and they have the perfect chemistry. There's also many good supporting actors, such as James Cromwell as George's faithful servant. And of course John Goodman as the stereotypical overweight Hollywood producer Al Zimmer who always have a cigar in his mouth. And I must not forget the other star, George's best friend and sidekick, a dog named Uggie.

It's actually kind of funny and mind blowing that this is the first silent film that I've watched in a movie theater, it was a special experience and I hope it's not the last. This movie deserves every of it's Academy Awards and the ticket was worth every penny. Thumbs up.

Grade: A

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