Dark Shadows - Tim Burton (2012)

Plot
Barnabas Collins, a young boy in Liverpool follows his parents to the New Country, where they set up the town Collinsport and their fishing industry are making them very powerful. Unfortunatley when Barnabas grows up, he plays with the wrong girl before finding true love.
Angelique loves Barnabas, but Barnabas only have eyes for Josette!
What Barnasbas doesn't know is that Angelique is a witch! She sends Josette jumping of a cliff, and curses Barnabas to be a vampire and locks him into a coffin where he recides for two hundred years before he is found. Collinsport is now under the rule of Angie, not the Collins, but with his very few relatives, Barnabas is determined to once again take over Collinsport.
While staying at with his relatives, he meets the new nanny, Victoria, which is a mirror image of Josette, and Barnabas is more determined than ever to get Angie out of the way.

Opinion
An angry emo-Johnny Depp.

And it works.

Parts of the film is really slow, and some people you feel like you wanna slap, not once but twice and even three times.

Unfortunatley, the things that are good with the film are also the things that are the worst. A Tim Burton film, with Johnny Depp as revengeful, Helena Bonham-Carter who fools him and Christopher Lee in a minor old mans role. This might (hopefully) be the last time we see this, because even though it is a good concept, it will be boring soon.

The dialogue is in part really funny, and Michelle Pfeiffer makes the cold, stiff head of the house as great as only she can. Otherwise most of the characters are weak and you almost forget that some of them even exists.

If you like Johnny Depp as emo, with Bonham-Carter at his side, and still have not grown tired of it, I recommend you to see it, otherwise, do not waste your money on this one, but instead wait for Frankeweenie which premieres October 5th this year.

The Hunger Games - Gary Ross (2012)

Trailer

Plot
Panem, a country in an dystopian future is split into 12 districts and the Capitol. Each district worse than the other. Every year, one boy and one girl is choosen from every district to participate in The Hunger Games, a TV-show for the citizens in the Capitol. The TV-show is both entertainment, but also retribution for a rebellion that happened in the past. The participants are choosen through a lottery, and some have their names down there than others.
In district 12, Katniss Everdeen lives with her mother and sister Primrose. This is the first time Primrose name is in with the others to be drawn. Unfortunatley, this is not Primrose lucky day, but Katniss volounters in her place. Together with Peeta, who works at the bakery, she leaves for the Capitol, and the 74th annual Hunger Games. Leaving behind not only her sister, but also Gale.

In the capitol, she meets Haymitch, who is trying to help her and Peeta to get sponsors, that will send them help during the games. This is something Katniss has trouble with, but as she sees that the participants from the districts closer to the Capitol has been training for this, she softens up, and starts to play the game.
The twelve contestants is put into the game arena, and the only way to get out of there, is to kill everyone else.
Let the hunger games begin.

Opinion
Katniss Everdeen must be one of the most idiotic people ever. I have not read the book yet, but I sure hope she is smarter in there. I get so frustrated when women has to be shown as strong, even if it means they will die, she should have played the game, that would have made her so much cooler than she was now. Then she would have been ruthless! I loved her the last, maybe 15 minutes, as she herself realized, "yeah, I can play this game too", even though (of course) it is only to make sure Peeta comes out safe.

If someone thinks Kate Beckinsale is stiff-faced and stuck-up in Underworld (which she is supposed to be, otherwise one has not understood her part in the films), one should have a look at Katniss, she is far more stiff-faced and stuck-up, at the most stupid time, every time. Even though I quite liked it when she shoot an arrow at the game leaders, that's how I imagined she would be the whole time.

Other than that, I don't really understand the fuss about the killing everyone thought were so bad. Okay, the subject of children killing children, but on the other hand, it was not that graphic and I have seen a lot more blood in horror movies accepted now a days.
The acting was okay, not something I was over-thrilled with, but I have seen far worse too, even though it was very fun to see Woody Harrelson (Zombieland, No Country for Old Men) in the role as Haymitch. Also I really liked the character Caesar Flickerman, and I adored the clothes and make-up on Effi Trinket.

I would not recommend people to pay as much as a movie-ticket costs for this film, it's really not worth it.
What I look forward to doing now is reading the books, and then comparing it to Battle Royal.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - Fincher (2011)

Plot
Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig), a reporter for the news paper Millenium, is sentenced to pay fines, as one of his articles includes false accusations against a CEO. Mikael soon gets a call from Henrik Vanger (Christopher Plummer), formely the CEO of Vangerkoncernen. Mikael decides too meet with Henrik, but what he doesn't know is that Henrik Vanger's right hand Frode (Steven Berkoff) has been checking up on Michael, with the help of hacker Lisbeth Salander (Rooney Mara).

Henrik Vanger wants Blomkvist to help find his niece's killer, who mocks him by sending a picture of a flower every year. A gift his niece used to give him on his birthday. Mikael borrows a small house close to Henrik Vangers mansion, and starts to dig into the family's history.

Meanwhile, Lisbeth Salander tries to get trough, after her intendant gets a stroke Lisbeth's life is turned for the worse. After being sexually abused by her new intendant Nils Bjurman, she decides to get a revenge on him that he will never ever forget. At the same time, Blomkvist is starting to get somewhere in the case of Harriet Vanger's killer.

Opinion
This is a remake of a Swedish film that is really good. A film that is about two people working together before they even know they are. This is not the case in the American film. Lisbeth and Mikael are working in different places the whole time, and when the meet, for some reason they seem to be lovers since forever. Lisbeth has for some reason turned into a trusting, weak girl.

The un-swedishness of the stiff boring surroundings makes the film a poor choice if you like the original one. It seems like the director is using a lot of American, Swedish stereotypes. They look and behave like Americans think swedes does, and what they don't know, they make it american. This is not working, and everything from, dialogue to surroundings seems stiff and unnatural. It also annoys that they mix Swedish and English all the time. Keep it consistent, that would have been a bit better. I also find it weird that the American actors were speaking english poorly, and swedish poorly. Skarsgård were the only one actually speaking both languages the best.

There is no chemistry between the two actors either, and there is no conviction in their acting. It feels like they are just going trough the motions.

On top of that, there is a lot of things that you in the Swedish version can guess yourself too. Build you own story trough what happens in the plot, but in this case you can't build your own story. Everything, every little detail is shown, or told in the plot.

There are two things I can find that is good with the movie, and that is  1) the intro. It is computer animated and looks really good and 2) Stellan Skarsgård as Martin Vanger.

I will not recommend anyone to see if if you like the Swedish version. I will not recommend it anyway as the film is really awful.

Rooney dödade Lisbeth

Jag skrev för ett tag sedan ett inlägg om hur mina förväntningar på The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, och speciellt hur Rooney Mara verkade vara som Lisbeth Salander.
Igår kväll såg jag filmen.
Rooney Mara dödade Lisbeth Salander.
Hon rev ner precis allting som Noomi Rapace byggt upp med Lisbeth.
Nu får vi börja om igen.

Lisbeth Salander är en trasig kvinna, men hon är inte en kvinna med ett öppet sår. Hon blöder inte längre. Hon vill bara ha sin hämnd. Hon vill ha hämnd för andra.
Lisbeth klarar sig själv, och hon är inte dummare än hon behöver att vara. Salander vet vad hon vill ha, hon tar det och hon blir inte fäst vid saker.
Rooney Mara är öppen, frågar om hon får saker och blir förtjust i Mikael Blomkvist. Men hon frågar först om hon kan få det. Hon berättar allt om sig själv, och Lisbeth gör inte sådant. Lisbeth tar reda på det hon behöver, och bestämmer därefter om det är värt hennes tid eller inte. Oftast är det inte det. Hon lägger inte ner känslor där det inte behövs, och hon behöver ingen fasad.
Lisbeth litar inte på Blomkvist, hon litar inte på någon, och definitivt inte oss.
Inte utan att ha kollat upp oss, och visste hon våra innersta hemligheter skulle hon nog inte lita på oss så länge hon levde.

Mara har ingen glöd i sin blick som Noomi har. Lisbeth lever för vissa få saker, inget som Mara tar till sig alls.
Där Noomi som Lisbeth slår tillbaka, tar Mara emot och gör ingenting. Hon rör sig bara i ett rörelsemönster, utan övertygelse, utan tankar och utan list.

Jag kan verkligen inte hitta något bra med Maras version av Lisbeth och min förväntning att Lisbeth skulle vara en rockstjärne-wannabe blev infriad. Lisbeth har inte en fasad, Lisbeth är äkta. Mara är inte äkta. Hon har bara på sig kläderna för att revolta emot samhället. Som en tonåring, och hon beter sig som en tonåring. Hon får Lisbeth att verka som någon som ska vara omyndigförklarad.

Mara tar emot samhället med våld, Rapace tar emot samhället med list och rättvisa.

Tetro (Coppola, 2009)

Plot
Bennie (Alden Ehrenrich), a young boy, soon turning 18 shows up at his brother's apartment in Buenos Aires. His brother, Tetro (Vincent Gallo), ran away when Bennie were a young child. Tetro refuses to admit he has a family, but Bennie wants to know why Tetro ran away.

Tetro is now living with a woman named Miranda (Maribel Verdú), whom he met when he just came to Argentina, and is still a failed writer when Bennie finds him. Bennie and Miranda help each other to find out why Tetro ran off, and it turns out to be Bennie's family history that has been hidden for everyone, not Tetro's.

Opinion
Coppola has not always managed to succeed with his films, but in this one he does. It is a film noir, without the police detective, but with the intrigues.
The dialogue is well-written, and there are no giant holes in the plot. The black and white setting of the film makes shadows, lightning and sound important, and in this case the whole setting off the film fits perfectly in every aspect.

I would say that the actors fit their roles perfectly, and also, the characters personalities are also put together with great care. Tetro, the crusty one who refuses to talk to his brother, Miranda, the always happy and bubbly girlfriend and Bennie, the young innocent boy who can not say no.

This time Coppola managed to succeed. A film I would recommend to anyone if you can get hold of it!

Top-21!

Here is (I guess) my top 21 favourite films that I think everyone should watch some day!

• Carrie (De Palma, 1976)
• La vita è Bella ((Life is Beautiful) Benigni, 1997)
• M (Lang, 1931)
• Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas (Selick, 1993)
• Iron Man (Favreau, 2008)
• The Others (Amenábar, 2001)
• Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari ((The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari) Wiene, 1920)
• Chocolat (Hallström, 2000)
• Nightmare on Elm Street (Craven, 1984)
• El laberinto del fauno ((Pan's Labyrinth)Del Toro, 2006)
• El orfanato ((The Orphanage/Barnhemmet) Bayona, 2007) 
• The Full Monty (Cattaneo, 1997)
• E.T.: The Extra-Terrstrial (Spielberg, 1982)
• What's eating Gilbert Grape  (Hallström 1993)
• Stand By Me (Reiner, 1986)
• American History X (Kaye, 1998)
• Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauen (Nosferatu, a symphony of Horror) Murnau, 1922)
• Bringing up Baby (Hawks, 1938)
• Gladiator (Scott, 2000)
• Friday Night Lights (Berg, 2004)
• Cry-Baby (Waters, 1990)

Challengers: Edward Scissorhands, Corpse Bride, The Crow, Watchmen, Howl's Moving Castle, Spirited Away, Children of The Corn, Halloween, The Lion King, Fight Club, Night of The Living Dead, Green Street Hooligans, Sin City, Henry- A Serial Killer, Finding Neverland, Donnie Darko, Batman - The Dark Knight, London To Brighton, Candy, Bravo Two Zero, Top Gun, Queen of The Damned, Underworld, Snarveien, Trolljegeren, House on Haunted Hill, Hellraiser, Alice In Wonderland, 28 Days Later, Blair Witch Project

Varför blir du rädd?

Skräckfilmer är idag en betydligt mer accepterad genre än vad den var för bara några årtionden sedan.
Vad är det då som gör att människan tycker om att se på saker som skrämmer dem?
Det är inte den frågan som jag tänker svara på nu, utan det jag ska försöka att skriva om, är det faktum att det inte alltid är det monstruösa som skrämmr en, utan det kan vara det helt vardagliga.

Om vi ser på några av de skräckfilmer som tar sig som mest läskiga i min ögon så ligger där Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween, Coraline och The Others. Något som tre av dem har gemensamt är att de alla utspelar sig i miljöer som man kan känna igen. (Nightmare on Elm Street anser jag är läskig av den orsaken att Kreuger ger sig på en där man ingenting kan göra något det. I drömmarna. Man kan inte be om hjälp, och man kan inte hjälpa sig själv. Gör det Kreuger till genial, eller bara en fegis?)

Om vi tar första exemplet som jag skulle vilja titta närmare på så är det Halloween. I originalfilmen så ser vi ett helt vanlig (om än bråkig) amerikansk familj, där yngste pojken har tendenser mot det makabra. Man skulle kunna kalla Mike Meyers för en psykopat, men det som gör det är att han egentligen inte är ett monster i stil med Dracula eller zombies, utan han är en helt vanlig människa, och filmen utspelar sig i helt vanliga miljöer som man kan känna igen sig i. Det behövs inget odött monsturöst för att skapa monster helt enkelt, ondska finns runtomkring oss.

Coraline jobbar på samma sätt. Boken, tänkt som en barnsaga, handlar om Coraline, vars föräldrar jobbar för mycket, och ofta har annat att göra än att leka med Coraline, som istället börjar att utforska för sig själv. Hon lyckas att hitta portalen till en annan värld. En värld som ser ut precis som den hon kommer från, men lite gladare, lite färgrannare, och med bättre föräldrar. Kruxet är, föräldrarna har knappar till ögonen. Mamman, som i alla andra aspekter är den perfekta mamman (hon lagar god mat till Coraline, och de båda vill leka med henne, och låter henne göra vad hon vill), visar sig vara inget annat än ondskefull, och tar barnens liv ifrån dem. Genom att invagga Coraline i en idyll värld, så försöker hon att få Coralina att ge sitt liv till henne. Vilket barn skulle inte vilja ha ett sådant liv som Coralines andra mamma ger henne?

Vi har här två exempel där det idylliska får besök av ett monster.
Det är i sådana här filmer som det är svårare att skilja på fiktion och verklighet. När börjar det påhittade, och när är världen precis som den är utanför filmen?

Just fallet med Halloween tycker jag är det mest talande för sådana här fall av skräckfilm. Mike Meyers är sprungen ur människa, vare sig utan att ha dött tidigare, eller att ha druckit någon konstig häxbrygd för att få några som helst krafter.

Personligen är jag fortfarande rädd för att någon kväll vakna och se att ljuset från fönstret störs av något, och att det står en livslevande Mike Meyers utanför.