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.

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!

Bright Star

Bright Star is directed by Jane Campion and released in 2009.

Plot

Bright Star is a film about the love-story of poet John Keats and Fanny Brawne and it is based on the book with the same name.

John Keats, a poet of the 19th Century, living with his friend Charles Brown in the outskirts of London. Trough Brown and the Dilkes family, Keats gets in touch with the Brawnes, and their daughter Fanny. Keats being a mediocre poet, does not dare to get to close to Fanny, even though he is drawn to her, because he can not offer her wealth or a steady life. At the same time as he tries to understand his feelings for Fanny and write, he is also taking care for his sick brother. 

Brown tries all he can to keep Fanny and John from each other, but he does not succeed. He tries to kick him out, and send him away, but in the end, Fanny and John becomes lover. After a trip to London, though, John becomes sick (most probably from the same illness his brother had), and some of his friends decides that a trip to Italy is the best way to make sure he gets well. Meanwhile, the maid in the Brawne house, becomes with child, and Brown accepts to pay for the child, and this makes it impossible for him to accompany Keats to Italy, instead, he will be the one who reads the letter from Italy to Fanny and her mother, which tells them of the death of the poet. 

Opinion

The film was a lot better than I thought it would be. I do not like the actors that much, but they are bearable. I have not seen anything made by Campion before (no, I have not seen The Piano before either), but she seems as looking at what other films she had done, to like this poetic kinds of film.

I was a bit suspicious, Keats being alongside Byron and Poe, one of my favourite 19th Century poets, on whether I would like the film or not.

I did like the use of poems trough the film, as I guess, to show emotions the no one could put words to, in hint things. Fanny using literature and poetry in a way to come close to the one she loves, even though there is obstacles in the way, she wanting to know everything about the interests of her love, even though her own interests lies elsewhere. 

If you want to look at a  sad romance film, this is the film to watch, so don't assume it is a film on the life of John Keats, then you will be annoyed on how they only care for the love story and his love poems. 

Dracula (1992) Spoiler alerts!

Plot
Jonathan Harker (Keanu Reeves) travels to Transylvania to help Count Dracula (Gary Oldman) to buy property in London. Dracula finds the photo of Harker's wife-to-be Mina (Winona Ryder), and becomes obsessed with her. Mina is, when Harker is away, visiting her friend Lucy (Sadie Frost), whom becomes very sick. Arthur Holmwood (Cary Elwes) orders for the Doctor, Jack Seward (Richard E. Grant), but he has no idea what could have happened to Lucy, and in turn sends for his friend Abraham Van Helsing (Anthony Hopkins) who says it is because of Nosferatu. Mina gets romantically involved with the vampire, without knowing who he is.

Mina goes to Romania, marries Jonathan, and keeps quiet about her adventures with the vampire, but after Van Helsing tells them they have to kill him, she agrees and follows, and her secret is out.

Opinion
This film is one of the worst Dracula films. They claim to keep to the book, but it is very few parts of the film that do. The effects are really poor made, and the ideas are poor in all.
Reeves makes a really bad impression, there is no love to be this role in his acting, and the love story between Dracula and Mina is just stupid. The Count becomes a vampire in the same category as Edward Cullen, Bill Compton and other "humanvampires" of today, and not the monster he is in the book.
The worst acting, among many really poor ones, is anyhow Lucy. She does noting else but swirls around in bed, and then explodes. That was not very nice.

I would not recommend to see this film if you want the magic of Dracula, nor if you want a nice vampire story. The only reason one should watch this is to see how poor it is.

Trolljegeren (Trollhunter)

Plot

A grupp studenter från Volda i Norge, gör som projekt ett repotage om björnjakt, där björnar skjuts utanför säsong, av någon som inte alls är björnjägare.

De tre vännerna följer efter mannen genom Norge, och han varnar dem för att göra det. När de hittar honom i skogen, kommer det fram att det finns bra mycket farligare saker i skogen än björnar.

Åsikt

En fiktiv dokumentär i samma anda som Blair Witch Project, Rec, och Paranormal Activity (även om man kan se att de flesta likheterna finns till Rec, där de också har ett filmteam). Dock är den här filmen betydligt roligare, och man får faktiskt se vad det läskiga är. Det får man inte riktigt i de andra filmerna.

Troll känns väldigt norskt, och det här konceptet passar mycket bra. Det finns både humor, och samhällskritik i filmen. Den är välgjord, och de troll som finns med är riktiga bestar, även om endel av dem liknar John Bauers troll. Det kändes också väldigt skönt att filmen inte dominerades av saker som Griegs I bergakungens sal även om man kände igen termen (det norska ordet för bergakung är dobregubbe, som var just namnet på ett av trollen).

Norge har på sistone gjort några riktigt bra filmer (där ibland Snarveien, Död Snö, Fritt Vilt) och den här blir lätt en del av samlingen!

Det finns lite få saker som man kan sitta och irritera sig på i storyn, men man har lätt överseende för dem för att allt annat är riktigt bra.

Rekommenderas definitivt!

Pirates of the Caribbean - On Stranger Tides

Plot

Jack (Johnny Depp), Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush), Blackbeard (Ian McShane) and the Spaniards are all out for the same thing. The fountain of youth.

The films starts with Jack trying to save Gibbs (Kevin McNally), but ends up at the royal kings dinner table, where he finds Barbossa, one leg less, but just as dirty and evil. He runs of in his usual manner, and to find the man who claims to be him. "Jack" (the imposter) turns out to be Angelica (Penélope Cruz), an old acquaintance of Jack's and the daughter of Blackbeard.  She tricks him, and he has to gang up with Blackbeard, and Gibbs manages to get onto Barbossa's ship. 

Jack decides to try and make mutiny, and that is not one thing Blackbeard approves of, and he makes Jack show him the way to the fountain, or he will kill him. Blackbeard needs to find the fountain, because a prophecy has foretold he will be killed by a one-legged man, Jack on the other hands, is as always looking for something precious to him.

Opinion

Penélope Cruz as a substitute for Kiera Knigtley is not okay. The film is for me a disappointment, but it is still a more "serious" Captain Jack Sparrow we see. But without the trio (Depp, Bloom, Knightley) that actually makes the Pirates movies, it feels a bit... poor. There is something lacking, especially as it seems like they are giving other people traits from the other two (Angelica gets some of Elizabeth's traits, and random missionary man Philip gets some of Will's traits, and it does not seem right).

I feel it being a bit too much magic in this film, even though it has been a lot in the others, this just became a bit over the top. But there were a few really fun situations, and a nice touch using Keith Richard in one of the roles. And I did really like the mermaids, so far from the cute ones in Disney's cartoons and fairy tales, these were proper evil mermaids. Those I liked!

The story is okay, I couldn't find enormous holes and odd ends or parts without any explanation, even if one thinks that, it is still Captain Jack Sparrow we speak about, even though his plans and ideas are not even close to what they are in the other three films, and I feel it hard to understand if this is before or after the other films. 

I'm not sure if I should recommend it or not. I would at least not pay full-price for the film, or I would wait for the DVD to become cheaper before I see it (if I hadn't already), but if you're a Johnny Depp/Jack Sparrow/PotC-fan, well, I guess it's okay, but the first film is still the best of the four. 

Spoiler alert!

(If you do not want to know what happened, then stop reading, right here! And yeah, I put them down here as I don't want to ruin the film for anyone!) 

A big disappointment was the Spaniards! They only wanted to find the fountain to destroy it, as it is not a religious place, how lame is that? I mean, come on! That is just... I don't even have words for it! 

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Plot

Charlie Bucket (Freddie Highmore), a poor boy living in Scotland whit his family. In the town, Willy Wonka's (Johnny Depp) (the worlds most amazing chocolate-maker) closed down factory exists, but one day, people start to see smoke from the factory again. It is announced that there will be five golden tickets in the candy-bars sent out to the stores.

The first was found by a German child named Augustus Gloop (Philip Wiegratz), the second by Veruca Salt (Julia Winter) from England, the third by Violet Beauregarde (AnnaSophia Robb) from Atlanta, USA, and when the fourth ticket was found by Mike Teavee (Jordan Fry), from Denver, USA, Charlie becomes rather disappointed as his chances of getting the tickets are very small.

One day, Charlie finds a ten pound bill, and buys a chocolate-bar, in it, he finds the last golden ticket, and are invited for a day at the factory, and at the end, someone will win an amazing price!

Opinion

Johnny Depp in one of his craziest roles, but the film is cute, and I think it really is a family-film, and even  younger children can see it.As I remember from reading the book, it does not follow it exactly, but rather well, but I think Willy Wonka is not as eccentric in the book, and he has no problems with his parents, which I think is a nice add from Hollywood (for once!). Even though, of course, the idea of the film is that, do not be greedy, and you will get what you want, it works, but as it is adapted from a children's story, getting the morale completely out of the story is hard. 

I personally would have liked if Helena Bonham Carter had a larger role, as she is an amazing actress, but she is okay as a mother. I also see it rather fun that Christoper Lee is Willy's angry father!

I would really recommend the film to anyone. It suits everyone,  and Johnny Depp makes Willy Wonka more interesting than what he is in the book, and he has an opportunity to really go crazy (a lot better than when he was the Mad-Hatter in Alice in Wonderland). This was the second film Freddie Highmore and Johnny Depp works together, and in this one, Freddie has grown a lot.

Priest

Plot

Once there were a war, between man and vampires. Man though they had win, but they were wrong. 

When the "Priest" finds out his brother (whom are portrayed by Stephen Moyer, most known as Bill Compton in True Blood), and the woman and child the priest had left for his brother to take care of, had been attacked by vampires, he leaves the city, and breaks the vows he once made to the church.

Opinion

A really good movie!

You feel like they have taken The Matrix(a lot of the fighting haveMatrix-feeling), added some vampires (evil ones), and then put in a few wannabe-Batmanbikes, and some Star Wars feeling, and voilá, you have a filme based on a Korean manhwa.

The fighting is of course unrealistic, but it is well-executed, and the vampires are really cool, as they are not sparkling, or not human at all, as the humans and the vampires are two different races. There are ONE human vampire, and he is the first of his kind.

One thing that I felt was really good with the film was the fact that they did not linger to much in things "unnecessary" for the plot. 

I would really recommend the film to everyone who loves nasty-ass vampires, and it has a nice touch of religion vs. vampires, that I have not seen in films.  Of course, there are some cliches, but one can live with them because the rest of the movie makes up for it.

I think this movie actually worked better in 3D than other films I have seen, and the animation at the beginning of the film was one of the best I have seen in cinema (only the one in the seventh Harry Potter film has been close to as good!).

Vampires Suck!

Plot

Becca Crane moves to her dad in Sporks, Washington from Nevada. There she meets Jennifer and Rick her two "friends" but also Edward Sullen and Jacob White. Edward and his family are vampires. Edward and Bella dates, but Edward leaves her and she gets devastated and tries to kill herself. She is now torn between Jacob, whom also has a dark secret, and Edward, but in the end she choose Edward. 

Opinion

As I dislike Twilight, I love this film. It has a lot of fun jokes on behalf of Twilight, and how people claim Bella and Edward and the rest of the characters are behaving in the book and film.

If you like Twilight, you will probably don't like it that much.

To be able to understand it completely though, you must have either watched or read the books/films, even though you might enjoy some of the things anyway.

I'd say, slapstick and spoofs are the words that describe it, so if you do not like that, then do not watch.

Queen of The Damned (the film)

Queen of the Damned

Plot

Based on the book by Anne Rice, we see Lestat, having been dorment for many years, waking up in a new, modern era. He decides the best way to lure the vampires from their hiding, exposing them, to make the vampires the leading race, is to become the singer of a rock band, and in the lyrics reveal all the secrets of the vampires. Not all vampires are to keen on it though, but one girl at an agency that looks for vampire's becomes very excited, as Lestat is the one vampire she has been looking for.

Opinion

I still haven't read the book, so I don't know whether it follows the book or not. But the film in it self is a master piece. It's rather predictable though as soon as Jesse comes into the picture, you know what will happen with the love story. On the other hand, I did not believe that Lestat would come as far as he did with his exposing strategy, and he did execute it very well, and in ways I would never guess. As in Interview with a Vampire, Lestat shows us some hidden talent, that he does not want to share, he knows lots of stuff, be he do not want to tell... Exactly the same from IwaV, where he never tells Louis the whole story, and that might be the reason they fall out all the time.

It becomes a bit boring though with all the long, I mean really long, flashbacks, if they were shorter, it would be more interesting to watch, as, yeah we get it music had some significance in Lestats life, but instead of doing one very long flashback, I think it would have been better with a few shorter ones.

But at a whole, this really is one of my favourite films, and no matter, I will always prefer Stuart Townsend as Lestat rather than Tom Cruise.

Picture found at:

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnFsyBTIENfubTlz1CqcrYN48zsLSNIcC0Ey2Whjq1nytq2IiiO7L-bmjDhdMcsrBSViazNwt6vVBjHuOX3GxQ29nRGvPaIH23q4VOEB1Uid-beEXPFH7UXyi4pwxsZmb4yvjZDnhEf7Y/s1600/QUEEN+of+the+DAMNED+01.jpg

Das Cabinett des Dr Caligari

.I will not make a review as on the other films on this as I think this way of reviewing this is the better way

Well, the film looks like an early expressionism painting. I could never have realized that so much was hidden in it. I will try and compare the films with the Romantic movement.

First of all, I would never have guessed how alike it is to the Romanticism books and literature written in the early 1800's such as Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and Bram Stoker's Dracula. If we compare Cesare with the monster in Frankenstein, you can find similarities in how he has his master, and how he is alienated from the rest of the world, but the difference is in how Cesare does not break free from his master the way the creature does in Frankenstein.

Furthermore, you can see how the landscape is similar as the Germans are building the Third Reich and how the economy is poor. It becomes a question about class in the end.

There is also many elements of fantasy and horror (as we can find many similarities between German expressionism film and modern horror films) similar to the ones in the books written in the beginning of the 1800's. This unreal worlds are in the expressionism film most clear in the backgrounds and the acting. We see worlds that do not look like our own, there are few shadows that makes the world "real" and the acting is often grotesque.

As many of the expressionism films are similar to the literature written during the Romantic movement, there is no surprise that the first vampire film based on Bram Stoker's Dracula also originated from this time in the shape of Warnau's Nosferatu.

If one like the 1800' romantic Gothic book, you will love this film.

Ju-On

Experimenting with a way to review again!

The films are the Japanese original versions of The Grudge. The film came out in 2000, and if you want the story, check out IMDb on this link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0330500/plotsummary

What I found interesting was the use of multiple narratives. This can be found in Rashomon by Aikira Kurosawa from 1950, but also in the old German expressionism films from the begining of the 1900's.

After watching myself tired of old German expressionism films, Russian montage films and Japanese films for my two courses, i thought this was going to be a relaxing film session, but no way...

One interesting thing I have noticed that also makes the similarities with the German expressionism films (which have influenced the history of horror films, as you can see up till modern day time) is the use of sounds and exaggerating (sound film became a part of film history during the German expressionism movement). An example is when the small child are making a cat sound when he opens his mouth. This is what the producer are using to scare us.

Sound, are the most important component for this film as of what I can interpret from the film. We have many examples of unnatural sound (like in above mentioned scene with the child and the cat sound), but also in the segment with Yuki, Yuki can hear sounds her friend Kanna can not. We have even an example of non-diegetic internal sound when the teacher (Kobayashi) is reading the mothers diary.

We can also find quite a few similarities with the other film too (in this case not Ju-On 2, but Ju-On: The Grudge II, which I have understood is not second film in the series), both in the plot where we can find for example the pregnant woman and the cat, but also in the way the film is made, with multiple narratives and we can start to assume that sound has a important role even in this film in the opening scene when the radio is not working.

The others

Plot
Nicole Kidman, here as Grace Stewart, has with her children lives in a big house, waiting for her husband to come home from the war. Three people comes knocking on her door and asks for work and after a while her daughter starts to see a boy, whom none of the others can see, but after a while Grace starts to feel the presence of something non-human. When her husband then comes home, and then leaves, you start to get scared. Voices, sounds are heard. And who are the three people who came knocking on the door really?


Opinion
The story is not something completley new, it does not always look the same, but the basic concept is the same. An unbeliver who starts to believe after and encounter, the spooky house maids and gardners, the child who sees ghosts. All are elements that exists in other films, the thing that makes this film really good is light and sound.
As the kids are sensitive to light, big curtains are always drawn, and therefore, sound is not as it's supposed to be. Also there is a lot of whispering, which makes the atmosphere as there is secrets, things not everyone is allowed to hear. And as all the curtians is there, there is always dark, very rarelly light. Together with the whispering, and the lack of sound, the mice-en-scene gets rather interesting, you never know what lurks in the corners, what will jump out in the next dark hallway or whom will show up next. You hear sounds, but you don't know what's making them.

The film in all is an incredibly good film. The end is not suspected (at least not from me!) and it's frightening in a way impossible to tell.

An interesting thing would have been to watch the film without the soundtrack, but with the sound (e.g steps, cracks and so on, but without the music) as I think it would be real scary.