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.

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.

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

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.