Displaying Review 6 - 10 of 11 in total

• A great adventure movie — for Beloe solntse pustyni
  Written by pieterjaspers on 19.07.2015

  I was very surprised to see that this movie did not already exist on What the Movie, as it did have a theatre release and it is often noted as one of the top Soviet cult movies. It seems that this movie is still always screened for the entire crew of every Russian space mission prior to departure. Although the movie does not feature anything remotely related to space exploration, it does succeed to convey the sense of adventure that astronauts must feel when they do their job well away of Earths safety. It is also seen as the Russian answer to the Western genre, which makes sense when one sees the locations and plot.

  We follow Fyodor Shukov through the desert as he heads towards home and his wife, after doing his duty for the red army in the Russian civil war. He happens to stumble upon the Harem of a Caspian Sea guerilla leader, who abandoned his wives to be able to move faster through the desert in an attempt to avoid capture by the red army. Shukov must now lead the harem through the desert, and protect the women from all dangers on the voyage. He is aided by a bandit whom he saved.

  The locations for this short but epic movie are beautiful, and it surprised me to see these landscapes in Russia, which illustrates the vastness and the diversity of landscapes in this country (and how little I know about it). What also really stood out were the costumes, which are really beautifully designed.

  On a further note, the movie has its share of action, comedy and wit, in a sort of Raiders of the Lost Ark kind of way. If you can find it somewhere, it comes highly recommended.

• Wartime propaganda, but also a great movie — for 49th Parallel
  Written by pieterjaspers on 20.07.2015

  Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger (The Red Shoes, Black Narcissus and The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp) bring you a wartime adventure movie from one of the most unlikely places in the world, when you think of WW2. We follow the landing party of a bombed German U-boat off the coast of Northern Canada in their journey to try and reach the then still neutral United States.

  Along the way there isn't a chance missed to emphasize that Nazis are bad, but this doesn't detract from the sense of adventure and excitement. The only downside of it is that you don't really feel for the main characters. It makes for an interesting but awkward watch when you always root for the supporting cast, the various people the Germans meet on their travels. There is only one of the main characters that you start to feel for after a while, subtly played by Niall MacGinnis.

  With great supporting roles by Laurence Olivier and Leslie Howard, this movie also surprises with twists I didn't see coming. It makes for an engaging watch, a fast moving story, and genuine entertainment. Also, the locations are beautiful. Yes, this movie is war time propaganda, but it is also a great film.

• An impressive WW2 drama — for Guizi lai le
  Written by pieterjaspers on 20.07.2015

  To call this a war movie would be cutting it short. It is more of a drama which happened to be set during WW2. It follows a village community in occupied China for about six months. One of the townsmen is one night confronted by an unknown assailant who threatens him and tells him to keep something safe for a few days from the Japanese who are stationed near the village. This 'something' happens to be a Japanese sergeant and his Chinese interpreter. A few days quickly turn into a few months when the assailant does not return to the village. What to do with these prisoners of war? Turn them over to the Japanese? Keep them hidden until they are picked up? Or dispose of them all together? The questions raised bring to the surface questions of loyalty, bravery, community, family, fidelity, and what it means to be a human being. It is a relatively slow moving film, that only resorts to quick cuts in editing when the story falls into chaos. The black and white cinematography is beautiful, and so are the long shots of some of the locations where the picture was filmed. The musical score sometimes fits the movie perfectly, and at other times it seems to miss its mark, which is probably done deliberately to emphasize the crazy things that happen on screen.

  All in all this is a powerful drama, with some comedy, mainly caused by the faulty translations by the interpreter. Only the final third of the movie really shows us what war can do to men. Though it strays a little from the build-up, you could feel or see some of the ending coming. But even if you do, it packs quite a punch. A great film, which I certainly plan on seeing more than once.

• Quirky Romantic Comedy — for Yeopgijeogin geunyeo
  Written by pieterjaspers on 21.07.2015

  This movie follows the romantic entanglements of a shy South Korean guy, 25 years of age, who by chance meets a pretty but bossy girl with whom he (surprise surprise) falls in love with. Though the girl is not quick with expressing her feelings for the boy, she keeps coming back to him, bossing him around and humiliating him every chance she gets. Will they be able to stay together, and will we find out why the girl has such a temper, and what she really feels for the guy? The film is wonderfully acted, though maybe a tad on the long side, seeing as how I started to get annoyed by the girls actions and the passiveness of the guy. No doubt this was intentional. It makes the payoff at the end (the last quarter of the movie) that bit more moving. The movie is very funny, and features some great fantasy bits, based on the movie scripts the girl supposedly wrote.

  Often hailed as the best Asian romantic comedy, it still took 14 years to complete a sequel, which is (according to IMDB) set for a 2015 release in South Korea. This, in my honest opinion, is not really a good thing, especially because leading lady Jun Ji-huyn is not reprising her role as the girl. Also, the story of the first film seems finished to me. I have not seen the Hollywood remake of My Sassy Girl, though I mostly read that you should stay away from it and just watch the original.

• Quite nice horror film — for Monster Man
  Written by pieterjaspers on 23.07.2015

  In 2003, Michael Davis, writer and director of a few romantic comedies, tried his luck writing and directing a horror movie. It worked out fairly well.

  On the upside it has laughs, pretty funny dialogue, good chemistry between the main characters, some great gore, a nicely designed villain and pretty good tension throughout the whole film.

  On the downside, it could have been a bit shorter (it drags a bit in the middle); one of the protagonists walks a fine line between funny, and annoying as hell. In true horrorlike fashion the good guys are not always as smart as they should be, like keep on running down the road when a vehicle is following you. Some cliches are not shunned. And probably most importantly: for a horror movie the body count could have been a bit higher. This only occurred to me when the movie was over, so for me it was not a major letdown.

  Of course this is no Citizen Kane (which is actually referenced quite nicely in the movie). But for what is is, it is quite good. Michael Davis went on directing Shoot 'em Up, one of the most enjoyable fast moving action movies of the last ten years.