Thursday, 11. March 2010

Short, independant flick reviews! Read about it, before you watch it!

Noise - a great movie!

Very short movie critic: An homage to all the frustrated and angry city slickers, built on urban life case study – worth watching due to Tim Robbins great acting :-)

The plot: David Owen (Tim Robbins) is a patient man. To a certain point. As NYC noise, particularly car alarms keep on messing up his life quality, he starts taking action, suing people, launching neighborhood initiatives and petitions. But as realizes that the law did not protect him and his efforts were futile he decides to take stronger action, becoming the Rectifier, an urban vigilante who teaches all the ignorant car owners a lesson the hard way. His activities do not go unnoticed by either the city major Schneer (William Hurt) or worse his wife Helen (Bridget Moynahan), who does not appreciate it at all.

Flickcritique says: Tim Robbins is great once again but after watching The Shawshank Redemption (1994) I’d probably be delighted about anything that guy does ;-) Let’s face it, he rocks! On the one hand the plot, all the escalation, eventually leading in absurd parallel life as the Rectifier is a bit of a stretch but on the other hand, anyone living in Dublin would confirm that car alarms ringing for hours without anyone giving a s**t, can be very, very annoying :-( The movie also has a deeper message about the way modern, urban life has become and how it effects our well-being. I would highly recommend Noise, it’s another entertaining movie playing in New York, except this one carries an important message to think about.

Conclusion: Great movie, go and watch it!

Watch it if you liked: Falling Down (1993) with Michale Douglas aka William ‘D-Fens’ Foster going mad over a violent society, He Was a Quiet Man (2007) with Christian Slander playing Bob Maconel, a loser type snapping over office madness or Office Space (1999) with Ron Livingston as Peter Gibbons changing his ordinary, boring life radically. Personally, I like all of them :-)

Edit: Noise reminds me also a bit of Changing Lanes (2002) where Ben Affleck clashes with Samuel Jackson over a traffic dispute.

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‘In Bruges’ – read short review

In Bruges movie ticketIn a nutshell: Young hit man suffers from his exile in Belgian province after messing up his first job. A brilliant tragicomedy with Collin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson and Ralph Fiennes - one of the best movies this year (2008).

The Story: The English hit man Ray (Collin Farrell) and his associate and friend Ken (Brendan Gleeson) arrive in Bruges after an assignment that just went wrong. They are supposed to stay down for a while. While Ken, the senior killer is enjoying the beautiful medieval town, sightseeing and having a relaxed time, Ray is suffering from both, little excitement in ‘the shit hole’ as he calls the town and the guilt, as it was him who made a bad mistake. What he does not know is that it is supposed to be his final vacation, before he would be hold to account by his principled boss, Harry (Ralph Fiennes).

Both, Ray and Ken meet during their days in Bruges Marie, the advanced in pregnancy hotel owner, the local drug dealing beauty Chloë, her former boy friend and small-time criminal Eirik and a person of short stature Jimmy, an American actor shooting a Dutch movie in Bruges. As Harry realizes that Ken has second thoughts about executing his orders and punishing Ray, he makes the effort and comes to the town personally, to make sure that this time things go smoothly. Obviously, his arrival leads to a show down that is anything but what he had in mind.

Flickcritique says: It’s the dialogs that make the movie exceptional – they are just amazingly funny :) Music is also very good, particularly the piano jingling as Ken and Ray make their obligatory tourist tour through Bruges’ foggy canals. Clearly it is Collin Farrell’s best movie so far. Same applys to Ralph Fiennes. Brendan Gleeson is as brilliant, as he always is. Together, they make a fabulous acting trio. On top of this you get to see a magnificent, medieval town in autumnal, little saturated colors. The flick, spiced up with loads of anything but politically correct jokes ‘In Bruges’ is absolutely worth watching.

Conclusion: it is a great movie – highly recommended :-)

Best movie quote: Almost all dialogue are brilliantly funny. But this one is just hilarious:

“If I’d grown up on a farm and was retarded, Bruges might impress me. But I didn’t, so it doesn’t.”

Watch it if you liked: The Boondock Saints (1999), Very Bad Things (1998)

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