Casino Royale

USA 2006 - Action/Crime — 144 min — Directed by Martin Campbell
Cast: Daniel Craig, Eva Green, Judy Dench

In his first mission, James Bond must stop Le Chiffre, a banker to the world's terrorist organizations, from winning a high-stakes poker tournament at Casino Royale in Montenegro.

My Rating: 8 / 10

Most of the action scenes were excellent, and as we've all heard, this really is a reboot of the James Bond franchise. My only complaint was the horrid score, and the worst theme song for ANY Bond movie ever ever ever. Total garbage. One of the worst scores to be used in any movie since the early 70's - by far. A deaf man playing a violin and pulling a cat's tail would have been an improvement. But that apart, Bond is really back. Craig does an excellent job, and he is the New grounded Bond, not the cartoon he has become under Moore, Dalton and Brosnan. Hope they continue in the same fashion, and don't screw it up by adding old stupid jokes and such. Way to Go!

Saw

USA 2004 - Thriller — 102 min — Directed by James Wan
Cast: Leigh Whannell, Cary Elwes, Danny Glover, Ken Leung, Dina Meyer, Mike Butters

Adam and Lawrence wake up chained to pipes at opposite ends of a dirty utility room. They soon learn that they have become the victims of the Jigsaw, a serial killer who devises intricate situations to get his victims to kill each other. Pitted against the clock and each other, the two must work to outwit their captor and save Gordon's family, who have been taken hostage by the killer.

Been told by some friends to watch this. I refused to hear anything about it, except that it was suposedly a good thriller with a sicko story. It was well executed and told, but for some reason it failed to engage me. Sure, it's mostly a psychological thriller, being that if you were put in the same situation - what would you do? I get it. I felt that the writers had tried too hard to be casual about the story, and it got me thinking that at some point, everything will be turned on its head. And in the last scene, sure we get the surprising plot-twist that I was anticipating all along. Which sadly, doesn't make it a surprising at all. I liked the sequence with the woman with the mouth-trap best. Nasty. Barbwire guy was also nasty.

My Rating: 7 / 10

The Jacket

USA 2005 - Thriller/Mystery — 102 min — Directed by John Maybury
Cast: Adrien Brody, Keira Knightley, Kris Kristofferson, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Kelly Lynch

A military veteran returns to his native Vermont suffering from bouts of amnesia. When he is accused of murder and lands in an asylum, a well-meaning doctor puts him on a heavy course of experimental drugs, restrains him in a jacket-like device, and locks him away in a body drawer of the basement morgue. The process sends him on a journey into the future, where he can foresee his death (but not who did it or how) in four day's time. Now the only question that matters is: can the woman he meets in the future save him?

The film starts with some epilectic-inducing jump-cuts, but once you get past that it's all uphill. Brody is excellent as the "sick" veteran. Lowkey, yet very effective. Keira as the love interest works fine, as she's one fine lady, though I've got bigger boobs than she. But that's beside the point. She's good too, though Brody has the biggest canvas to paint on. The story is moving along steadily, and it never gets boring. I gotta admit that I've never heard of this film, and it was a big surprise. I wish Hollywood would take more chances, than just pump out craptastic blokbusters. This is not one of those, and it's nice to see that smaller pictures can still be made. It cost in the $20 million to make this one, and I'm just thinking that xXx 2 (released this weekend) cost $100 million more to make... They could have made five The Jacket movies for the price of that collossal disaster. It won't make those $120 million back - not by a longshot. Sure, The Jacket didn't make it back either, but at 1/5th the cost, at least the studio can look forward to great DVD sales/rentals from this, and thus earn some money. It's a good movie. There, I said it.

My Rating: 8 / 10

The Arrival

USA 1997 - Sci-Fi/Thriller — 115 min — Directed by David Twohy
Cast: Charlie Sheen, Ron Silver, Teri Polo, Lindsay Crouse, Richard Schiff

Zane Ziminski is an astrophysicist who receives a message that seems to have extraterrestrial origins. Eerily soon after his discovery, Zane is fired. He then embarks on a search to determine the origins of the transmission that leads him into a Hitchcockian labyrinth of paranoia and intrigue.

Been a couple years since I saw this one last, and it still holds up. Never seen the sequel, for obvious reasons, and never will. While it’s not the greatest story ever told, it’s still effective, especially for sci-fi geeks like me. I remembered essentially everything, which is very rare for me, almost unheard of. I also thought the end-fight was much longer, but I was probably mixing it up with another movie - now that’s not rare! The story is not cheesy at all, and doesn’t go for lame in-jokes, or supposedly witty one-liners and such nonsense. Though not much in the way of action, it’s still allright.

My Rating: 7 / 10

The Machinist

Spain 2004 - Drama/Mystery — 102 min — Directed by Brad Anderson
Cast: Christian Bale, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Aitana Sánchez-Gijón, Michael Ironside

In a bleak and nondescript American city, Trevor Reznick is quite literally withering away to nothing. During the day Trevor works in a colorless industrial factory, while at night he seeks refuge in the bed of a tender prostitute, Stevie. For reasons unknown even to Trevor, he hasn't been able to sleep for an entire year. In the process, he has shed over sixty pounds, making him look like a walking skeleton. After an accident at the factory costs Trevor his job, he finds himself tracking a mysterious figure that may or may not, in fact, provide some answers to his confusion. Meanwhile, he begins to connect with a pretty airport waitress, Marie, who shows Trevor some much-needed sympathy.

Christian Bale was great, damn great even. He really looked like a skeleton, thin as, well, a skeleton. He must have lost half his weight for this movie, because he's really thin. Really thin. His character is creepy and his performance make me think he might even be a good Batman. But, I'm not sure he really can pull that one off. The visuals were really great, and you just assume it's in the US, even though it was filmed in Barcelona. The atmosphere is spot on, as a dreadfully bleak, desolate city that could be anywhere. Bale's performance aside, it's nothing spectacular. It borrows heavily from Early David Lynch movies and film noir in style, but ultimately fails to deliver any real thrills. The story just isn't good enough. They were going for something Memento-esque, but it pales in comparision. Still, it's not all bad.

My Rating: 6 / 10

The Last Samurai

Action/Adventure — 154 min — Directed by Edward Zwick
Cast: Ken Watanabe, Tom Cruise, William Atherton, Billy Connolly

In Japan, Civil War veteran Captain Nathan Algren trains the Emperor’s troops to use modern weapons as they prepare to defeat the last of the country’s samurais. But Algren’s passion is swayed when he is captured by the samurai and learns about their traditions and code of honor.

Nicely done. It has some awesome combat scenes, and it's brutal. The setting is great, and it really preaches a bit too much for me. You knew how things would end up, almost scene by scene. I felt that it tried to make the captain into a hero, much like Mel in Braveheart. Made me wonder how it was received in Japan, with their honor and such. It's most definitely a kick in the balls to them. A wake up call. But as we know, medieval times are bygones, never to return, however much romanticized they are. Tom does and great job as usual, as does Watanabe. I really hated the US Army lieutenant - what a creep. It was nicely filmed, but not spectacular; I guess Kurosawa is still the master there. But as I said, I liked the gritty combat immensely!

Sadly though, no nudity. I'm joking of course. Or am I? Thank God we didn't have to endure Tom's butt, but alas, not even a boob in sight. It was great that they didn't inject a love story into it all. Well, they did kinda, but at least not in the regular sense, and cheers for that! It would have made it so sappy and forced. If you want a romantic movie, see another movie.

My Rating: 7 / 10

Hitch

Comedy/Romance — 115 min — Directed by Andy Tennant
Cast: Will Smith, Eva Mendes, Kevin James, Amber Valletta

While helping his latest client woo the gorgeous woman of his dreams, Hitch, a professional "date doctor" finds game doesn't quite work on the gossip columnist with whom he's smitten.

How many guys was dragged to the theaters to see this one? Yes, it's yet another chick-flick, which they love so much. I bet the filmstudios have a computer program that does nothing else than spit out stories like this, as they're essentially the same. Guy meets girl - falls in love - loses girl - gets her back. We've seen it countless times before, and this one has nothing that makes it stand out from the pack. It's not even especially good. No good performances, no laughs, and come to think of it, no (gasp!) tearjerking moments. The characters aren't even especially likeable or well done, only caricatures of themselves.

My Rating: 3 / 10

Downfall (Der Untergang)

Germany 2004 - Drama/War — 156 min — Directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel
Cast: Bruno Ganz, Alexandra Maria Lara, Corinna Harfouch, Ulrich Matthes, Juliane Köhler, Heino Ferch

It's the last days of Adolf Hitler, April 1945, and Hitler's personal secretary Traudl Junge finds herself in the Der Fuhrer's bunker. Facing inevitable defeat, Hilter's moods range from defiance to fight or flee, remain loyal or opt for self-preservation. Eva Braun parties while Magda Goebbels kills her children. The movie goes on to show how Hitler and Eva lived their last hours in the Bunker.

Well crafted and believable, like no Hitler story I've ever seen before. Plays almost like a documentary, and the acting is first rate. It shows the state-of-mind of Adolf in his last days, and his increasing delusions. You sure get the horrible conditions and feelings of despair that it must have been in the bunker those final days - not for Hitler, but for his staff, and generals. It's never fun when something comes to an end, especially if you've enjoyed the spoils of it. Payback time is not very nice. The settings are muted and effective, and the noise of war is never far off. You hear bombs hitting close by, machine gun fire etc. It sure has a feel of authenticity to it. Nothing like this would ever have been done in Hollywood. Not even close. It shows you, if nothing else, that European cinema is not dead, although it's so totally dominated by the Hollywood machinery.

My Rating: 8 / 10