Movie review: "The Prestige"

I've been skipping on reviewing movies for some time now, partially because I don't have much time but also because I haven't seen any great movie. I watched "In Bruges" again (very good, although it was better the first time), "The Bourne Legacy" (good, but not inspired), "Prometheus" (great start, but not so good ending), "Ted" (not so good teenage comedy) and a lot more, but not one of them was really great.

Yesterday evening I watched a 2006 movie called "The Prestige". Curiously, I tried to watch this movie with my girlfriend few years ago, but we never finished it (I think there was some problem with the video). I watched maybe first half an hour and I didn't have any fond memories of it. But this friend of mine watched is few days ago and has been constantly talking how good it was. So yesterday I hanged out at his place and he offered to watch it again with me. I am very grateful to him because this was one of the best movies I watched in last several years!

I won't say much about the plot because I don't want to reveal any spoilers. "The Prestige" is not a movie that will lose its impact second time you watch it (my friend just watched it second time in few days), but there are some big surprises in there and you deserve to see them unprepared. I will just say that the movie has a quite slow build-up and that things start to become interesting somewhere after first hour. After that, I just couldn't stop trying to guess what will happen next... Let's just say that this is a movie about the personal and professional rivalry between to magicians, with several unexpected turns.

The movie some great characters and actors that play them succeed in giving them credit. We have Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Scarlett Johansson and David Bowie, to name the most famous. Effects are not flashy, but the atmosphere of the movie is superb. This is a dark and violent movie, and surprisingly, without happy end or a moral lecture.

So, to keep things short, just treat yourself with "The Prestige"!

Movie review: "The Avengers"

This weekend my girlfriend and I went to movies to watch "The Avengers". Not her first choice, but neither she was really against it. I intentionally did not want to go last weekend, hoping to avoid the biggest crowds. In the end, we were both satisfied. I have been following "The Avengers" hype for some time, although passively - I like super-hero franchises, but I am not really a fan. So I knew what to expect of the movie and it turned out I was pretty realistic in my expectations.

"The Avengers" is a movie that combines and continues several movies starring super-heroes: Iron-Man (watched both and liked), Thor (watched and liked), Captain America (didn't watch, heard it was not good), Hulk (didn't watch) and Black Widows and Hawkeye (don't have movies). It also features the agency S.H.I.E.L.D., which was mentioned and played parts in mentioned movies. The plot is pretty simple: S.H.I.E.L.D. has been tampering with some alien artifact called Teserakt and accidentally freed Loki (a villain from "Thor" movie), with a little bit of help from his new allies, Chitauri. He steals the Teserakt, abducts some scientist and agents and escapes in unknown direction with nothing good on his mind. In reaction, S.H.I.E.L.D. gathers restarts the Avengers initiative, which has a goal of centering all Earth's superheroes and ally them against common foe. They are later joined with Thor who comes to Earth to put his brother Loki to order. Considering their strength, the Avengers should not have any trouble defeating Loki, except two tinny problems: they have to find out what Loki's plan is, and they have to overcome their own differences (which are pretty big).

This movie takes after "Iron Man 2" in atmosphere - flashy, fast, lots of high-tech gadgets, much of ironic banter. As I said, it is not a plot-driven movie. Although it lasts more than two hours, it is all about characters, and some about the setting. This means that it is mostly oriented to those who like the franchises and will be able to disregard weak plot. To me, it also looked like they wanted to introduce the setting and prepare the field for the second Avengers movie or other connected movies. Characters were interesting enough, and humor was quite good and successful.

In my opinion, the only flaw of the movie was the weakness of the enemies. Loki was more of a daze and confuse mind-bending player, so it OK if he is physically week (even though he is a god). But I really expected much more from the Chitauri, considering how they were announced and referenced. Also, the ending reminded me much of "The Transformers 3" trailer I saw (didn't see the movie, yet).

All in all, "The Avengers" is a standard super-hero movie multiple several times (considering all the big-name super-heroes). If you like such movies, you will love it. Even if you don't, the movie has a bit of everything to offer: humor, action, Scarlett Johansson for guys, Chris Hemsworth for girls... Just don't expect some plot-heavy intelligent drama, and you will not be disappointed - because this is THE super-hero movie.

Movie review: "The Hunger Games"

Last weekend my girlfriend and I had some plans going with another couple to movies. This friend was very hyped-up about "The Wrath of Titans" so we wanted to satisfy his wish and we complied with this choice. But when he called to say he can't go, we changed our plans and went to "The Hunger Games" instead.

This movie is not so familiar to general audience, at least here in Croatia, but I knew much because Tor.com put much attention on it. So I knew the plot in general, even few names and about the romance part, some background. Anyway, it sounded OK; except few reviews that branded it as "a new Twilight". While I don't hold any grudge toward "Twilight" series, I watched only movies and didn't find them very good. So these comparisons made be a bit suspicious toward this movie, but in the end this fear proved unnecessary.

"The Hunger Games" have quite good plot. It's SF dystopia. Some time ahead, USA ended in civil war which resulted in new oppression: the Capitol and 12 district. The capital is place of high-technology, easy living and full colors - people there live like nobility. Other districts are each poorer than previous, with District 12 being the poorest, a place of miners and poor villagers. There lives a girl in her teens, Katniss Everdeen. Every year, a festivity called the Hunger Games is held, where two people from each district, a boy and a girl, are chosen to fight to death. After Katniss' younger sister end elected, Katniss volunteers herself to replace her, alongside Peeta, who is chosen for male representative. The two of them then travel to Capitol to prepare for the fight of their lives.

Well, since this is a young adult film, you can pretty much guess the ending. But even so, this movie has enough qualities and twist to make its 2 and a half hours pass faster than expected. The dystopian part of the movie is done quite well. A bit exaggerated from the District 12 side, but it strongly expresses the difference between the classes. In district, everything is gloomy, dirty and quite, while the Capitol is full of colors, laughter and lights.

The training part was longer than I expected it to be, but this is not an objection. They used it to explain the setting in more details and they did a good job. Nothing was obviously wrong or unbelievable. I even got a wish to read the books ("The Hunger Games" trilogy) to learn more, although I don't see where I would found the time for it. And when fighting part started, it was constantly tense and full of action. Few possible ending were hinted, so you could not be sure what the final conclusion would be.

At acting part was done quite well, except one over-cried scene. There are even few stars: Woody Harrelson,   Donald Sutherland, Stanley Tucci and Lenny Kravitz. Interestingly, and I don't know whether this was intentional or not, when they put Woody Harrelson and Josh Hutcherson (plays Peeta) together first time, they had the same facial expressions that I was positive they are father and son.

I was quite interested to see how will they be able to make a main character, who is a gentle and obviously good teen girl, kill somebody without making her look bad. More so, kill somebody with such a violent weapon as bow. Although I think that their solution was at least partly a dirty trick, it was nevertheless done cleverly.

For conclusion, I can say that "The Hunger Games" were a positive surprise. An interesting and fast movie for all kind of audiences, with enough small details to interest those with higher expectations. Also, bear in mind that this is only first part in probable trilogy.

Movie review: "Tinker Taylor Soldier Spy"

Last week my girlfriend and I decided to go to movies and "Tinker Taylor Soldier Spy" was the only movie with good enough description and playing at acceptable time. Garry Oldman was also one of the reasons I wanted to watch it.

The premise of the movie is very simple and straightforward: Cold War England, head-quarters of intelligence service, retired famous spy, a traitor.

This straightforwardness is at the same time the best and worst part of it. This is really a hard-core Cold War spy movie: there is not much action; characters take much time revisiting past and thinking why someone acted as he has. There is some stealing of documents, pretending that you are somebody else... If you like such movies, you will be very satisfied. But on the other hand, this is not anything more than a spy movie. In first few minutes you learn that there is a traitor, and in last few minutes you learn who it was - everything between is one curvy, but single line.

Performance of this movie is really on the top level. Member of the secret service are all a bit eccentric, so there is much humor, but it is of that quiet and intelligent type. On the other side, there are also few hard and cruel scenes, because life of a professional spy is such. Beginning of the movie is somewhat slow, where nothing happens. Gary Oldman is a main actor, but in first half hour, I don't think he says a word (although he is on screen). There are also few other famous British actor, so this part is good.

All in all, "Tinker Taylor Soldier Spy" is not a movie to be excited about (except if you are a fan), but a good enough movie for anyone.

Movie review: "Contagion"

Yesterday, unplanned, I went with my girlfriend to watch "Contagion" to movies. Thankfully, without 3D...

"Contagion", as the name says, is a movie about a deadly virus spreading uncontrollably and killing a large part of human population. There are lots of movies and shows about this topic ("The Stand", with fantasy-religious elements; "Outbreak", a more militaristic version; "I Am Legend", with zombies...), but for some reasons, they are always popular (actually, as all movie of catastrophe are). This version relies on very realistic approach and strong movie cast.

The movie follows the progress and events around new and unknown virus. It has several points of views on the same plot. We have the review of last days of life of first victim (played by Gwyneth Paltrow), moderately successful continuation of life of her husband (played by Matt Damon) and his daughter, who has tough time adapting to the necessary isolation. Then we have dr. Mears (played by Kate Winslet) who is primary in charge of the outbreak and bravely goes into the diseased population; her boss dr. Cheever (Laurence Fishburne) who is desperately trying to organize investigation of cure while being constantly pressed by public and military; dr. Orantes (Marion Cottilard), a WHO member who is sent to search for the source of the virus. We even have a "bad guy", blogger Alan Krumwiede (Jude Law), who doesn't hesitate to use this catastrophe for his own promotion. These main stories are often interrupted with random inserts showing the degradation of society as the panic grows...

All in all, "Contagion" is very good movie, with obvious high budget and very good cast. It is easy to watch, but it has some depth on the other side. A very good way to spend two hours.

Movie review: "Horrible Bosses"

Although we used to watch movies at my friend's place at Friday, for some time now we have been re-watching the complete "Seinfeld", which is one of our all-time favorite shows. But this Friday we made an exception for other friend who doesn't like it and watched some movie, a comedy "Horrible Bosses".

The movie follows three main characters who all have problems with their bosses: Nick is working in some large firm where he is constantly overused and degraded by his sadistic boss Dave; Kurt is very satisfied with his work and boss until he dies and gets replaced by his son, an immature cocaine-addict; Dale is having problems with his sex-crazy boss who is trying to seduce him. This is all going for some time until one night, during drinking in a bar, they start fantasizing about killing them. After stress becomes even stronger, they decide to turn their fantasy to reality. Of course, nothing will go as they plan...

As comedies goes, this one is a typical. It has a predicting and not-too-deep plot, but jokes are usually good and fairly intelligent. There is some toiler-humor but not too much. Biggest curiosity of this movie is the stars that play in it (as support characters): Kevin Spacey, Colin Farrell, Jennifer Aniston, Donald Sutherland and Jamie Foxx.

"Horrible Bosses" is not a movie that will be long remembered, but is a good comedy for various audience and it can give a fun for hour and a half.