Movies In 2008 - Reviews
Abre los ojos
“Open Your Eyes” is the original Spanish movie later remade into “Vanilla Sky” starring Tom Cruise, Cameron Diaz and Penélope Cruz who also starred in the original.
I only saw the beginning of “Vanilla Sky” back then and I can’t say much about it. It looked interesting but the beginning was too slow-moving, the introduction seemed too stretched.
“Abre los ojos”, however, certainly convinced me. The way the director plays with dream and reality and always only delivers pieces of the puzzle makes the story suspenseful and thrilling. The music adds to the atmosphere the film creates.
Definitely recommended for those who like intelligent, psychological thrillers.
Kammerflimmern
I really enjoyed watching this movie. It doesn’t offer only a fascinating cinematography and an interesting use of audiovisual effects but the screenplay is well written too. It was nice that the writer didn’t just use a conventional way of storytelling. The actors do a great job portraying these lonely characters and the whole crew and cast manage to show not only the bad and rather tragic sides of life but also the beauty it offers. I also have to bring up the soundtrack which contributes heavily to the mood and style of the film. Besides being touching in some scenes the film has some ironic and humorous undertones as well.
One of the best German movies I’ve seen so far.
Extremities
Pretty good thriller from the 80s. Farrah Fawcett does a great job portraying Marjorie and James Russo as the “rapist” is convincing as well. Because of those two and the drastic way of showing what is going on to the viewer, the first half of the film is very intense and suspenseful. However, I thought that the movie gets weaker as soon as Marjorie’s friends arrive. The actresses just weren’t as good as the others and their characters were a bit cliché and almost annoying (especially Diana Scarwid as Terry).
But all in all it’s a decent movie.
Oh, and what I didn't know before watching "Extremities": The film is based on a theatre play written by William Mastrosimone who also wrote "Bang Bang You're Dead".
Jeux d'enfants
One thing you have to say about the movie is that it’s definitely not your average love story but is instead an original tale full of bizarre, sarcastic and imaginative scenes. The story is innovative but in my opinion all of this wasn’t pulled off too well. Everything happened a bit too fast for me and I couldn’t even follow the characters’ actions. Although it of course isn’t meant to be a very realistic film it just seemed a bit rushed and artificial to me. Plus, the characters were rather unlikeable. I couldn’t get emotionally attached to them and so I wasn’t touched by the movie at all. I also couldn’t get used to the way of editing in some scenes. While I thought the fantasy scenes were okay, the repeated cutting during single shots was a bit irritating. Another thing that attracted my attention was that the movie tries too hard mixing different elements together. On the one hand there’s this love story, then there’s this peculiar form of humour and also the dark side. It just didn’t work to me, in the end it was rather superficial because I felt that the director couldn’t decide between these elements (or at least mix them together in a way that it’s fitting).
In the end I was quite disappointed. I thought I would like the film better.