|
American Women's Club of Hamburg  Film Reviews -- January 2006Reviews by members of the AWC Film Group of films slated to open in Hamburg in January 2006.
(Alyssa C) Opening January 5, 2006 Director Dean Parisot has managed to make the whole more than the sum of its parts in this Bonnie and Clyde comedy. The plot is mostly unoriginal and Jim Carrey plays his usual ridiculous role, but nevertheless, Fun with Dick and Jane has several clever and funny surprises. Set in 2000 and inspired by corporate scandals such as the Enron fiasco, the story revolves around the Harper family’s desperation to cling to their upper-middle class lifestyle (and then to any semblance of a lifestyle at all) after Dick (Carrey) loses his job. After earnestly exhausting even the most creative methods of money-making including working as a Wal-Mart greeter and a day laborer among illegal Mexican immigrants, Dick turns to a life of crime. At first his wife Jane (Téa Leoni) looks on with passive amusement, but she soon discovers that she has a natural aptitude for thievery. The pair steals their way back into their American dream, but because they really are goody-two-shoes at heart, they must find a way to right their wrongs. But how? In addition to the chemistry between Leoni and Carrey, the supporting cast adds more than its fair share of laughs with impeccable comedic timing: Alec Baldwin as the corrupt CEO (i.e. the bad guy), Richard Jenkins as his alcoholic financial wizard, Gloria Garayua as the Harper’s maid, and Jacob Davich as the Harper’s son, who even with a very minor role provides one of the film’s funniest moments simply by answering the phone. While the film is certainly not Oscar material (with the possible exception of costume design by Julie Weiss), it is 90 minutes of laugh-out-loud entertainment, complete with a message about corporate greed.
(Thelma F) Opening January 5, 2006 Sommer vorm Balkon cannot be taken as light-heartedly as the title suggests. The film is an easy-going balance between comedy and tragedy thanks to director Andreas Dresen (The Policewoman and Grill Point), but it has a definite social message. Dresen tells the story of a friendship between two young women, shows what friendship means in hard times, but the film also deals with loneliness in three generations, unemployment and lack of funds for caregivers in our post-unification society in Germany. Nike (Nadja Uhl) and Katrin (Inka Friedrich, well known in Hamburg as an actress at the Schauspielhaus Theater) spend warm summer evenings on Nike's top floor balcony in Prenzlauer Berg in Berlin. They talk about life and love while gazing down at their turbulent lives. Nike is a caregiver who bikes from one old person's apartment to the next. Katrin has an adolescent son and no prospects for a job. And both are on the lookout for plain old happiness. Nike settles for a while for macho truck driver Ronald (Andreas Schmidt) while Katrin goes off on one alcoholic binge too many. As I wrote, there is balance in the film so there are fun moments and laughs. But still, the episodes of Nike with her clients who wish only for a little dignity in their old age are the parts of the movie that stay on my mind.
(Becky T) Opening January 5, 2006 Writer-director Sally Potter is never mainstream (e.g., Orlando, The Tango Lesson, and The Man Who Cried) and Yes is true to form. A “cleaning lady” (the word that caused Steve Martin to suffer spasms in Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid) is vacuuming the mansion of a politician-scientist couple. We – the audience – are sitting inside the vacuum cleaner as dust blows past us, and the housekeeper talks into the camera, philosophizing about dirt, both real and symbolic. “She,” the scientist wife, is vulnerable to the advances of a Lebanese waiter, “He,” who says about her, “I wouldn’t let such a beauty out of my sight, not for one moment.” Their affair begins, because of, or in spite of, their differences: older-younger, educated-blue collar, Irish/American-Lebanese, Christian-Arab, married-single, dissatisfied-realistic. They experience passion, crisis and separation. In the end, they head towards mature love, but not before discussing the Koran, the Bible, the U.S. (“powerful, big boss”) versus the Arab world, individual responsibility, the individual in general, shame, dignity, greed, faith, and what replaced communism. A motley kitchen crew also has opinions in the restaurant where the waiter works. “She” travels to Ireland to fulfill a promise to her elderly aunt. Visually beautiful, the colors in Potter’s film are white, blue and cool in the world of “She,” and brown, red and warm around the Arab. The cameraman must have been supple to undergo the contortions of shooting from the floor in a corner between the legs of a chair, to name one example. Joan Allen and Simon Abkarian are fine as the leads. Yes was filmed on location in Beirut, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Belfast, and London. (Rita PS) Opening January 12, 2006 Bumbling British diplomat meets very angry Chelsea chick moonlighting as a human rights fighter. Diplomat falls like a mosquito squashed on your windshield as you zoom down the highway. After a lovely afternoon in Tessa’s Chelsea house, surrounded by her very posh possessions and expensive clothes, they are suddenly married and pregnant and we are all in Africa. Justin Quayle (Ralph Fiennes) is oblivious to Tessa’s (Rachel Weisz) reasons for searching Kenyan villages while he attends meetings. Worse, he cannot guess that her activism compels her to expose the complicity between the certain elements of the foreign office, corruptible African officials and Big Parma, at the expense of conceivably everything dear to her. Her adolescent passion for justice not only results in her being charred to death but in the senseless deaths of others. Nor does it change anything for the Africans she so deeply cared about. If throughout their short-lived marriage Tessa’s adolescent self righteousness overwhelmed Justin’s very being, her death can do no less. Excellent actors, including wonderful supporting players like Bill Nighy, Danny Huston and Pete Postlethwaite and a fine director like Fernando Meirelles cannot save this film from its own teenage crisis. Is it a documentary? A love story? A thriller? A travelogue? The director’s frenetic shots of Africa’s savage beauty and the mesmerizing soundtrack courtesy of the Massai traditions distract us from the film’s potential message. This reviewer did not read the book, but to the film’s credit, it raised two very pertinent questions: what are the roles, limits and responsibilities of governments, diplomats, industrialists, and citizens in a globalized economy? Is our behavior influenced by our place in the “food chain”? Does this matter?
(Adele R) Opening January 12, 2006 Paris, 1912. We meet Jean Hervey (Pascal Greggory), an obviously successful man, as he leaves the train on his way home to his elegant villa, his elegant wife and until this moment, his perfect life. When he gets there he finds a note from his wife, Gabrielle (Isabelle Huppert) telling him she has left him for another man. A few hours later, Gabrielle returns home and the film, until this moment a pastiche of flashbacks from the busy social life of the Herveys in their enormous, luxurious villa (where two maids are required to help each of the pair change clothes for dinner), takes an ominous turn underscored by equally ominous music. Director Patrice Chéreau has said that the film should answer the question, “Why does she come back?”. It doesn’t. Huppert as Gabrielle maintains an icy calm while her husband reacts with hysteria, tears and violence. Some of the excruciating duel between the two plays out in front of the personnel, who appear to be unseeing or at least, unmoved. Another scene is held in the middle of the couple’s famous Thursday night soiree with 30 or so of the Upper Crust looking on with distaste. The violence beneath the surface, the deeply wounding exchanges and Gabrielle’s verbal knife thrusts are the heart of the film; a film, incidentally, in which the dialogue is the third star. To comprehend and appreciate those intense, intellectual exchanges in the original, you would need to be perfectly fluent in French. Failing that, I suggest you wait, for once, for the dubbed German version. The German subtitles whisked by at such speed that they were often impossible to read, and it was clear that one was missing a great deal of what was being said. The images, sets and costumes, and especially Huppert’s face, are haunting and the acting is superb, but I found the film a difficult, uncomfortable experience.
(Mary W) Opening January 12, 2006 In 1982, Yorgos Kyriatou Panayioutou burst into the pop music scene in the duo Wham! Known professionally as George Michael, he and school friend Andrew Ridgeley released their first single, Wham Rap, followed by Young Guns (Go for It!) which lead to a string of Top 10 singles. Just who George Michael was and who he has become is partly explained in intimate detail in his own autobio-documentary which he calls A Different Story. Even if you are not a fan of George Michael as a pop songwriter and lead singer, his story is entertaining and his bluntness refreshing. In his film he unflinchingly relives his outrageously bad fashion sense, stubbly chin and silly hairstyles with clips from Wham! concerts. Wham! crossed international borders, and their videos became a smash on MTV. George’s solo Careless Whisper, released while he was still part of Wham!, was a number-one hit. While they were still hot, the duo split, and George began his solo career in 1987 with the mega-hit Faith. Faith won the Grammy for Best Album in 1988. From that album came six No. 1 hit singles in the U.S.: Faith, Father Figure, One More Try, I Want Your Sex, Monkey, and Kissing a Fool. The album also became the first number one rhythm and blues album in the U.S. by a white artist. His next album, Listen Without Prejudice: Vol. 1 (1990), tried to address criticism that George was merely a frivolous pop musician. His U.S. fans did not accept the change of style, although the album made number one on the U.K. chart. Just how a boy from the suburbs of Hertfordshire, England, became an 80s pop sensation is approached by George with his own bit of disbelief. He goes back to the house where he grew up and talks about his family and friends, but in particular his close relationship with his mother. Clearly George still aches from the early death of his mother. And he is visibly grieved by the loss of his Brazilian lover Anselmo Feleppa to an AIDS-related illness, for whom he wrote Please Send Me Someone (Anselmo’s Song). As Anselmo was dying, George sang at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert and felt that his performance for Anselmo was one of his best. He contributed the hit song Too Funky to the charity album Red, Hot and Dance to raise money for combating AIDS. In 1993 George sued Sony Music Entertainment, claiming they did not adequately support his artistic development. He lost. No new albums were released until he bought his way out of the contract. In 1996 he released Older with Dreamworks Records, but sales were disappointing. His career went from bad to worse when in April 1998 he was arrested in a Beverly Hills public toilet for committing a “lewd act”. Unprecedented tabloid press coverage caused George to speak openly about his homosexuality for the first time. George admitted what a mistake it was for “George Michael” to do such a thing. In retrospect he may have known what was about to happen and subconsciously wanted to use the situation to finally come out. Other famous musicians talk about George in clips interspersed throughout the film: Boy George, Elton John, Geri Halliwell, Mariah Carey and Sting to name a few. George is also reunited for the first time in twenty years with his duo partner Andrew Ridgeley. His partner, Texas fitness instructor Kenny Goss, adds a few thoughts. George was asking for controversy when in 2001 he decided to take on Prime Minister Tony Blair and his obedience to President George W. Bush by depicting Blair as a poodle for Bush in his song/video Shoot the Dog. Although more critical of Bush than Blair, the single was not released in the U.S. and George took a beating from many critics for trying to enter the political arena.
(Becky T) Opening January 12, 2006 Hip Hop singer Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson plays himself (alias Markus) in his own life, growing up in New York City’s Queens. His mother is murdered in a drug deal. Only 12 years old, he follows her footsteps in the drug dealing business, climbing the hierarchy from petty dealer to boss and finally to jail. Crime is only half his life; composing music is the remainder, although still unsuccessfully. In 2000 he is shot down on the street. This experience, as well as the birth of his son, causes him to re-examine his life. He becomes a successful musician. This year he had four records simultaneously on the U.S. Billboard’s Hot 100 charts (the first musician to do this since the Beatles in 1964). This is all true. Possibly fiction is: Markus/Jackson meets his future manager (Terrence Howard who just appeared in Hustle and Flow) in prison. Joy Bryant as childhood girlfriend Charlene stands by her man. A competitive music manager causes trouble, because he fears competition for his own scrawny, almost white, rapper named Dangerous (who looks about as dangerous as a laboratory mouse). In real life Jackson, dropped by his label, released an independent bootleg, and was helped to success by no less than Eminem. Violence in this film by Jim Sheridan is mostly gun shots and obscenities in equal measure, with just one teeny-weeny, anesthesia-free tooth-pulling treatment on a drug dealer. The film loses power in the lovey-dovey, soul-searching scenes of Markus alone on the winter beach at Coney Island. The film rests on Jackson, whose acting and charismatic presence carries the movie. It is interesting for contemporary music lovers and Jackson fans. You could say that the message stresses the importance of having a father or that crime does not pay, but I wouldn’t overrate the film’s power to change the world on either of those problems. (Patricia R) Opening January 19, 2006 The best man falls in love with the bride-to-be and the fun begins when his best friend tries to stop the wedding before she says “I do”!! Murray (Seth Green, Austin Powers), a porn addict and master manipulator, helps his buddy Olly (Irishman Stuart Townsend) get the girl using a few of the oldest tricks in the book. Already no fan of the groom, Murray smacks a lipstick kiss on the groom’s collar, makes a few secret phones calls and plants a pair of lacy panties under his pillow to create enough suspicion until the bride, played by Amy Smart (The Butterfly Effect), wants to call the whole thing off. Olly is a struggling writer who must write a speech for the new couple, but he is stricken with writer’s block. His new feelings of affection for the bride don’t help the situation, but when the groom asks him to write a love letter to repair the damage that Murray has done, his, until now withheld, affections flow freely onto the page. This duplicitous act reunites the couple. Olly, having confronted the groom at the bachelor party the night before, escapes from being handcuffed to a pipe and dashes over land and sea to get to the church on time. The obvious comparison with Dustin Hoffman’s great scene in The Graduate banging on the huge church doors and screaming for Elaine only disappoints. It is usually safer never even to try to repeat one of film history’s greatest moments. Olly standing at the back of the church in a ridiculous wet suit is no Dustin Hoffman. A light hearted romantic comedy directed by Stefan Schwartz, The Best Man is mildly entertaining but will hardly be remembered as great filmmaking, despite the honorable efforts of Mr. Green and ensemble.
(Karen P) Opening January 19, 2006 Journalist Emanuel Goldfarb (Ben Becker) is invited to speak to a class of school children on the topic of being a German Jew living in Germany today. Goldfarb can’t imagine what would be of interest to kids regarding his very ordinary life. He is more than annoyed by the invitation and verbally tells the teacher he will not accept the task. Goldfarb announces to the teacher that he will receive a letter to confirm this fact within two days. Although the teacher is saddened to receive his harsh words, he tries one last time to encourage him to take the assignment because of its importance to the next generation. Outraged at the undue pressure the teacher has now put upon him to perform, Goldfarb hibernates in his apartment to begin the letter. However, he is haunted by the words of the teacher’s closing plea. Goldfarb enters into an amazingly intense monologue being forced to do some soul searching. As he confronts his mask of an “ordinary” Jew, he recognizes that his life, along with his Jewish heritage, is very unordinary. Becker’s stage performance on the big screen is awesome and incredibly thought provoking. My hat goes off to director Oliver Hirschbiegel for risking the presentation of the subject matter with simple creativity.
(Kirsten G) Opening January 19, 2006 Director Rob Marshall follows up his Academy Award-winning film Chicago with Memoirs of a Geisha, based on the acclaimed novel by Arthur Golden. Told in almost fable-form from the memories of the elderly main character, Geisha starts with the young, poor Chiyo being sold by her desperate fisherman father to work as a servant in a geisha house in Japan in 1929. Despite horrendous obstacles – including the obsessive jealousy of the house’s main source of income, the beautiful but spiteful geisha Hatsumomo (Gong Li) – Chiyo blossoms into a lovely geisha, renamed Sayuri (Ziyi Zhang). She is mentored by the legendary geisha Mameha (Michelle Yeoh) and soon becomes one of the most renowned geisha of her time, but she is forever haunted by a secret love for a man she met as a child but can never have, the Chairman (Ken Watanabe). But her fate takes a strange turn when World War II fighting finally arrives in the streets of Japan. Geisha has taken a long time to come to the big screen, with the film having had many directors (including Steven Spielberg, who stayed on as a producer) and actors attached to it over the years, but Marshall proves that his success with Chicago was no fluke. Geisha is beautifully executed, from the intricate sets to the gorgeous costumes to the haunting score by John Williams. It also does quite a good job of condensing the detail-filled novel into a 140-minute film, leaving out portions of the story (unfortunate but necessary) but keeping the emotional impact intact. Much has been made about the fact that the three main actresses are Chinese women playing iconic Japanese characters, but it is hard to argue with their exceptional performances: Zhang, Yeoh, and Li are all superb. Overall, while certainly Marshall has taken some artistic license with his presentation of geisha and their culture, these memoirs are poignant, breathtaking and well-worth experiencing.
(Becky T) Opening January 19, 2006 Peter Bell (Quinten Schram) is an eight-year-old boy in Rotterdam, Holland, in the 1930s, where vintage cars share the narrow streets with horse and wagons, boats unload wares alongside the canals and a Zeppelin lands. Peter’s father is a shoemaker, his mother a seamstress, and his sister a school teacher. He is especially blessed to have doting parents who bear with his pranks against pompous shopkeepers, his own teacher, and Aunt Cato with the wart on her nose. In contrast there is Freckles (Frensch de Groot), who has no shoes, eats meager lunches, and suffers the blows of a nasty, criminal father. The owner of a local newspaper, Paul Velinga, reports Peter’s latest mischief-making on the front page, which increases circulation considerably. After all, Peter dares to do what others secretly desire to do if they dared. He and his friends discover a cache of food which they distribute to poor people like junior Robin Hoods. Each package is stamped with the sign of the Black Hand – made from black shoe cream stolen from Peter’s father. Very successful in Holland, this film is recommended for children seven years and older, although older children might be happy just to read the book by Chris van Abkoude; that would be faster and possibly more exciting. I can also imagine switching the actors for Peter (who is small, dark-haired and sweet looking) and Freckles (who has freckles, naturally, and red hair – a Dennis the Menace type). This is a harmless family film by Maria Peters where the children are often smarter than the adults. The sequel is already on its way: Peter Bell and the Hunt for the Tsar Crown.
(Mary W) Opening January 19, 2006 Rafi (Uma Thurman) at 37 is a New York City success and lives in a luxurious apartment in Manhattan, vacationing with equally successful friends in Southhampton. Her personal life, however, is in shambles as she has just gotten divorced. Although glad to finally be out of the marriage, she suddenly feels her biological clock ticking and realizes that she wants a baby. Her therapist, Dr. Lisa Metzger (Meryl Streep), is helping her work through her true feelings. To complicate matters, Rafi meets David (Bryan Greenberg), the friend of a friend while at the movies. David is immediately entranced by Rafi and after hanging up once on her, gets the courage to actually talk and ask her to dinner. David is 23. The usual angst over the age difference arises but that doesn't stop them from falling into bed together. David is, of course, a struggling artist. Not only a therapist, Dr. Metzger is a Jewish mother of two who argues the importance of their religion when it comes to marriage. She counsels her son not to date anyone that is not Jewish since there is no future in such a relationship. When her son meets an older non-Jewish woman, Dr. Metzger hopes that it will be nothing more than a fling. Her principles as a therapist and convictions as a mother come into conflict when she learns that Rafi's new boyfriend is her son David, both of whom have lied to each other about their ages. Streep gets all the stars for her playful comedic performance and willingness to wear such a goofy hairstyle with horrible glasses. Although Uma Thurman and Bryan Greenberg are simply gorgeous, there is absolutely no chemistry between them and they come across as a pair of good friends playing at being passionate lovers. The scenes in New York are wonderful for reminiscing and there are some truly funny scenes, but the storyline drags. If you are a fan of Meryl Streep, rent the video as she is worth watching.
(Shauna K) Opening January 19, 2006 The year is 1978 and young X (Bow Wow) and his buddies must find a new haunt when their favorite roller skating rink on the south side of the city is closed. When they cross town to Sweetwater Roller Rink on the north side they are in for quite a shock. They are suddenly poor misfits and their skating skills, which they had thought were tops, don’t even come close to comparing to those of Sweetwater’s own fancy, albeit snobby, trick skating team. Add to the mix tension on X’s home front due to the recent death of his mother and his father’s (Chi McBride) unemployment. X grows as he confronts these issues both on and off the rink. And the result is this feel good, 70s nostalgia flick. To be perfectly honest, when this film began, I expected to be disappointed. But as the film progressed, I couldn’t help but enjoy it. All the 70s references reminded me of my own childhood, and all the cheesy lines were hilarious. Roll Bounce, directed by Malcolm D. Lee, is light and fun. This film is definitely best enjoyed with a group of friends who have lived through the 70s, as did this reviewer. Hence I expect it might actually sell more DVDs than tickets at the box office, becoming a staple for 70s flashback parties all over. (Rita PS) Opening January 26, 2006 Michael Haneke’s new film is an excellent and timely reminder that money and status may insulate you but they do not make you invulnerable. George (Daniel Auteuil) and Anne (Juliette Binoche) Laurent play the typical Parisian two-income intellectual bourgeois couple to perfection. George is a successful television talk show host who is affable and intelligent. Auteuil plays him at ease but not smug or plastic. Anne works in publishing, but she goes through life looking out for her family and indifferent to her appearance. Such is Binoche’s talent that you actually forget how lovely she is. Their friends are attractive, intelligent, and expensively dressed. Until the videotapes began arriving, the Laurent’s world would appear to have been a round robin of media events, book launches, school events and dinner parties. There is nothing particularly alarming about the tapes in and of themselves. Haneke is too clever for visual terror. Such images provoke fear only within George and Anne because someone is watching them without their consent. The police department’s indifference to their plight, in the absence of any attempted or actual physical harm, remind George and Anne that there are things from which no institutions can protect you. Feeling caged, they bicker at each other. Comfort gives way to recriminations, distrust, lies. On his own, George must grapple with life and set aside his TV persona. Following the clues, George is forced to remember his childhood outside Paris in 1961. He reckons with his past and discovers that no action exists without a reaction. Life does not stay “outside” the confines of our four walls or gated enclosure because we lock the door. Immigrants don’t stop emigrating simply because we build bigger fences or lock them in prisons or worse. Crime, misery, poverty don’t disappear simply because we don’t think about them. With Caché Haneke has demonstrated he knows his audience. Hence the power of Caché: reliable cars, safe neighborhoods, nice friends are no match for the destructive power of our own actions past, present and future if we are not prepared to take responsibility for them. Second Opinion by Becky T Director Michael Haneke very cunningly develops this relatively simple story. He throws out small clues, one at a time, leaving you anxious about the next piece of the puzzle. Sometimes the puzzle pieces don’t fit. Another Haneke film, Time of the Wolf, had a similar troubling undercurrent with people trying to solve a riddle in order to become the masters of their fates. He upsets people’s feeling of control, probably one of the most basic needs of human nature. Haneke also weaves in the unfamiliar, true story of October 17, 1961, when 200 Algerians were murdered by the Parisian police and thrown into the Seine. The film Georges had an Algerian playmate whom his parents planned to adopt, but didn’t. Film director Mahmood Behrazhia noticed, “There is no music in the film.” No swelling violins announce anxiety, hope, relief or desperation. It’s all in the script and the pictures. Haneke keeps some puzzle pieces for himself, leaving you to think about the topic of childhood liability. (A similar topic of childhood guilt is treated in the best seller The Kite Runner.) This excellent film, which won the 2005 prize for best European film, is highly recommended to anyone interested in serious cinema.
(Kirstan B) Opening January 26, 2006 You all know the folk tale, or at least remember Chicken Licken of “the sky is falling” fame. The moral was something about exaggeration and jumping to conclusions. It wasn’t a very engaging yarn, but most of us find it memorable thanks to those fabulous rhyming names like Foxy Loxy, Goosey Loosey, Cocky Locky, Henny Penny, and Turkey Lurkey. That’s about all that the new Disney version Chicken Little (Himmel und Huhn) has going for it, too. When lil Chix gets another piece of hexagonal sky dropped on him, we are promised “a sophisticated and satirical twist to the classic tale”. Bah! Certainly Disney can pay enough to get some new writers that don’t resort to aliens punching through the sky and tired themes of fathers-not-understanding-sons. So what is new? Well, if you are in a DisneyDigital Theater, you can see it in new 3D-CG technology (we did not). The styling of the characters, while unique individually, didn’t mesh well. Too much action stuffed in a busy frame made me yearn for clean Toy Story vistas of yore. The writer/director Mark Dirndal has the slimmest of pickins on his Disney resumé, claiming the “hilarious and zany” The Emperor’s New Groove as his highlight in 2000 (ouch). Maybe that explains it. You’d be better off with the really creative intepretation of Chicken Little by investing in the children’s book The Stinky Cheese Man and other Fairly Stupid Tales by Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith. While an endearing Finding Nemo this is not, my kids (ages 10 and 4) did actually enjoy the film, warranting the 2 stars. Plus, I liked the addition of Goaty Loaty.
(Shauna K) Opening January 26, 2006 When Adele (Maria Bello) takes her estranged daughter Sarah (Sophie Stuckey) to visit Sarah’s father James (Sean Bean, The Lord of the Rings) in Wales in hopes of rekindling a broken mother-daughter bond, the trip does not turn out at all as expected. But then James does not live anywhere ordinary. He lives in an eerie albeit beautiful house overlooking the sea on property which is surrounded by infamous local legend. Within days of their arrival Sarah suddenly disappears from the seashore. James and Adele frantically search for their daughter but all they manage to find is one of Sarah’s shoes floating atop the water. While practical James calls for and participates in a search and rescue operation, panic-stricken irrational Adele has nightmares, hears noises, and then begins to find mysterious clues as to her daughter’s disappearance. With the very sudden appearance and very strange behavior of a young girl named Ebrill (Abigail Stone), who happens to bear a striking resemblance to Sarah, Adele discovers that the key to finding Sarah lies not in the search of the obvious but rather in demystifying the local lore. Despite the fact that Maria Bello and Sean Bean’s performances are quite good and very believable, The Dark simply falls far short of being anything spectacular. Typical of most horror-thriller films, it does contain plenty of predictable scenes where the image darkens, the volume gets louder, everyone in the audience thinks “No, don’t go up there! No, don’t stick your hand in there!”, and then suddenly a super loud noise makes the audience jump. But it seems to take too long for the film to get there due to a bit of a slow start followed by a few "teases" in which the jump never comes. However, the action and intrigue do pick up eventually. From this point on The Dark gets weird and somewhat interesting, but unfortunately never really good.
(Shauna K) Opening January 26, 2006 In 1972 the world was shocked and aghast with horror when at the Olympics in Munich eleven athletes from the Israeli team were taken hostage and then savagely murdered. This is where Steven Spielberg’s gripping tale Munich begins. Soon after the tragedy Avner (Eric Bana) is recruited by the Israeli government to lead a team of five tasked to hunt down and assassinate members of the Palestinian terrorist group Black September who were supposedly responsible for the atrocity. One by one Avner’s team finds and eliminates the names on their list. But soon the hunters become targets themselves, and we see the immense psychological toll of the game. Murder leads only to more murder, every violent act begets another which is even more violent, and every death results in a replacement who is even more unscrupulous. We quickly see how senseless the unending cycle of violence is. The acting in this film is superb and there is plenty of action to keep the viewer on the edge of his or her seat, though the film can be a bit difficult to follow if one wasn’t yet alive at that time or doesn’t have much previous knowledge about the event. Despite that, I think it is the sign of an excellent film when one can empathize with cold blooded murderers. The assassins on both sides aren’t portrayed simply as killing machines, but as humans with wives and children whom they love, who are capable both of good and evil, fighting for what they believe in most: home. How appropriate for Spielberg to produce this film now; when not by chance many parallels can be drawn when comparing the world post Munich and post 9-11; for Munich is not a film without a moral.
|
||||||||||||||
Fun with Dick and Jane (Dick und Jane) 
Sommer vorm Balkon 
Yes 
The Constant Gardener (Der Ewige Gärtner) 
Gabrielle - Liebe meines Lebens 
George Michael - A Different Story 
Get Rich or Die Tryin'
The
Best Man (Ein Trauzeuge zum Verlieben) 
Just an Ordinary Jew (Ein ganz gewöhnlicher Jude) 
Memoirs of a Geisha (Die Geisha) 
Peter Bell and the Mystery of the Black Hand (Pietje Bell und das Geheimnis der schwarzen Hand) 
Prime (Couchgeflüster - Die erste therapeutische Liebeskomödie) 
Roll Bounce 
Caché 
Chicken Little (Himmel und Huhn) 
The Dark 
Munich (München) 
Questions?