The Queen

The Queen (2006)
Director: Stephen Frears

Nothing looses me faster than a boring movie, and this movie lost me fast.

I saw this movie in the theater; everyone else in the theater was over 60 years old. I guess that should have told me something right there, but I heard it was an excellent film so I sat down. If you are at all interested in the queen or the royal family then this is the film for you. If you are not interested in those things, you will probably be bored out of your mind. I was.

I try not to bring my ideas about a films subject matter to the theater; I try to watch movies of all kinds with an open mind and try to judge them on their own merits, but I just couldn’t have cared less about anything in the world (I think that stems from my intense boredom with all things political). The movie figured "Well she is The Queen. Everyone’s interested in the Queen right?" Wrong.

This is the story of the death of Princess Diana and how it affected the queen and the royal family.

Helen Mirren was amazing I have to say; she totally owned that role. But I just don’t care enough about the queen for this movie to be really interesting. It didn’t seem like the director or writer did enough to make her a sympathetic character. She seemed cold, aloof and downright nasty sometimes. I think people from the UK will find this movie enlightening as it explains why (or "a possible reason why" since it is fiction) the queen behaved the way she did after Diana’s death, but it certainly isn’t an "edge-of-your-seat" thriller. I think it has to go on my "Top 5 most boring films ever" list.

My rating: 2 out of 5

Joyeux Noel

Joyeux Noel (2005)
Director: Christian Carion

This is the best "anti-war" movie I have ever seen. But in a good way. Normally I don’t care for movies that try to tell me how horrible war is. How stupid do they think people are? "It is bad when people are killed" or "war is horrible" the movies tell us. Oh really? Well thank you Captain Obvious. "Joyeux Noel" takes an entirely different approach.

Would you want to kill someone with whom you had shared a glass of champagne just minutes earlier? Would you want to kill someone who had been on your soccer team just minutes earlier? Would you want to kill someone who had just given you a chocolate bar and returned your lost wallet? When was the last time you heard questions like that asked in a war movie. I’m going to bet never.

This movie is the true story about the Christmas truce in December of 1914. The Scots, The French and the Germans all laid down arms Christmas eve and Christmas day. It started out with each side singing Christmas carols and ended up with the soldiers on all sides joining on the battlefield to exchange food and drink, play cards, play soccer, and on and on.

You know how when you are traveling and you meet someone who is from your hometown, or you meet someone who is friends with one of your friends, there is this almost instant bond created? That’s what this movie is all about. Its about soldiers coming face to face with "the enemy" and finding friends. The ultimate "anti-war" sentiment lies in knowing that under different circumstances you would be good friends with the people you are trying to kill.

One of the more interesting (and sad) parts of the movie is how the war officials on all sides responded to the Christmas truce. But you’ll have to watch the movie yourself to see what happened.

There is not much action or violence in this movie; if that is what you are looking for you should go somewhere else. You should see this movie. It is one of the more powerful movies I have seen in the last several years.

My rating: 5 out of 5

Rashömon

Rashömon (1950)
Director: Akira Kurosawa

I hate to review this movie. I know its one of those films that every film student knows and loves. I hate to review it because I am afraid after I give my verdict I will never be allowed to make a film again. But I have to be honest; I just didn’t like this movie even though I really really wanted to.

I think maybe this movie is important because it was new and original for the 1950’s, but now that it’s 2006…its really not that great. I suppose it is a decent movie and all in terms of technical skill, but I was bored to death. It seemed really slow. Some of the fight scenes seemed way over the top (as did most of the acting) and then other fight scenes seemed so ridiculous that were 100% unbelievable. I mean this is Kurosawa we are talking about. The guy is supposed to be one of the few real film geniuses. So how is it he can’t film a fight scene that makes me say “Yeah, this is real. These guys are really trying to hurt each other”.

This may have been one of the firsts time the whole idea of subjective narrative was done, and they say this is the first film that anyone pointed the camera at the sun. Well, if that’s all this film has to offer I could really just have skipped it. I highly doubt I will ever watch this film ever again in my life. There is just way to much other good material out there to waste on films like this. Sorry Kurosawa.

My rating: 3 out of 5

Movie ratings...

So I am falling way behind in writing reviews. Until I can catch up and write a couple more, I will just add a list of ratings.

Ivanhoe (1954) – 2
Last Tango in Paris – 2
Duck Soup – 2
Network – 2
Stick It – 3
Prozac Nation – 3
Milagro Beanfield War – 3
Dark Crystal – 3
Start Trek: Generations – 3
Click – 3
Bringing up baby – 3
Pretty in Pink – 3
Sixteen Candles – 3
The Illusionist – 3
Prairie Home Companion – 3
It happened one night – 3
All about eve – 3
Internal Affairs – 3
Shallow Grave – 4
Flag of our Fathers - 4
The Color of Money – 4
Little Miss Sunshine – 4
The Proposition – 4
Thank you for Smoking – 4
E.T. – 4
Manchurian Candidate (1962) – 4
Star Trek: First Contact – 4
Scream – 4
Glengarry Glen Ross – 4
Stagecoach – 4
Sabrina (1954) – 4
Frankenstein – 4
Serenity – 4
Down in the Valley – 4
Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) – 4
One Last Thing - 4
Cinema Paradiso – 5
Rebel without a cause – 5
Singing in the Rain – 5
Steamboat Bill/Convict 13/Daydreams – 5
Invasion of the body snatchers (1978) – 5
Breakfast Club – 5
The Prestige - 5

The cinematography of The Tetrapak Commercial - Forests

Tetrapak Commercial - Forest
Cinematographer: Unknown

The cinematography of "A Very Long Engagement"

"A Very Long Engagement"
Cinematographer: Bruno Delbonnel
Nominated for the 2005 Academy Award for Best Cinematography