What I See Is What You Get

Since my childhood I've been dreaming and fantasizing. Thinking about how it would be if I ever were to be raising a child. Thinking how it would be to survive a war, like Anne Frank did. Thinking about how I’d survive on my own in a world destroyed by nature or war. And that’s where “The road” fits in perfectly. Mankind has gone too far and nature doesn’t take it anymore. The U.S.A. is destroyed by flames and earthquakes and from the start of the movie all we see are ashes and  crashing trees. The are no living creatures anymore and food is scarce. What happened before that is unclear (also the fact if this happened on the whole world) and life as we know it is indeed over. Civilization has ended and the humans that remain (few!) have gone into pillage and cannibalism.
We follow the story of a man and his son, travelling south, in search for something (better?). And what they encounter during their travel is exactly how I imagined it years ago. Due to this fact, this movie gripped me from beginning till end and left me emotionally broken. The bond of the two is perfectly shown on screen and you just travel in fear with them, not knowing if who they encounter is on the good or bad side. The father and son are excellently played by Viggo Mortensen and Kodi Smit-McPhee.

To me, this movie is the first one not to miss this year!

My rating: 8 out 10

It was a busy cinenamotraphic weekend and it ended with a good old Disney production: The princess and the frog. Based in southern USA, this (handdrawn!) animated movie tells the story of the girl Tiana which dreams about opening the restaurant her father never managed to do. At the party of her girlfriend (who is and has everything Tiana isn't/ hasn't) she meets a frog. And what do you do when you encounter yourself with a frog? Right, you kiss it! And that basically in a few words the opening to a sweet and good return to the handdrawn movies for Disney. And it's well done may I saw so. Sure, it has it's dips, but the songs (jazz/ blues and several of them!) and the characters are interesting enough to keep the children on the edge of their seats. For parents this may be a little too shallow, but we have to rest sometimes also. :)
All in all, good entertainment, happy children and that's what it's basically all about. Enjoy it with your little ones!

My son's rating: 4 out of 5 cookies

My rating: 7 out of 10

My wife and I went for a night out and between "Edge of darkness" and "Sherlock Holmes" she chose the latter. And boy, did I have a bad time... I didn't like the movie. It's all greys and blacks and the story is as dull and boring as the colours. I didn't feel a chemistry between Holmes and his side-kick Watson and was just bored to tears with their ongoing jabbering and arguing. The movie is like this: bla bla bla, fist-fight, bla bla bla, fist-fight, bla bla bla, cage-fight, bla bla bla, let’s put some big explosion in it, bla bla bla, another fist-fight, bla bla bla, the end.

My rating: 4 out 10

Friday night we saw "Brothers", which we wanted to see for a while now. We both liked it, as the drama was put well on the screen by an excellent cast. With Natalie Portman, Tobey Maguire and Jake Gyllenhaal you can't go wrong and indeed you're pulled into their problems, feeling the twists in your heart. Strong drama!

My rating: 7 out 10

Last Sunday my son and I had a "father-son-day" as mother was out to a high-tea with her girlfriends. The cinemas didn't show any worthy movies for children, therefore we decided to make our own cinema at home. Before I knew it, my son had closed all curtains and shades in our place and we had complete darkness. We sat down with some drinks and our fresh-made apple-cake and pressed play on the DVD-player: "Ponyo" was the chosen one.
Beautiful! Hayao Miyazaki has once more outdone himself by delivering a dream-like animated movie for children and adults alike. The story is about Ponyo, a fish-like creature, which meets the human boy Sosuke. They bond and a friendship for life is created. The only problem is Ponyo's father, living on the bottom of the ocean, who doesn't want his daughter to have contact with humans, because of their polluting and destructive ways... Ponyo then escapes her situation, with all consequences for humanity after her change into the human world.

The animation and story are beautiful. Just like "Spirited away" you're drawn into this world and pulled by the feelings on screen. I loved the movie and my son was endeared by Ponyo. Recommendable to all ages!

My son's rating: 5 out of 5 cookies

My rating: 8 out of 10

I just finished watching one of the biggest mysteries ever. And I think it will keep me busy for the coming days too. I started up this movie thinking of it as a horror. And even though it’s got a bit of blood, it’s the brain-games, suspense and mystery that put you on the wrong foot. Unfortunately I cannot write much about the story here, because if I did I would spoil a lot about the movie. The only thing I can tell you that it’s about a couple of friends who go out sailing on a yacht, only to be surprised by a sudden storm.
If you haven’t seen any trailers or read anything about it, please refrain from doing so until you see the movie.

For now I’m just going to bed thinking about WHAT I just saw and WHAT the explanation is for this all.

My rating: 8 out 10

Sunday it was my son's turn to pick a movie. He got very anxious as I mentioned the sequel to the first “Alvin and the Chipmunks”-movie and jumping around the living-room, eager to go to the cinema.
We saw the movie, but he hasn’t mentioned it. He told me he liked it when I asked him, but his expression and happiness wasn’t the same as before the movie. I think he was disappointed in what he saw, as during the movie he didn’t laugh much at the jokes. To some point I understand why, because the setting (high-school) isn’t something that appeals to a kid of 6 years old.
I laughed at several jokes and the animated stuff looked very nice. But the adults in the movie are standard and the youth attending high-school are so popular that as an adult you soon start to wonder about the groceries that must be bought next day.

No, this movie isn’t as good and surprising as the first one and repeats itself at several points. Because of the lack of good movies directed at children currently in theatres, this is in my opinion the best one to visit. Let’s hope some quality will arrive shortly…

My son's rating: 3 out of 5 cookies

My rating: 5 out of 10

Last weekend we were able to see "Seven pounds", which is already an oldie from 2008. It's a pretty depressing movie, but I liked it nonetheless. The only thing that I was disappointed in was that the end was basically revealed at the start of the movie. On the positive note: Rosario Dawson looked pretty as ever and Will Smith wasn’t that annoying. Good movie to watch during the winter-depression!

My rating: 7 out 10

11 - Up

After Ratatouille and Wall-e, Pixar rose back to the top with a strong animated movie which appeals to both younger- and elder audiences. Reviewing this movie back on DVD the past week, I enjoyed several scenes once more and the bird and dog are wonderful!

10 – Eden lake

Ah, this thriller/ horror gripped me and if I think back on it, it still manages to terrify me of going on holidays to some lake in the United Kingdom. In fact, this movie made the English a lot scarier in my experience. One of the best horrors of the year!

9 - Martyrs

The best horror of the year without a doubt! This movie has passed my personal scare-frontier (which was set earlier by “Hellbound”) and left me bedazzled with the thought-provoking story. In a year of average horrors and bad sequels, this movie was fresh like the blood which spilled in it.

8 – The hurt locker

This movie still hasn’t played in Dutch theatres, which really makes me doubt about the message Dutch cinemas are trying to bring across. It’s not for nothing that this movie has been rated as the best-reviewed movie of 2009. For a movie which didn’t get the amount of attention that a lot of other (crap) titles got, this is hands down a title not to miss. Best war-movie of 2009 in my list.

7 – Star Trek

The timing for the release of this movie was excellent, as it was released during a mediocre period of 2009. At that moment it was the most beautiful picture I had seen so far during the year. But as I mentioned in my review, the movie was like a chewing-gum and I’ve indeed forgotten a lot about the movie. Nonetheless, one of the best science fiction of the year and I’m still jealous that J.J. Abrams (as a Star Wars-fan) didn’t get the possibility of doing one of the Star Wars prequels, because he would have done excellently so.

6 – Hotel for dogs

I can hear you go “WTF?” at this moment. :) Last year I had “Wall-e” on the sixth spot, but “Hotel for dogs” was for me the best movie to see with your children. My son and I had so much fun with this movie and it, just like “Up”, appeals to all ages. It has lots of humor, excitement and is very endearing.

5 – The wrestler

Mickey Rourke’s comeback was an excellent one. This movie left me gasping for air, as the story hit me hard in the chest. Beautiful!

4 – Gran Torino

Mister Eastwood once more delivered an wonderful picture, just like he did with “Changeling” before this one. “The wrestler” left me without air, “Gran Torino” left me crushed in my seat with the message for the American community. If this didn’t open their eyes, I don’t know what will.

3 – District 9

It is obvious that 2009 was the year which put science fiction movies back on the map and “District 9” still pulls me in. This week I showed this movie to my wife (she didn’t like it!) and I found myself leaving my desk several times and sitting myself next to her to re-see different parts of the movie once more. For me this was the biggest surprise of 2009 with its originality and story.

2 – Inglourious basterds

Quentin Tarantino’s return to the cinema left me with a big deal of respect for the man. Totally refreshing and its history-bashing-approach makes it an instant classic. This movie has everything to entertain you and up to the moment it came out, it was the best movie of 2009 for me. The dialogs in this movie are unrivaled and make it a true Tarantino picture. Question for you: is it better than “Pulp fiction”?

1 - Avatar

Before this movie premiered I predicted that it would go on breaking records and I’m happy that yesterday I read on the Internet about the first broken record. “Avatar” is in my opinion the best movie of 2009 and in IMAX 3D it is truly a joy to watch. Every cent and drop of sweat that was spent making this movie translates itself on the screen with the amount of detail you see. If you still haven’t seen it, I sincerely want to recommend you to go see it. I say this because for the upcoming years you won’t be presented with another movie that will equal the (visual) beauty of this production. This, my friends, is a masterpiece!

First of all: a very happy new year to you all; may this year bring all of us some entertaining and quality stuff on the little and big screen!

We opened up the year 2010 with “The blind side”, the latest movie with Sandra Bullock. And let me start positively this year: as a not-so-much-fan of Miss Bullock, she really surprised me with her acting. It’s up to par and nothing like anything she’s done in the past; great performance!
In this movie, which is based on a true story, Sandra and her family take a young black kid from the street into their home. Their caring and love is given to this boy, which eventually becomes an All American football player and first round NFL draft pick. The story in this movie is heartwarming and so positive, that I could interpret it as a sign for things to come in this year.
If you’re down-hearted and looking for some good feeling, this movie might just be for you.

My rating: 8 out 10

Since an ex-colleague of mine introduced me to Will Ferrell and his movies, I've been very thankful for that. Will Ferrell manages to bring a type of humor on the big screen which makes me giggle all movie long and give me ache in my stomach. But with this “Land of the lost” Will has lost it. In other words, he slipped hard.
When the interviews at the start and the end of the movie are the funniest parts, you know that something is wrong. In between it went into the insane, illogical and unfunny. The characters are nowhere interesting and the story too unbelievable to take seriously. I just hope that Will's next movie brings some tears back to my eyes!

My rating: 5 out 10

A couple of nights ago I saw Rob Zombie's second experiment with “Halloween”. It was a nice horror with some explicit gruesome scenes. But the addition of dreams, white horses and a lady in white (a part played once again by Rob's wife) took away a lot of the speed from the movie. Michael Myers is a killing-machine and shouldn't been busy with paranormal stuff. Maybe Rob wanted us to know what plays out in the killers' head, but I couldn't care much about it. I just wanted to see Michael do his thing, and that is what I got to some extent...

My rating: 6 out 10

Last night, the night before Christmas. After all the festivities everyone went to bed. That was about 22:00... So what should I do? Yep, I turned on "Saw VI"; what else is there to do on such a night?! :)
The anual release of yet another Saw-movie is getting boring and if you remember my review earlier this year on the fifth part, you'll remember that I found it quite bad. And the bad things that applied to the fifth chapter (and those before it) was that all originality and intelligence was nowhere to be found. And that may be applied to this movie too. 

But! This sixth chapter ain't that bad at all. It may not be a classic, but it seems that it could be the end to the series, where answers are being answered. Could they give it closure or will they keep milking our wallets? Well, going from the figures ($14 million for this one where all others made over $100) they could conclude that people have become tired of seeing endless torture without any meaning and call it a day. But I think there will be a seventh part nonetheless. And if it will be as "good" as this one, I won't even mind...

My rating: 6 out 10

On our trip to Hungary I put some movies on my netbook to watch during the journey and our stay in Hungary. One I watched with my son in the airplane, is "Mr. Bean's holiday" from 2007. Actually it is pretty funny and we liked it. It may copy scene's from other movies and re-use jokes from his tv-shows, but overall it's refreshing to see Bean in a different setting than his home-country England.
If you look for a movie-suitable-for-all for Christmas-eve, this could be it. Merry Christmas everyone!

My rating: 7 out 10

The second trailer I want to leave you with, is one of a real super-hero: Iron Man 2. It's been released today on the Internet and even though it shows the lovable cocky Tony Stark in glory, it didn't leave me with a feeling that I want to see this movie extremely much. Nonetheless, it shows some cool action-scenes and Tony is as funny as ever.

Take a look at the trailer and leave your comment afterwards.

After the beauty of Avatar, it is time to start looking into the upcoming movie year of 2010. And I want to use this space to bring two trailers under your attention.
The first one is for the comedy "Kick-ass". A movie that deals with a bunch of geeks who have no super-powers whatsoever and decide to become super-heroes. The idea is pretty funny and I think that the cast will bring this movie to life.

Please judge for yourself here and leave me your opinion on it.

Without any doubt I can say that tonight I saw the best movie of 2009. It’s good to conclude that, because what’s been offered to us this year has been overall weak. And to end the year this way, makes me only wonder which productions will follow by using the same technique James Cameron has developed during the past 12 years.

This movie is perfect in every way. Sure, you will always have people that can bash about something in the movie, but it’s entertainment! In contrary to others which pursued this same goal (remember those tin robots back in June?!), you are entertained with mind-blowing visuals and sound, story and characters. And that’s what I want to see; I want to be emerged in a movie. I want to forget everything and everyone around me and back home and be pulled into the world which the director has created for me. And that’s exactly what happened! The planet of Pandora you see on screen looks and feels so real that you actually almost can smell the plants, trees and animals. You watch this movie as if you’re really there with the Na’vi. The creatures are fabulous and fantastic. And then the scenery; the huge (and I mean HUGE) tree; it’s flabbergasting! The 3D-usage adds to the experience, by adding depth to the surroundings without overusing its power.

The action scenes are impressive; not only was there put a lot of detail in effort in creating the planet, but also on the ships and human technology. It’s as if it’s real, like a common thing you see daily on the TV-news. Every movement and mimic can be seen on screen during the action scenes. It’s all there fully in motion on screen, unlike the “in-your-face-moving-metal-which-transforms-into-a-robot-in-the-next-shot-without-actually-seeing-a-car-transform-into-a-robot”-movie earlier this year.

I could go on and on, but I just want to say that Avatar (in IMAX 3D!) is in my opinion a movie not to miss. You have never seen anything like this and I think we won’t see something equal in the upcoming year. This is a masterpiece and there are not enough superlatives to describe this experience. I will now go to bed a happy man, knowing that I’ve seen something that will keep a smile on my face for a long time…

My rating: 10 out of 10

"Sunshine cleaning" is the second and last movie we saw. Pretty funny movie with an excellent cast and sweet story. But (in) the end I found it to be ok, but not as good as it started. It's basically a story in which events reoccur as they did in the beginning. It's funny and entertaining, but just like a chewing-gum; you enjoy it in the beginning and in the end you're still chewing on it, not knowing why you're doing so when there is no taste in it anymore.
Don't get me wrong, it's a nice movie, but I expected more from the people that brought "Little Miss Sunshine", which I have yet to see. I hope that one is a bit better and memorable.

My rating: 7 out of 10

This weekend we were able to see two movies and this one was the first of them:"Law abiding citizen". And let me start by telling you that I found it an excellent picture. This action thriller has wit, thrills and suspense which will keep you on the edge of your seat for the whole ride. The ending may be a little bit disappointing, but overall this movie is surprising and entangling. We both enjoyed it and is a nice surprise in this gray movie year. I'm not going into the story, but will only tell you that is a critical eye-blink on the American justice system. See it!

My rating: 8 out of 10

Sinterklaas is in the Netherlands and of-course my son is eagerly behaving good in expectation of a nice present. Therefore we went yesterday to the cinema to see the latest movie of this good old man:"Sinterklaas en de verdwenen pakjesboot". Last year's episode was "ok...", but this year it was pretty bad. It was filled with cameo's of dutch actors and other "famous" people, which some of them haven't been in the picture for quite some time now (some more than 30 years!). I don't want to go much into the story, as it is meant for the children. My son is 5 now and still believes in Sinterklaas. But there were several moments during the movie that he started turning in his seat. He hasn't done this during the last few movies we saw together. Nonetheless, at the end, he told me he liked it.
For us parents this is one boring hour to pass through. The humour is dry as a 90-year old granny's private part. I didn't hear one laugh at the jokes that were directed at us. Or maybe it was because I fell asleep during this movie. Skip this year's Sinterklaas-movie!

My son's rating: 3 out of 5 cookies

My rating: 3 out of 10