Wendy and Lucy
This is one movie to watch. I will as soon as i get a chance.
NY Times Review:
Star Trek (2009) – Official Trailer 2
Now …that is something to wait for! the new Star Trek movie (release 6-8 May 2009 worldwide). For the author of this blog, the adventures of Captain Kirk, Spock, or later Jean Luc Piccard, are in the same league with Indiana Jones, Star Wars (episode 4 and 5), Battlestar Galactica (2004) and the likes. Meaning: they overcome my intellectual critical skills. These kind of movies either you love them or hate them. I personally love them, with the risk of sounding heretical, I love them as much as I love Krzysztof Kieslowski’s or Igmar Bergman’s works. Having said that, I just came across the brand new trailer for the upcoming Star Trek movie which chronicles the early career years of the components of the original crew, that is James T. Kirk and his fellow USS Enterprise crew members. I am not sure how the movie will be, it is in the hands of J.J. Abrams, I am sure I will go and see it, the trailer it is not that bad.
In case your Internet Explorer cannot play this video, try directly from Youtube here
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Star Trek: how 20 minutes of early footage engaged my warp drive
A good (pre)review of the first 20 minutes of this new Star Trek movie appeared on the Guardian some days ago, the journalist says: “But dammit, Jim, if it doesn’t look like a half decent movie.” (read the whole story here)
Quantum what?
There is no much to say about Quantum of Solace, the 22nd James Bond feature, a part that it is less Bond and more and more a copy of Jason Bourne’s franchise. It picks up from where Casino Royale ended, and it evolves in a rather clumsy intricate web of nonsensical plot-lines and run-to-die action-scenes. It lacks the intensity and drama that made Casino Royale a good movie, afterall. For a start, villains and heroes in the two stories are quite different. Le Chiffre in Casino was much more sadistic and interesting a character than the new villain in Quantum, Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric). Eva Green’s Vesper was more developed than Quantum’s bond gilr, Olga Kurylenko’s Camille.
The plot revolving around a thirsty-crazy businessman (Greene) and his obsession for water has something eco-friendly attached to it, (environmentalists will be happy) but its role in the overall movie narrative is confusing for the audience: it is never really clear what is it all about? What is Quantum? There are too many plot-lines to follow, and the fast-paced editing does not help: if you blink one moment you are lost. There is desperation, broken hearts, revenge, water supplies, third world economies, etc… etc… and yes, a mysterious organization whose shape and nature is never really explained throughout the whole movie. Quantum of Solace is too many movies in one. One thing must be noted though: notwithstanding that the movie is probably the less Bond-like movie of all times, Craig once more proves us that he is the perfect choice for the role of the British spy: he is charismatic, he is strong, he is dark, he is sexy. Nonetheless, in this movie, continue reading here
Chigurh for ever!
The 2008 Cohen Borthers’ movie No country for old man is a fairly simple straightforward plot: a man, 
Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin), while wandering in the desert comes across the scene of a massacre: dead bodies everywhere, stashes of heroine or cocaine in the back of Pick Up trucks. It is clearly the scene of a drug deal that went horrible wrong. Brolin follows a trace of blood and finds a dead man with a case, inside the case are 2 million dollars in cash. Unsurprisingly, Brolin takes the money and leaves the scene. Then, later on that night he makes a mistake and returns to the scene. It is a fatal mistake. The Mexican dealers find out about him and put Anton Chigurh (Javier Barden), a psychopath killer, on his trail, to recover the money and kill Brolin. The movie is all there, but this is not Trantino, and like the original Cormack McCarty’s book and like in every Cohen Brother’s movie, simplicity is just an other way to dissect the complexity and absurdity behind most of human behavior. This is a proper almost perfect thriller/noir movie, a master class in direction and acting, so good that you might find yourself disappointed by its (coherent – anti-hollywood) end.
Lust, Caution (Se, jie)
20 January, 2008
Not very cautious, quite lust, but a bit lost
Ang Lee’s latest movie, Lust, Caution is probably not one of his best, yet it is worth a trip to the cinema. As always with Lee, the movie is beautifully shot, the acting firm and truthful. Yet I expected more.
Probably it is too long and it did not really convince me at the end. The story is simple and sometimes too weak: it is based on a short story about a woman (Wei Tang) who in Shanghai 1942 tries to help the Chinese resistance to kill the head of the police, Mr. Yee (Tony Leung) a collaborationist of the Japanese army that controls China. She gains Yee’s attention and becomes his lover. The relationship between the two is very intense and, rightly, the movie needs time to build up the tension. B
ut something is not really working in the movie, the focus is too much on the lovers, and the other characters are often mere shadows, thin-paper characters. Yet, some scenes are simply beautiful. The sado-masochistic tension in the sexual intercourses between the veteran Tony Leung opposite newcomer Wei Tang are so intense that the spectators feel like they are peeping into the privacy of two weirdly-attracted-by-each-other lovers: a master and a slave. continue reading here
