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Reviews
Fucking Åmål (1998)
Just something I wanna say
I'll be fair with you. Accept for a few Dutch ones, this is the first cultfilm I've ever seen, and also the first Swedish one. That was new: I'm used to almost ignoring the subtitles, most of the things I see are in Dutch or in English. Ah, well. Now let's get to the interesting part. This movie is about a 16-year old girl named Agnes. She has a tough life: she isn't very popular (not at all), her only friend is in a wheelchair and she's a lesbian. Her mother (who doesn't know about her daughter's sexual preferences), organises a party for her birthday. Agnes doesn't want to give it but she does it anyway. It turns out to be a big mistake: only her best friend shows up, but Agnes is so frustrated that the friendship ends in a fight. SPOILER ALERT Agnes' big love is the 14-year old Elin, one of the school's most popular students. She can get all the boys, but she's bored and desperate. Åmål is a very boring place, and on a certain night, Elin and her older sister Jessica have no party to go to, accept for a party they Elin doesn't want to go to and Agnes' party. They decide to go to Agnes party and get drunk there. Because they want to whether Agnes really is or isn't a lesbian, Elin makes a bet with Jessica and kisses Agnes on her mouth. At first, they leave Agnes alone and they're all drunk and excited themselves. But as time goes by, Elin develops a certain feeling for Agnes: love. She finds out that she's also a lesbian, but she wants to keep it a secret so she fakes a relationship with a total loser who's in love with her. The problems grow and grow... and grow. Rebecka Liljeberg and Alexandra Dahlström were really great in this movie, and so were all the other actors and actresses. Youngsters and children can act (unlike what we've seen in Star Wars Episode 1). I can think of only one bad thing in the movie: the close-ups. You should see for yourself. But it's not too disturbing, so: great film.
X-Men (2000)
Quality: Adamantium
First of all, I'm NOT a reader of the comics. I know most of the characters and some basic storylines, I've seen the old animated series and I will watch Evolution and I've read some issues, but I don't read the comics. I'm kinda new in the comic scene, but I know enough.
My favorite X-Man is Wolverine and I can't wait to see Hugh Jackman back in part two. Man, was he good! I also saw the original Wolvie, Dougray Scott, in M:I2, and although he was good, he couldn't have been better then Hugh. So in a way, M:I2 has done something right in the end.
Wolverine is without a doubt the main character of the movie. Singer has improved the concept of his claws: coming out of the knuckles and being bigger, they look staddier. Good job.
For the rest: not the best plot ever, but in this movie, the plot's not important. It's the characters that come to life, the great music, the strong cast and fantastic special effects. This movie is about the best comic book adaption ever and it's the start of a new line of such movies. X-Men 2 and 3, Spiderman, Spawn 2 (come on, part 1 sucked, it should've been more like the comics), Blade 2, Fantastic Four, etcetera. What I really mean is that the Stan Lee-style was not in this movie. I don't mean to disrespect Stan Lee, after all he created it, but his characters are always a little bit unreal and too happy and the uniforms look colorful and unrealistic. That's why I like the new X-Men suits.
What I also liked, were the references and quotes: humor. Toad imitating Darth Maul and thus imitating himself, the yellow spandex, Logan's disbelief about the names, and so on. Some details from the comics may have been changed or lost, but the result is great.
Conclusion: X-Men is an amusing, fascinating and good movie that's made for a sequel. If you haven't seen the movie yet: sorry for spoiling it, and now get the hell outta your chair and go see it!
The Haunting (1999)
Slow in the beginning, great at the end
Although the movie a starts very slow, and the effects part started half-way through the film, it's worth a look. Great acting work of course, and not even a bad story. Too bad the CGI isn't as good as it will be in a few years, you can see it's computer generated here and there (the eyes of the children's ghosts in example), but for the rest, it's really cool. The 'fight' between Nell and Crain in the end is over too fast, it should have lasted a little longer and it could have been more complicated. Conclusion: although I've seen better, it's a good movie with an even better cast that makes you speculate about such things as ghosts and stuff.
The Crucible (1996)
Satan goes to Salem
A good movie with a good story, that's what I think it is. The movie describes how the American pilgrim fathers responded to witchcraft, which was a serious crime in 1692 (that's the year of the story). Every actor, young and old, acts perfectly. A little boring sometimes, but a good movie, like I said.
Cow and Chicken (1997)
About the series
Cow and Chicken is a great cartoon by David Feiss. With the sub-cartoon IM Weasel the series started at Cartoon Network, a sation since 1992. Cartoon Network had three successful cartoons at one time: the first one was Dexter's Lab by Genndy Tartakovsky, the second one was Cow and Chicken and Johhny Bravo, a Van Partible creation, came third. My personal favorite was Cow and Chicken, so let me tell you about the series if you have never heard of it. Cow and Chicken are brother and sister with two pairs of legs for parents. Cow is 7, Chicken is 11. In most of the cartoons, which are always +/- 7 minutes long, the Red Guy (Devil, Satan, Diablos etc.) shows up and is the bad guy. There are 3 Cow and Chicken seasons, that made Cartoon Network more populair. IM Weasel is a weasel who is rich, successful, intelligent and handsome (according to some female fans). His 'enemy', IR Baboon, wants to be like him but just hasn't the brains for that. Sometimes they work together, but most of the time Baboon is doing stupid things so that Weasel has to save him. IM Weasel is splitting of the Cow and Chicken show to get one of his own. The episodes will be on TV soon and the last Cow and Chicken episodes will be too. Yes, the series are ending. Too bad, because there could have been many more, like a movie or an album, just like South Park or the Rugrats. But I guess the series were not successful enough. For more info about Cow and Chicken you've got to visit some of the websites.
Stephan Krabbendam.