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Kimimela
Reviews
Tuck Everlasting (2002)
Breathtaking!
I had never heard of "Tuck Everlasting" until I stumbled across it here on IMDb while googling around. I saw that it featured Alexis Bledel, one of my favourite actresses. To me, Bledel has always been Rory Gilmore, so "Tuck Everlasting" appealed to me also, because Bledel's role seemed so unlike that of Rory.
Keeping an open mind, I searched for the movie, found it and sat down to watch it. And it took my breath away. The story was excellent, and now after I've learned that it's adapted from a novel, I'm wondering whether the script differs much from the book. What struck me as most amazing with this movie is how well cast it was, and how everything fits together. Bledel is fabulous in her role as upper-class Winifred Foster. Just as astounding was Scott Bairstow, playing the cynical Miles Tuck, who on contrary to his optimistic and carefree brother Jesse, knew that the family secret not only is a bliss. The man in the yellow suit, played by sir Ben Kingsley, provides an air for the movie that can only be described as enigmatic. The use of scenery and music also left me profoundly satisfied. The tune from the music box was very enchanting and was used at exactly the right moments.
The movie deals with being afraid of death and not being able to die. Who wouldn't wanna live forever, and who isn't afraid of the day when we die? During the last fifteen minutes I had already made up the perfect happy ending for this movie, and when it turned out completely different I wasn't disappointed. What happened, happened, and when I think about it, it was the right thing.
"Tuck Everlasting" left me pleased, and I would recommend it to anyone. It's got all the right ingredients for a fairy tale drama, and it leaves you thinking... What would you choose?
Bring It On: In It to Win It (2007)
Bringing it on again?
After "Bring it on: All or nothing" I was more or less sure that I had seen everything there was to see about cheerleading, and when I heard that there was to be yet another Bring it on -movie I was very skeptic to the idea. It seemed to me that the Bring it on -franchise was turning into a modern Rocky/Rambo-franchise for teens: You think it's over, but then there's another one and another one and another one... often with deteriorating over all -quality as a result. To test my hypothesis I decided to watch "Bring it on: In it to win it".
As suspected the storyline was simple, nothing too surprising. There was the usual conflict between two teams, two girls fighting and the usual "wrong" hottie and the amazing final routine. It seems to me that there is a pattern in choosing actors for the Bring it on -movies. Bring it on 1 and 3 starred fairly famous actors/actresses (Kirsten Dunst, Jesse Bradford and Hayden Panettiere), while Bring it on 2 and 4 had (at least to me) fairly unknown actors/actresses. The good thing about casting relatively unknown actors/actresses is that they just might surprise you, as Cassie Scerbo (Brooke) did. Her sassy, sarcastic attitude, combined with her constant applying of Sun Tzu's "Art of War" -principles to her methods with which to destroy Carson's (Ashley Benson) squad, was very impressive.
All in all, I found "Bring it on: In it to win it" fairly amusing, and by far better than "Bring it on Again", which I regard as an all time low. The rivalry between the two squads is much like the one in the previous Bring it on -movie, and as usual the final routine was something special. As I live in a country where cheerleading is not such a serious or popular sport, I found it interesting and entertaining to watch this movie, even though I'm sure a lot is over-exaggerated.
I'd recommend this movie if you want something light and funny to watch on with your friends, but if you want something deep and thoughtful with acting that should get an Oscar... watch something else.
Rating: 6/10
The Golden Compass (2007)
An interesting so-and-so
I had never heard of Philip Pullman and his "His dark materials"-trilogy before I saw this movie the first time, and it left me slightly unsatisfied at the time, but definitely interested in the books.
I read "The Golden Compass" not long after I had seen the movie the first time, and when having done so, I felt I needed to see the movie again, so I rented it. This time, I felt much more satisfied with the movie, and I was again blown away by the visual effects. I completely understand why this movie got an Oscar for Best Visual Effects and a BAFTA for Special Visual Effects. The attention to detail is stunning, and makes you feel like Lyra's world is just within grasp.
As for the actors, I was both impressed and slightly disappointed. Kidman was (as always) brilliant in her role as the posh, ice villain Mrs Coulter, I felt chills down my spine several times. As for Dakota Blue Richards, playing Lyra Belacqua, I was almost equally impressed. Richards put so much spirit and force into her character, and I hope we'll see more of her in the future. Mr Bond himself, Daniel Craig did a so-and-so performance, it feels like his character got cut back, in my opinion because of the script. My over all favourite in this movies, though, is Sam Elliot's Lee Scoresby. Elliot's portrayal of the Texan aeronaut is fantastic, and when I read the book I couldn't have imagined him any other way.
As with every movie based on a book, there are things you have to cut out, and though many have criticized Chris Wentz for the screenplay, I'm not entirely disappointed. Having read the books now, I think Wentz did a good work of cutting out moments that weren't entirely necessary, and the changes he made into scenes both in the book and movie don't bother me too much. I was a bit bugged by the ending, I would much rather have had the original book-ending the one in the movie.
Overall, I found the movie a bit uneven. The prologue was a bit too explanatory, taking away part of the mystery, and the dialogue was at times lumpy. This, however, was compensated most times by the actors and their non-verbal performances.
There have been much talk about whether or not there will be a sequel. I very much hope for a sequel, it feels so wrong to start but not finish this trilogy. It was perhaps not the best film I've seen, but it definitely got me interested.