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Låt den rätte komma in (2008)
Holy Exploding Vampires, Batman!
I don't think there is any "spoiler" information here but I'll check "spoiler" just in case so I don't get blacklisted.
I was recently in Madrid on a family visit and as always my wife and I took the opportunity to see first-run, original version movies at one of Madrid's many fine movie houses. The movie we went to see was Lät den rätta komma in; all the movie reviewers in La Guía del Ocio gave it either four or five stars (out of five) and I lived for a time in Sweden and used to speak a little Swedish, I thought it would be good to hear the language again. However, neither of us knew it was a vampire flick since the description in the Guía didn't say this. Here are my suggestions if you decide to go see this movie: 1) Take a silver stake along with you...to drive through your own heart because this is a movie that refuses to die, but you can, at least, put yourself out of your misery.
2) If possible, download a copy of "Cat People" onto your cell phone so that immediately afterward you can immediately watch it to remind yourself what a good "horror" movie is like (in this case, "Cat People"). No, I know, "Cat People" is terrible, in fact, it's so bad it's worth seeing, and sadly it's better than "Låt den rätta komma." "Låt den rätta komma" in is painful to watch when it isn't downright laughable. Even within a fantasy genre, there are rules and traditions. A director/author can't simply add elements that aren't a part of the genre without, at least, attempting to explain how these elements came to be part of the story. And there are plenty of unexplained "new" elements in this movie, some of which are just plain ridiculous, even in a fantasy thriller genre film. Plus there are plenty of scenes that simply have nothing to do with the storyline. If a scene doesn't move the story forward...cut it out; at almost two hours some scenes definitely could have been cut out.
The *only* good part of the movie was the acting of the young vampire, so if you are simply a vampire fan, you may wish to see this film. I'm neither pro- nor anti-vampire, but I literally laughed almost uncontrollably through most of the second half of the movie (which I realize may have bugged the more serious vampire fans), but I couldn't help it. Really.
Edge of America (2004)
Edge of America
The premise is reasonable. Basketball is big on many reservations, and there are black basketball players (e.g., Kareem Abdul-Jabaar) who have volunteer on reservations. Sure, there are a lot of clichés from other Indian movies. But overall, the acting is good (especially Wes Studi), though the black coach's performance is a bit stiff at times. The most surprisingly thing about the film to me is that it never got any kind of commercial release. But then again, it is about Indians. And who is the Uwhited States of America cares about Indians? Not many people. Fortunately in my town there are several outlets to see non-commercial movies ("Christmas in the Clouds" is another good, Native-American-theme movie that you probably won't see unless you live in a similar town). Anyway, thanks, Mr. Eyre, for a good show. Maybe not your best pic, but still a good one.