acyberexile

i don't like danny boyle. everyone, including criticker expects me to like danny boyle, people whose movie tastes i like likes danny boyle, but i don't like him. period. i don't like his story-telling methods, and this is nowhere more evident than trainspotting. a relatively okay story that should've ended about half an hour ago before it did and overly used narration techniques make this move only "okay" for me.

80 _49%

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2010) - Rated 12 Jul 2011

i like prince of persia. i've liked the early ms-dos game, i've liked the first trilogy of ubisoft games and i've liked the most recent reboot of the franchise. jumping around and doing acrobatics in a middle-eastern fairy-tale setting is fun, and so is a fantasy storyline which involves old gods, time travel and mythology of the persian sands. the movie does all these well to, and to an extent, greatly achieves its aim of being the pirates of the caribbean of the fantasy genre.

84 _73%

Being John Malkovich (1999) - Rated 12 Jul 2011

ah. here's one hard to diagnose. what do you take from a movie like this? the question of whether the inability to like who you are comes from external opinions or is it there internally? or perhaps merely the study on the celebrity-fan relationship? being john malkovich is a movie that allows many things to be taken from it. all you have to do is to applaud kaufman for his genious, and feel your brain ticking for hours.

74 _26%

Super 8 (2011) - Rated 12 Jul 2011

here's the thing: i love jj abrams. i loved lost, i loved star trek, and i'm a huge fan of fringe. so i thought i would love super 8, which suffers from this problem exactly: too many people going in the theatre expecting another abrams epic. it isn't. what it is, in my own opinion, is a confused movie. it's a coming-of-age, friendship movie that targets kids, and, i imagine, it would be their own generation's e.t. without a doubt. but being the grumpy old guy that i am, i was not impressed.

76 _36%

The Good Shepherd (2006) - Rated 12 Jul 2011

some movies come with their own speed to the creator. they have to be fast, or they have to be slow. de niro's debut falls to the latter category; it's a tale that had to be told slowly, and so it was. brilliant acting throughout the cast and deliberately slow pace turns this into a very rare movie: an undeniably adult spy film. if you're jonesing for your 007 fix but too mature to actually enjoy 007, the good shepherd's there for you.

80 _49%

Danny Deckchair (2003) - Rated 30 Mar 2011

all right, i admit it. just look at my rankings in my criticker profile; i'm a sucker for well weaved naive plots. it's not the most geniusly crafted piece of scripture out there, and it ain't the most mind blowing either, but it's few inspirations like being there of peter sellers and the general feeling of being an australian work into the movie quite well and in the end creates a tale that's quite enjoyable, literally, by all members of a family. good job, and well done.

81 _58%

The American (2010) - Rated 30 Mar 2011

it's easy not to like the american. it's paced like a slug, it takes its visual strength from the natural landscapes of mamma italia and promises action without guns blazing all over the place. however, the fact that it actually creates a tense and thrilling atmosphere with only just these makes it all the more interesting. the movie's bedrock is clooney's genius acting. as he moves and mimics, the feeling of the plot shifts as well. overall, the american is good but only for the mature-minded.

76 _36%

The Invention of Lying (2009) - Rated 26 Mar 2011

now, it's hard to rip on the invention of lying and actually all the movies that were made in the same vein. obviously made by talented people who had good intentions but got wrapped around their own intelligence. while the script is funny at certain points and the movie generally is not bad; gervais' premise is a hard one to work with. with enormous amounts of questions possible to ask the plot, it's hard to concentrate on enjoying the actual picture. good but not great.

72 _20%

Goal! (2005) - Rated 19 Mar 2011

well... if you're in love with football; the love that comes without question and criticism; you will enjoy goal. it recreates the moments why we love the good game with a wee bit of over-reliance on clichés. had it not used football as its base material; goal would not have been as enjoyable, but with things as it is, and because the fact that it's always the most beautiful thing when the ball gets entangled in those nets; goal is a good watch.

96 _96%

The Fountain (2006) - Rated 18 Mar 2011

how do you define beauty? is beauty something your sight perceives? or is it a mental affair? how do you know you're looking at something beautiful? perhaps three stories of life and death will tell you that, perhaps the look of a man desperately seeking a cure for what has been ailing life; or perhaps the crippling realization that it has, in fact, been enrichening it. can chords and sounds tell you that? can colours? this is the work of aronofsky. no compromises; no downsides. a masterpiece.