Reviews

There's a likability about The Bat, an extravagant story about a serial killer after a million dollar, which I don't see in many movies any more. The acting is top notch (with Price as standout), the women in it are not hollow screamers but brave and self-dependent strong characters, and the story flies all over the place, which just makes it more interesting.

(Spoilers) In one of the first scenes a doctor and the bank-director, who just stole a million dollar, think of a scheme how to keep that money and get away with it. Murder is on their mind, and they talk about it freely and without hesitation. It's a great scene, which sums up the dark mood of the story, without ever getting really scary. (Spoilers) I won't give away any more, like who The Bat (who doesn't resemble a bat at all, but who cares) is, as I think you should see this movie for yourself. You won't be disappointed.

The Bat. Great story, great acting, great movie. 8/10.

Coming from a country with some of the most liberal euthanasia laws (which I support) in the world, there's a huge mind-gap to be made into Catholic Spain to truly understand the controversy this movie surrounds, and the political sensitivity of the subject in it. It really takes time and effort to, to put it popular, get what 'all the fuss is about'.

Fortysomething Ramon is clinged to his bed ever since a horrible accident in his late teens. The only thing he can do is move his head, talk and, most importantly, think. He's being nursed all these years by his sister-in-law, who lives with him, her husband, their father and her son.

The story begins when Ramon hires a lawyer for his wish to die, Julia, who herself is suffering from a deadly decease. Herself, pro euthanasia activist Gene and a local woman who falls in love with him (Rosa), change his life in ways he never could have imagined. But his wish to die stands, and Ramon wants it done in a legal way to protect those who will help him do it.

Instead of what it might sound like, Mar Adentro isn't a 'legal' movie, in which Ramon has his all-defining day in court. Although such a Hollywood film wouldn't work on this issue (it's too serious a matter for that), I sometimes during the movie wished the makers would have gone more 'into the controversy' (if you know what I mean), instead of focusing solely on Ramon. The fact that for long moments in the movie, nothing really 'happens' (oh boy this must sound horrible), makes you lose focus. Another problem for me is that we never really 'get' the other characters of the movie, they're just 'there' to get the story around Ramon right.

Mar Adentro at times is a touching film, and undoubtedly an important movie in Spain and other countries, but my thoughts were wandering more than once during this picture. Without wanting to deny the importance of this issue, a little bit of extra pace might have served this movie well. 5/10.

If there's one thing we've learned from the endless amount of rom-com movies, it's that the ending can be predicted from minute number one. Whether it's a gross-out rom-com (such as Say It Isn't So), a silly one (let's say, The Bubble Boy) or an award-winning masterpiece like Amelie; it pretty much comes down to 'it doesn't look like it in the beginning but they're gonna end up together in the end'.

And that's quite alright. A murderer gets caught in the end of a thriller, the underdogs win in a sports flick and the monster gets killed in a horror movie. Well, until the sequel anyway. It's just the nature of these movies, and even a main reason to go and watch them in the first place.

With 'Win a Date with Tad Hamilton!', things are no different. We have the well-known 'guy who is in love with girl', the 'girl who is unaware of that' and the 'outsider who takes an interest in girl, and vice versa'. Which makes up for the 'actions guy 1 has to make to get girl back', which pretty much is the entire movie.

It's a formula, but that's OK. But you do have to play out this formula pretty good to make the romantic part really work. 'Amelie' did so, for many reasons, but mainly because we want her to be happy. We want her to get the guy. We feel for her, we kinda feel we are her, and life should be as good as possible for her.

I am aware that 'Tad Hamilton!' is a more light-hearted movie than Amelie, but I stand by my point that we should care for what happens to it's main characters. When that inevitable kiss comes, we want to cheer, and feel satisfied. To get that romantic feeling though, you need a couple of things. Things 'Tad Hamilton!' doesn't have.

Which brings me to my main issue as why this movie doesn't work. Let's review our story and it's three main characters. First there's Tad Hamilton (Josh Duhamel) himself. He's a rich and handsome movie star who, for PR reasons, dates cute Rosalee Futch (Kate Bosworth), who won that date on a lottery. Then there's Pete (Topher Grace), longtime buddy and co-worker of Rosalee and secretly in love with her. But Pete gets serious competition from Tad when the latter finds out Rosalee truly is a wonderful and beautiful young woman.

It's the ambiguent Tad that provides the first problem. In some movies, 'the other guy' is just plain evil and into the girl for all the wrong reasons. In other movies, that other guy isn't so much evil and truly interested in the girl, but willing to give her up when he finds out his girl loves another guy. I called Tad ambiguent because he is none of the above: at first he's a cocky, drinking and smoking womanizing actor, but somehow he's shifting towards a regular guy really interested in Rosalee. We never really get why, and it looks like Tad doesn't get it either. His actions are never really clear, his reasoning never really explained.

Then there's Rosalee. In the other movies I named, there was always 'something' between the girl and the 'original guy'. In The Bubble Boy, Chloe loves the Bubble Boy but is unable (for apparent reasons) to really connect with him. The same as in Say It Isn't So, where the two main characters even end up together, but are separated (for a good reason). In 'Tad Hamilton!', however, there doesn't seem to be any affection from Rosey towards Pete, they're co-workers, friends even, but little else, and Rosey doesn't seem to mind that. So why would she want to give up an attractive and rich actor, who's willing to change his life for her, for this guy who she's been friends with?

Pete's role in the whole makes a lot more sense, as he's clearly in love with Rosey from minute one. Main problem with this part is the acting by Grace, who seems to be trying to mix a little bit of Stiller with a tad Perry, but never really gets it right. From an acting point of view, the biggest letdown of the movie.

So, thus for the romantic part: it just ain't working for me. What should be a saver then is the comedy. With 'Along Came Polly, this is what made me not totally slam the movie (although it was a waste after all), with some funny extra's doing the work. But if 'Polly' had Baldwin, Azaria, Brown and Hoffman to get the job done, and the 'Bubble Boy' (sorry to keep referring to it, I just saw it a couple of days ago) had Pappy and Pippy and a group of freak shows, 'Tad Hamilton' has literally nothing to go on.

Gary Cole, hilarious in Office Space and Dodgeball is only on screen for a minute or so, the best joke with the two agents is that they share the same name and the bar lady is only worthy to mention for her tattoos. The biggest upset for me though is the Cathy role (Ginnefer Goodwin), who supposed to be best friends with both Rosalee and Pete but contributes absolutely nothing to the film except some weird looks towards Pete and a cry out for sex towards Tad. And that's that.

All in all, 'Win a Date with Tad Hamilton' is a huge disappointed. I wasn't expecting Oscar material, I wasn't expecting a brilliant movie. I was expecting, however, some laughs and a satisfied feeling after watching it. All I got is cramp in my fingers from this review and a feeling I wasted valuable hours on a movie that isn't worth a minute from anybody's time.

2/10.

Basically 'Costa' in the snow (Johan Nijenhuis was one of the producers of this flick), so the story goes like this: 'Ugly duck falls for the wrong guy and overlooks the really nice one until the end.' The 'ugly duck' as I named it, actually is Hanna Verboom. As we see in her trivia, she is the Winner of Dutch Audience Elite Model Look 2003. If a girl with her looks and sweet character as shown in the movie can't get 'a guy to look at her', something's wrong with the guys at her school, that's for sure.

She and some of her 'friends' take a skiing trip to the Alps, in which they encounter with womanizer Ryan, his sweet brother Erik and some Tiroler idiots. You can tell which way this is going from minute one.

So, yet another weak Dutch attempt on making a teen-movie, it has only one good (action)scene, in which the brothers (well, their stunt doubles anyway) are boarding together with 'Charlie Big Potato' coming out of the speakers. Love that song, hate this movie.

2/10.

I absolutely adore the 'Toxic Avenger' series, but this weak offering by the Troma people didn't make any sense, and it had me yawning all the time.

A leaking nuclear plant (and the growing weed next to it) makes the youngsters of Tromaville High go nuts, which causes them to join a gang, have sex, explode, and whatever. Also there's some sort of monster breeding in the high school... my God, this movie's a mess.

The actors pretty much stopped their efforts after this one and they should. The (intended) overacting started to get on my nerves in about 5 minutes...

Disappointing. 2/10.

It seems that every ten years a movie is being put out which I can fully enjoy over and over again, despite it's silliness. And it seems the TV executives know exactly what those movies are, as both 'Commando' (with the Governator and Alyssa Milano) as well as 'Species' finds it's way to the small screen in the Netherlands a couple of times every year.

'Species' is nonsense played out great. A secret governmental group, led by Kingsley, is mixing human DNA with a code they received from outer space (why is not clear), creating 'Sil', a young woman (Natasha Henstridge) who has a serious appetite for eating and mating. When she escapes the lab she was in, a group of experts set out to hunt and eventually kill her.

Great over the top performances by Kingsley, Madsen and in particular Whitaker, who's whispering incoherently to the camera while wearing some sort of silly hat. Meanwhile, Henstridge is a nice surprise as a first-timer, and not that bad for the eye either.

When the team finally faces battle with 'Sil' (in an underground oil cave?) all logic is thrown overboard, but what remains is a fun movie. I'm sure I'll catch it again in 6 months or so...

6/10.

Alright, shocking confess: I only heard of 'Before Sunrise' when this one came out. So I went out to see that a couple of weeks ago, so I could start with 'Sunset', as I believe it's pretty obligate to watch both movies to really know what's going on.

So, it's nine years later. Celine (Delpy) and Jesse (Hawke, who, even more than Delpy, looks like he hasn't changed at all) have grown up without ever seeing each other again after that 16th June they promised to see each other 6 months later. As it turns out, Jesse was there in Vienna, but Celine had to attend the funeral of her grandmother.

But fate, in a way, served them well. Jesse now is a somewhat famous writer (he wrote the story of 'Sunrise' down), and is on tour through Europe, signing books and answering questions. When he's about done in Paris, his last stop, Delpy walks in. That scene, by the way, is worth watching a second time.

So the two start talking while wandering through France, not unlike they did in Vienna in Sunrise, but you would expect the talks to be different, more adult. And they are. After some babbling about reincarnation, playing the guitar and anything else there might come up, the two get down to the core: what's your current relationship like? Up until then, the movie is pretty jolly. When Jesse confesses he was in Vienna on December 16th, all Celine can do is laugh out loud. There's a feeling there on both of: well, okay, too bad about that, but life goes on. When later, while driving in the back of the car that should take Jesse to the airport, both confess they just can't forget that night 9 years ago, the movie starts getting more serious.

You can't help comparing sequels to each other, and if I had to do that here, I'm afraid 'Sunrise' did more to me than this movie. The conversations seem more fabricated this time (I know a lot of people don't agree with me on that), the characters a bit less likable (maybe because in Sunrise they resembled my age more), and the ending far less satisfying than that of Sunrise.

Not in any way that Before Sunset is a bad movie, and anyone who saw Before Sunrise should really go see it, but I just felt more connected with the first movie.

6/10.

Of Shyamalans previous movies I only liked 'Signs', so I'm hardly a fan of him. Still, there was some anticipation surrounding this movie, with it's superb cast and an interesting plot.

It involves a small town hidden in the woods, where the people have some sort of truce with the creatures from those woods: they won't come in the village if the people don't go into their territory. This way, the small village has no bonds with the outside world.

Problems arise when a young man called Lucius Hunt (Joaquin Phoenix) is stabbed and desperately needs medication from the outside world. His blind girlfriend Ivy (Bryce Dallas Howard) sets out to seek help, through the woods, into the wide world.

In the first hour of the film, it's perfectly balanced between the scares of the creatures and the relationships unfolded, but once Ivy sets out into the woods the movie loses it's momentum. Although I filled the box 'spoilers included' I won't go too far with that: an observant viewer might know enough by remembering who the director of this movie is...

As said, the ending is rather disappointing. It feels strange to see 'the real world' as we know it. There's a rather useless scene with a patrolman stealing some medication for Ivy... it just didn't really fit in to the movie.

What still stands though are the excellent performances by the whole of the cast, with some exceptional acting in particular by the relatively unknown Bryce Dallas Howard and William Hurt as her father.

On the whole one would perhaps expect more after it's first hour, but 'The Village' still is a movie to watch, as it's truly scary at times and has some of the best performances of the year.

Edit: after watching the movie for the second time I feel I have to upgrade it to a 7/10. Special notice to the scene where Lucius grabs Ivy's hand for the first time. Perfect scene.

After watching 'Saved', a rather unfamiliar satire of Christianity crossed with a high-school comedy/drama, I found myself rather puzzled of the intentions of the makers and the meaning of this movie. When reading some of the external reviews presented, I found both the point of Rogert Ebert as well as James Berardinelli interesting, meaningful, and true in it's own merit.

While Berardinelli is slamming this movie as anti-Christian, claiming 'Saved! treats religion as a disease, not a life choice', the (often overly positive) Ebert concludes that 'by the end of the movie, mainstream Christian values have not been overthrown, but demonstrated and embraced'. Two completely different views on this movie, but after watching it I felt both claims to be somewhat true.

Let's start with the beginning. Christian teen Mary (Jena Malone) is confronted by her boyfriend that he's gay. She thinks she can 'cure' him by having sex with her, but things all go wrong from there. He is being put away in some sort of center to get rid of his 'gayness', while Mary turns out to be pregnant.

From that moment on, Mary starts having doubts with some of the Christian values she grew up with. She more and more starts rejecting friend and as beautiful as knowing all as bitchy Hilary Faye (Mandy Moore), and starts hanging out with some of the other outcasts, such as crippled Roland (Macauly Culkin) and no good, smoking Jewish girl Cassandra (Eva Amurri). Other characters who play a significant role are Mary's mother, Pastor Skip who she has an eye for and his son, Patrick (Patrick Fugit).

So that's the outline right there. Now what does this movie intend? Throughout the movie the main issue is Christian hypocrisy. Hilary Faye says she wants to save everybody so they can become 'good Christians', but meanwhile is treating some of her friends like dirt. Pastor Skip preaches that one should love another like yourself, but condemns homosexuality. Furthermore it seems he, as a married man, has feelings for Mary's mother.

This is all a pretty one-sided and inconclusive view on Christianity, agreed. The question you need to ask yourself is: is this pure satirical comedy, or is it truly meant as anti-Christian. After answering that question you can also ask yourself if Christians should be offended watching this film.

Those aren't simple questions. At times, you feel the movie is going somewhere. It's when Hilary Faye is throwing a bible at Mary, who responds by holding it in her hand shouting 'This is not a weapon!'. It's when Mary's gay boyfriend from the beginning comes to the prom with his boyfriend, claiming that 'God wants us to be different and think for ourselves' (I lost the exact words, but it came down to this). It's at times as this, and the more comical scenes (Pastor Skip's 'getting down with Jesus' or Mary's friends trying to do an exorcism on her) the movie most definitely is watchable.

But, at other times, 'Saved' is unfairly attacking Christians as being hypocritical, narrow-minded and downright mean. The movie should have been more balanced on that point. Maybe it should have pictured the struggles of Pastor Skip in this better. Furthermore, making Hilary Faye such a bitchy character in the end was way over the top, even though Mandy Moore is playing her character with joy and success. Maybe one of those new actresses who somehow are all singing as well finally can act as well.

I started out with the two views of 'Saved' one can have, and I still haven't found out for myself with who I agree more. So I think I'll just sit between Mr. Berardinelli and Mr. Ebert. I dunno, we could chat about the movies I guess...

5/10.

I have to admit: 'Resident Evil' was some sort of a guilty pleasure. But now there's a part 2 and I'm sure that someday there'll be a part 3 (concidering the open ending of 'Apocalypse'). And I feel myself thinking: I've seen this before. Dozens and dozens of times. Why do I even bother anymore? Milla Jovivich is Alice again, and this time her fight is against some evil 'Nemesis' monsters and other nasty Umbrella corporation types, while saving a little girl from zombie-dead. Main help is Jill Valentine (Sienna Guillory), whose main importance it is to 'look hot', as Jovovich explained in a TV special.

The movie has all the necessary ingredients to make up for a decent movie (a cool heroin, some monsters, a really really bad guy and fine effects), but it's never fresh or original. Too bad.

5/10.

As a Dutchman I'm ashamed to say I haven't seen the original 'Spoorloos' yet (nor have I read 'The Golden Egg'), but I sure hope it's better than this American re-make.

While buying some beer, Diane (Sandra Bullock) is kidnapped by Barney (Jeff Bridges), leaving boyfriend Jeff (Kiefer Sutherland) left in despair. Years later we still find Jeff hanging up posters of her, wanting to know what happened to her.

When finally another woman comes in his life (Nancy Travis) he can let go a little bit. But this is exactly what psycho Barney did not want to happen. So the two guys meet...

So far, this all sounds pretty interesting, and it is. It's a bit of a different thriller, as we already know who the kidnapper is, but it all works out pretty well. Up until this point, that is...

Because somehow the last 30 minutes the movie changes from an intelligent kinda thriller into the slash and hack formula of your basic teen thriller. It kinda reminded me to the distorted ending of 'Don't Say A Word'.

It makes this movie not that credible and below average in my opinion, in particular since Bridges (an otherwise fine actor) is not at his best here. 4/10.

No less than 16 years after Polanski's masterpiece came this movie, this time directed by it's main star and Hollywood hero, Jack Nicholson himself. And although Nicholson's got some great supporting actors to work with and the setting is just right, you feel like something's missing that makes 'The Two Jakes' no less than a fun movie experience, though nothing quite more.

Again, PI Jake Gittes finds himself on what seems to be a simple case, until things get completely out of hand. This time, a client of his wants to catch his adultering wife, but before Gittes knows it has shot the guy she slept with. Things complicate when that guy turns out to be his business partner...

Slowly the truth unfolds unfolds, not unlike Chinatown actually, but this time it's not as exciting as the original, and the movie is way too long for it's own good.

All in all not a bad attempt with Nicholson in his so far last role as director. 6/10.