Hanna, 2011

Hanna, 2011
Director: Joe Wright
Cast: Cate Blanchett, Saoirse Ronan, Eric Bana



Stage: Home @laptop


Hanna in short: Hanna (Ronan) is a teenage girl. Uniquely, she has the strength, the stamina, and the smarts of a soldier; these come from being raised by her father (Bana), an ex-CIA man, in the wilds of Finland. Living a life unlike any other teenager, her upbringing and training have been one and the same, all geared to making her the perfect assassin. The turning point in her adolescence is a sharp one; sent into the world by her father on a mission, Hanna journeys stealthily across Europe while eluding agents dispatched after her by a ruthless intelligence operative with secrets of her own (Ms. Blanchett). As she nears her ultimate target, Hanna faces startling revelations about her existence and unexpected questions about her humanity.


Preps: None in perticular. One again from the movie selection I have, still running in the theatres, and I am curious.


Reality: A dissappointment. The only remarkable thing I see in the movie is the powers (or let us say, skills) the girl posesses. And are of course, trained. Living in a cocoon and being trained by her father, at first you could get the glimpse of the Carey's Truman show. Up to some extent, she is aware of the world as a big danger and doesn't have any real life experience, apart from the frozen and life taking ones. And being trained as a professional, kind of a Charlie Angel in her youth.

After she's released in the real life, the chase begins. Chasing the past, chasing the probable future, you are lead into the world where all the agents in the globe know your whereabouts, I am often reflected with Angelina Jolie in this sense, because usually this is her type of the movies - endless action with some sex drive (in this case the sexual point is missing, obviously because of the youth of the young girl). Through the movie, I have the feeling that I have seen this somewhere before. Like a puzzle of different pieces, put together by this director. So I am not impressed at all, yet alone I am bored to death as the movie reaches its end. I cannot recommend it, because it lacks passion, it lacks true and believable story. The only thing that I would wish someday to be a Xena like this young lady is - to have skills like this because I sense they would be worth struggling for. Not to be used in this deadly sense, of course, but still.


My personal rate: 4,0 (good battle scenes, bad execution in the chase - which is 80% of the movie).


Hanna on IMDB

Troy, 2004

Troy, 2004
Director: Wolfgang Petersen
Cast: Brad Pitt, Eric Bana, Orlando Bloom


Stage: Home theatre

Troy in short: It is the year 1250 B.C. during the late Bronze age. Two emerging nations begin to clash after Paris, the Trojan prince, convinces Helen, Queen of Sparta, to leave her husband Menelaus, and sail with him back to Troy. After Menelaus finds out that his wife was taken by the Trojans, he asks his brother Agamemnom to help him get her back. Agamemnon sees this as an opportunity for power. So they set off with 1,000 ships holding 50,000 Greeks to Troy. With the help of Achilles, the Greeks are able to fight the never before defeated Trojans. But they come to a stop by Hector, Prince of Troy. The whole movie shows their battle struggles, and the foreshadowing of fate in this remake by Wolfgang Petersen of Homer's "The Iliad."


Preps: I have seen this piece several times and it is one of my favourite ones. In terms of genre, the actors, the scenery, the music. Each time I find something new.


Reality: Troy as always inspires me and doesn't leave me breathing up to its end. All the historical or antique fans worldwide will be dragged right in the middle of the movie, historical scenery, beautiful music and powerful cast. You cannot decide which root to follow, which side to take, as they impersonate glory and rage on one side and pride on the other side. A woman to be inbetween as the ultimate reason to kill and to die for. At least to some extent to some of the involved ones, the "management" of the war.

On other side, pure rage and following the leader in ranks, seen violence and harmony in ways the greeks or troyans fight. Beautiful mask, costumography makes me want to be a woman at that point. And in no dream a man. It is simply not realistic to die for honour or to die so you will be written about somewhere in the future. Nowadays, the idea seems outdated, still, in this movie it will dry your brains and leave you with your mouth wide open. What is worth to die and fight for? Love, romance? Country? Your dead relatives? Or the ones, that died side by side fighting with you?

I believe this to be on the same level as one of my most popular ones - Gladiator. The protagonists are so powerful I think about all of happenning way after end of the movie. Although very long, lasts only a minute in my mind. And I beg for more.


My personal rating: 9,5 (one of the best impersonements of my all time favourite greek heroes and stories)

Troy on IMDB

Troy home page

Mary and Max, 2009

Mary and Max, 2009
Director: Adam Eliott
Cast: Toni Collette, Philip Seymour Hoffmann, Eric Bana


Short summary: A tale of friendship between two unlikely pen pals: Mary, a lonely, eight-year-old girl living in the suburbs of Melbourne, and Max, a forty-four-year old, severely obese man living in New York.

Stage: home theatre
Preps: none whatsoever - I have this for some time, downloaded it at a point and it has been waiting in queue. Why not see this on a rainy Sunday, right?


Reality:
It's an animated movie, made with a strong and modern technique. I love the expressions of these characters (the way they designed them), as well as the fact that the director (and the writer in the same person) decided to focus on a deep topic of distant friendships, pen pal friendship.

The relationship between Mary and Max evolves with the time and has a lifetime cycle. From what it seems a bit naive and shallow at the beginning, evolves a strong friendship of two lonely and misunderstood people (within their own worlds).

The way, in which the world of Mary and world of Max is described, is absolutely brilliant. With a smooth touch of irony or black humour, most of modern problems of modern families are depicted precisely in the lives of these two individuals. The representation of internal fears, some of them still immature (in the shape of Mary) and some of them reflected even years after the traumatic events happened (the psychology of Max, mentally disoriented man in his last third of life).

Also, the nature of the friendship is interesting - it happens because of a coincidence in which Mary selects one person to write to and it just so happens that this lonely man responds. From this point on as they write to each other, they reflect their souls. This is just what makes this piece special. It is a rare occasion that we express our feelings so directly and so personal, however, it seems that it's more likely that we do that to someone we don't know in person. Which is precisely the case here.

I recommend this one strongly as I feel I need to think about this movie hours after I have seen it. And this is what makes a good piece in my opinion. If it doesn't touch my soul, it's not worth recommending it or seeing it again. I believe it fed my ironic soul and mind with deep truths each one of us carries with him or her.


One of the best things in this piece: Do you have a favourite-sounding word? My top 5 are ointment, bumblebee, Vladivostok, banana and testicle. (Max Horowitz in one of his letters)

Such a great thing, to have five words selected to be your top favourite ones for any reason at all. I have thought whether I have such a selection, and in my language, I actually don't. But the movie gave me the idea to do that. Or to select favourite expressions.



And another one, that burst the laughter out of me: Unfortunately, in America, babies are not found in cola cans. I asked my mother when I was four and she said they came from eggs laid by rabbis. If you aren't Jewish, they're laid by Catholic nuns. If you're an atheist, they're laid by dirty, lonely prostitutes.





My personal rating: 8,0 (a very deep story about this friendship touched me in several ways and on different levels. I am sure it will touch you).

Mary and Max on IMDB

Official Site of Mary and Max