An Ideal Husband, 1999

An Ideal Husband, 1999
Director: Oliver Parker
Cast: Julianne Moore, Rupert Everett, Peter Vaughan



Stage: Home TV selection


An Ideal Husband in short: Sir Robert Chiltern is a successful Government minister, well-off and with a loving wife. All this is threatened when Mrs Cheveley appears in London with damning evidence of a past misdeed. Sir Robert turns for help to his friend Lord Goring, an apparently idle philanderer and the despair of his father. Goring knows the lady of old, and, for him, takes the whole thing pretty seriously.


Preps: none in perticular. Don't know the piece, but I don't have any other idea what to watch that perticular evening.



Reality: One of the movies that should be labeled as a TV movie. Because it's nothing more. It plays a big movie's game, but loses big time. The storyline is a good one. Betrayal. When you think everything is fine and dandy, something comes up to ruin your day and leave everything burning behind. In this perticular case, we have a happy setting of a couple, where both have a distinguished position in society, plus they seem really to be happy with each other, love themselves in the right way.
Now, what the real fuss is around - the devastation a lie about the past can cause. The husband seems to have a dirty secret from the past, which he failed to tell to his pure wife (in this sense I mean puritan wife). What to do now? Even though she's a bit suspicious, he doesn't take the path of confession, but rather the path of hiding his truth behind a lie. So it gets complicated. The woman who seems to know everything and threathens to reveal everything, become his greatest enemy and companion - he doesn't want to lose sight of her. She intimidates everything he knows, the certainty, the safety, the love he posesses and might lose.

After her appearance in his house and revealing the truth to his wife, things become even more interesting, because a chain of events is out of leash, getting things done in an extreme fast way. Although, you first can say everything will go down the drain and you can be righteous to say he should have spoken the truth at least when the wife asked him, the turnover is amazing at the end.
Now, the movie itself can be tagged as a TV series part - it seems like Mrs Maple, or Agatha Christie type of series, rather than a serious movie. If you see it as a TV spot, ok, then it's one of the better ones. But if you are trying to search for a true movie, you might be dissappointed. A story from british parliament, betrayal...seems luring, but the delivery is really bad and the scenes are far from perfect. Also the dialogues, the scenery, music, photography, costumes.. it's all really watchable, if you aren't expecting too much and if you need to put your mind at ease. But nothing more.


My personal rating: 4,0 (you won't miss a thing if you miss this one. Some amusing debates, but nothing more. What is Julianne Moore doing in such a piece, leaves restless in my mind. She can do so much more.. )


An Ideal Husband on IMDB

Fatal Attraction, 1987

Fatal Attraction, 1987
Director: Adrian Lyne
Cast: Glenn Close, Michael Douglas, Anne Archer


Stage: Home theatre, late Saturday screening


Fatal Attraction in short:Happily married New York lawyer Dan Callagher has an affair with his colleague Alex, and the two enjoy a love weekend while Dan's wife and kid are away. But Alex will not let go of him, and she will stop at nothing to have him for herself. Just how far will she go to get what she wants?.


Preps: None in perticular. Seen this piece. Love its horror and energy.


Reality: Now what animal drives us to make something out of our ordinary and in some cases, jeopardise everything we have, own, want to own or have developed in ages before this perticular action?

The plot is simple; a guy takes a weekend vacation from his marriage and gets involved with a woman that seems to have everything under control. Here comes the true meaning of the title of the piece. Truly it is a fatal attraction, but not fatal in thins these two lovers develop, but in the relationship fall this guy is facing. Douglas plays a similar role to the one in the movie Disclosure. So a guy that was taken advantage of. The cards were on the table. He wanted to fuck so he did, and she wanted to fuck and they did. How about these two getting their armours equipped and turning into two most fatal enemies because of a weekend they spent together as if they were teenagers?

The tables turn as she confesses pregnancy, tries to stalk him on every step and makes him really miserable only by claiming she cannot live without him. It is the deed of desperation she is doing on every day, with the stalking, and calling to his home, to the office. She claims she needs him, his love, she wants to have his child. And all he wanted was a weekend fun.

Now how to confess to the wife (do you confess at all?).. well, the road is steep and long. He doesn't want his life to change at all but he no longer has the control. His weekend affair turns into a raging bull with the angry woman that claims she adores him.

The piece will make you think about the virtues you have and the sacrifices you are willing to make. Also to think about one deed in one night, if it's worth the effort. Would you really want to take everything to the edge and take the risk of losing it all for one day of fun? Highly doubtful for most of the population. And this is the tagline this movie is aiming towards.
Splendid cast by Glenn Close, a good one by Douglas. It is the 80 movie and as such works in this environment. To nowaday spectator it will look out of date. But the topic is as vivid as ever.


My personal rate: 7,5 (a good classic to see, live in any given moment).



Fatal Attraction on IMDB

Erin Brockovich, 2000

Erin Brockovich, 2000
Director: Steven Sodenbergh
Cast: Julia Roberts, Albert Finney, David Brisbin



Stage: Home TV selection, nice Sunday night



Erin in short: Erin Brockovich is an unemployed single mother, desperate to find a job, but is having no luck. This losing streak even extends to a failed lawsuit against a doctor in a car accident she was in. With no alternative, she successfully browbeats her lawyer to give her a job in compensation for the loss. While no one takes her seriously, with her trashy clothes and earthy manners, that soon changes when she begins to investigate a suspicious real estate case involving the Pacific Gas & Electric Company. What she discovers is that the company is trying quietly to buy land that was contaminated by hexavalent chromium, a deadly toxic waste that the company is improperly and illegally dumping and, in turn, poisoning the residents in the area. As she digs deeper, Erin finds herself leading point in a series of events that would involve her lawfirm in one of the biggest class action lawsuits in American history against a multi-billion dollar corporation.


Preps: Seeing this marvellous piece several times, it's an honor to see it again.



Reality: As said, Erin Brockovich is a superb piece, taken after a real story. In the cast selection, Sodenbergh took a wild shot and employed Roberts, who just excells in this. Being on top of the lawyer world and betrayal of a gigantic corporate which is trying to exploit local citizens, I am just stunned. As Julia Roberts wasn't really a character drama actress up to this point, I am more than happy to see her energy, smile, outlook and wits, as she waltzes through the scenes charming everyone and winning everything with her intelligence, strongly supported by her two eminent pair (They are called boobs, Ed - as she claims herself in the piece).

A good learning point on several things - how to succeed if you don't have anything going on for you beside your looks (and you are verbally prostitutized by everyone else that is surrounding you). Furthermore, how to deal with pricks that fall on boobs and other women features. Besides this, how to deal with an international fraud, like this corporate actions seem to be. One more important point - lawyer world is work work work. And rarely fun. Plus, you need to gain trust from those that employ you, in this case, the citizen. This means loads of research and rarely victories, this means falling hard on your ass and crawling back. Julia Roberts as Erin Brockovich does this a lot of times and crawls also in the heart of the viewer of this piece.

Anyone should watch it for several reasons. I am sure that most of the general audience will find something inside for themselves. Plus, a row example on winning the big gigants like depicted here gives you optimism that there can be also justice.


My personal rate: 8,5 (splendid job Roberts did, Sodenbergh won big time.).


Erin on IMDB

A dangerous Method, 2011

A dangerous Method, 2011
Director: David Cronenberg
Cast: Keira Knightley, Michael Fassbender, Viggo Mortensen



Stage: Kino Šiška, Liffe


A dangerous method in short: In his latest film, the iconic director David Cronenberg goes back in time to the dawn of of psychoanalysis. A look at the intense relationship between the fathers of psychoanalysis, Jung and Freud, and their patient to whose charms they both succumb.


On the eve of World War One, Zurich and Vienna are the settings for a dark tale of sexual and intellectual discovery. Drawn from true-life events, the film takes a glimpse into the turbulent relationships among fledgling psychiatrist Carl Jung, his mentor Sigmund Freud and Sabina Spielrein – the troubled but beautiful young woman who comes between them. Their personal exploration of sensuality, ambition and deceit drive Jung, Freud and Sabina to challenge and forever change the nature of modern thought.




Preps: Well, apart from relationship Jung/Freud, I don't know much other things about this piece. But I am eager to find out.



Reality: The movie strikes me with its energy which draggs me into this world of Jung and Freud - from its beginning to the end. I am thrilled to see how scientists once exchanged their ideas and how once life was. Writing letters for real, not emails as nowadays. Seeing each other once per a month or even longer. Having a relationship for the sake of a marriage and kids, on the other hand, having mistresses and letting everyone know you are pure and prudent.

Plus, an excellent way to describe the turbulence between two friends, in some cases caused by two dividing paths they chose to take, sometimes driven by Sabina, a deluded woman, excellently played by Knightley. I was excited to see her in an unusual not Hollywood-like piece and she did an excellent job. The mimic she used to depict the illusions and horrors inside her soul is extremely good and it gives me shivers. On the other hand, I am sure she must have done hell of a job just trying to get under the skin of this role. I am surprised how well the three characters interact with each other and the viewer can almost smell the fear and anxiety when they show it, can feel the love when it's on the stage and can most definitely take position in disputes Freud and Jung have between each other. The sexual analysis that Freud is pursuing can be a bit annoying (you cannot explain everything in sexuality, or can you?)

What is real love and is something you have at home (just for the sake ofhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif being there and make you a man to admire, because you are a family man)? Do you take what's on the plate in front of you or do you stay clean in front of yourself? This is one of the dilemmas, depicted in this movie and not solved in favour of the young Sabina. She is betrayed, although deep inside aware that she cannot have more than just a romance. On the other hand, Jung doesn't want to get involved, yet he gets involved and he regrets it on the outside, on the inside he would repeat it in a second, and so he does. The love story is sad, because both parties get wounded and not find a way out to make both or at least one happy. As Trier would said.. no true love unless you suffer greatly.


My personal rate: 9.0 (a splendid piece, filled with documentary facts and things that will make you think about this long after you leave the cinema).


A dangerous method on IMDB

Fast Five, 2011

Fast Five, 2011
Director: Justin Lin
Cast: Vin Diesel,Paul Walker, Dwayne Johnson



Stage: local theatre, late Saturday show. Crowdy and unnacceptable smell in the hall. Yuk.

Fast Five in Short: Former cop Brian O'Conner partners with ex-con Dom Toretto on the opposite side of the law. Since Brian and Mia Toretto broke Dom out of custody, they've blown across many borders to elude authorities. Now backed into a corner in Rio de Janeiro, they must pull one last job in order to gain their freedom. As they assemble their elite team of top racers, the unlikely allies know their only shot of getting out for good means confronting the corrupt businessman who wants them dead. But he's not the only one on their tail. Hard-nosed federal agent Luke Hobbs never misses his target. When he is assigned to track down Dom and Brian, he and his strike team launch an all-out assault to capture them. But as his men tear through Brazil, Hobbs learns he can't separate the good guys from the bad. Now, he must rely on his instincts to corner his prey... before someone else runs them down first.


Preps: Trying to see this for some time now. A friend drags me in the movies, she is a huge fan of the muscles and cars :) I follow, humbly, as I want to see this also. However, my expectations are low as it is the fifth sequel and I don't have any good experience in a long run with them. Lovely cars and beautiful women, combined with a race. Is there anything more?


Reality: Nope. Nothing more. However, a spectacular view of Rio de Janeiro, in its poverty, overload of small detached houses/barracs, people with guns, chasing and running on the roofs, making the daily bread by stealing and other criminal acts.. One guy that rules the world. The god in the convenient role of a godfather, who is being chased by the main protagonists in this action movie.

The story will not impress you. As said, beautiful women, stealing and racing with cars, a grand theft in verses of The Bank Job or Mission Impossible, or Ocean's eleven (in this sense, Vin Diesel can be as charming as Clooney). The plan, that is swept away by local police, the seeking of the love, the boobs and asses at the chase racing playground.

Can people really be so enthusiastic about the racing? I guess so. I know personally some addicts in this area. Which doesn't mean I understand it. The movie implies the adrenalin they get, comes from the mere fact of a race and competition, and rarely reflects the prize the one who wins, gets or owns. Do you bet your car? In this game, you do. Do you bet your woman? Also.. the sky is the limit. The piece will take you through the same path the former Fast and Furious did, although with a slight change of cast, music, place and cars. Apart from that, the story is clear and not demanding for the viewer. Like a race in Formula one. Easy to follow, even easier to fall asleep inbetween (because you don't miss much). The music, however, is very powerful in the Fast Five. Not a surprise, the movies with beautiful women and cars are normalwise surrounded/accompanied by great music. Not as hillarious and emotional like some Zimmerman pieces, but mean, harsh and powerful, the way it fits to the purpose.


My personal rate: 5,0 (somewhere in the middle. However, you need to be a fan of racing, or a Vin Diesel fan, or want to see beautiful women. Not a lot of intelligence put into this piece, but a strong scene and materialism put upfront)

Fast Five on IMDB

Hanyo - The Housemaid, 2010

Hanyo - The housemaid, 2010
Director: Sang Soo Im
Cast:Yeon Do-yeon, Lee Jung-jae, Seo Woo



Hanyo in short: Eun-yi, a middle-aged divorcee, is hired as an upper class family housemaid. But soon enough, master of the house Hoon takes advantage of his social position by slipping into her sheets. Hoon's visits become frequent and Byung-sik, an old housemaid, reports the affair to Hae-ra's mother, Mi-hee, who plots to give Hae-ra the control over her husband. Soon Eun-yi miraculously becomes pregnant and wants to keep the baby. This is discovered by the family and she's forced to have an abortion by Mi-hee despite Eun-yi's plea to let her keep the baby and leave the house. Mi-hee's plot backfires when Hoon scrutinizes her for terminating his child, even if that child is conceived illegitimately. Her forced abortion turns Eun-yi's mental condition for the worst and she decides to take the matter into her own hands.



Stage: Movie theatre Vič, official stage of LIFE, movie festival in Ljubljana

Preps: korean erotic thriller? Sounds exciting. I don't even have to read the plot to like the idea of seeing this. Even though at late hour, I anxiously wait for the show to begin.



Reality: The movie strikes with a suicide of a young girl and floats towards its mid with a genuine and light story about a new nanny, joining a household to watch over a small girl and two not yet born kids. The family life as it is shown here, suits normally to the higher class, nevertheless, for an european, it doesn't say a lot what it stands for. To a Slovene, this perspective is really rich and filled with things you desired of your whole life. To the rich class observer, it might seem pretty normal. I would bet that from korean perspective it's a vivid show of differencies between low and high class and tough road an employee such as this nanny, needs to walk on, to get situated.

The side story about moral dilemmas - whether to reject your boss or to make your desire for him visual and obvious; how bad can it get? In sense, is it OK, if noone sees this and thus doesn't hurt? The movie shows rage and anger upon betrayal, but is pointed obviously to the weaker link (or dare I say, poorer link, not weaker - as the husband turns out weak in the end, and not the housemaid). All involved in these scenes are hurt in the end; however the reasons for being hurt are really different. The jealousy of the beautiful wife. The sadness over the forced abortion. Betrayal of her own kind (the older housemaid). Escaping the responsibility (husband) and ending up in pretending everything is ok, settling everything with money. The price is high, having to pretend all your life. In my opinion, not really worth it, because the soul will remain empty, just the shell will be beautiful.




The movie exposes a lot of questions, more or less all of them are not answered and left to the interpretation or sane mind of the viewer. Is it OK or acceptable, to cheat? Or to submit to your boss's wishes, no matter what they are? How to accept or abort your own child.. do you need to say the truth to the land lady even though it doesn't bring you any benefits besides money?

I adore the idea of walking around in your house with high heals. I do it occassionally and feel really good. And being neat and well dressed in your home, taking care of your body.. the misfortune is that present time often doesn't allow us to do so. The movie shows the usual upper class behaviour and consequences that can derive from this. Of course many of us would have something like this. But also most of us would get bored in one month tops.

Revenge after betrayal is the major impact of this movie. Being punished and not being sure you deserve it. Afterwards, fighting for your soul and being able to look yourself in the mirror - a noble idea, but a very limited edition of people, being able to do so.


My personal rating: 8,5 (the extreme message, given in the movie, makes it up for the really messy ending. If the ending was at least slightly different, the rating would be going towards sky. A good entertainment + a chance to think a bit differently about everyday situations)


Hanyo on IMDB


Hanyo Wiki page

Korean official website

Celda 211 - Cell 211, 2009

Celda 211 - Cell 211, 2009
Director: Daniel Monzon
Cast: Luis Tosar, Alberto Amman, Antonio Resines



Stage: Home theatre

Celda in short: The story of two men on different sides of a prison riot -- the inmate leading the rebellion and the young guard trapped in the revolt, who poses as a prisoner in a desperate attempt to survive the ordeal.


Preps: I found it on my disk, thought it would be worth seeing something spanish again, since I am fond of the language and every now and then you find something interesting just falling from the clouds


Reality: How do you turn from a good cop to a bad one? Or a good prison guard to a corrupted one? It can be a simple act by coincidence, when someone murders someone you love and you lose your brain, your mind and you don't care for nothing any more. Could it be that the violence is planted into every person just waiting to burst out? This movie is playing with those topics and you will definitely enjoy seeing good turning into evil under stressful circumstances. The jailbreak or shall I say rebel yell in the cells is amazing, drives scary thoughts down my veins - and the good guy is trapped in the cell 211 - hence the name of the movie. It is also metaphore for the place, where good turns into evil, in my opinion.

At first I try to imagine how the good guy is going to get out of the trouble and find myself wondering why he doesn't when he has the chance to walk out. It is all in vain after the murder of his lady, because after that point he turns into violence himself, being more dangerous than the leader of the pack in the prison.


My personal rating: 7,0 (pretty decent piece, worth a bit of philosophy at the end or it will give you something to dwell about in a rainy night)


Celda on IMDB

Celda original webpage

Double Jeopardy, 1999

Double Jeopardy, 1999
Director:Bruce Beresford
Cast: Tommy Lee Jones, Ashley Judd, Bruce Greenwood


Stage: Home TV selection

Double Jeopardy in short: A woman framed for her husband's murder suspects he is still alive; as she has already been tried for the crime, she can't be re-prosecuted if she finds and kills him.

Preps: Remembering I have seen this one a while ago, and I liked it. Since it's a Thursday evening and I don't feel like going anywhere, I think this is a good selection.


Reality:
The movie is a good setup of betrayal/vengeance/lost love/prison charm. Ashley is playing an innocent (maybe naive?)framed wife, that sits her sentence for a few years for a crime she didn't commit. Finds herself among other cons being tutored what she's supposed to do. Finds out she can kill her husband (who is still living and for whose murder she was convicted) again and noone can touch her. So we pursue her in the other half of the movie while she's trying to find the liar (husband), get back her teen son and live again.

The movie has some decent action, some great dialogues - the scenery however is poor and you can see that the director had to cut down his budget for some of them (you can practically see the picture instead of the sea in the first few scenes by the house), then also later in the movie. This is a pity, because even though the movie has potential, those "savings" cost it a preminent spot among others.

The cast is good, however not brilliant. The story will fill you with empathy for the girl and a quest to find justice. But nothing really more from this. For people that love the genre, it will be solid and good. For other population, maybe even not worth seeing at all. Jones has a way of making an act brilliant or really average. Well, in this case it's a bit average. The same goes for Judd.


However, you do learn how to lose a guy you don't want to date in an instant:

Handsome Internet Expert: Hey, so after this is done, do you wanna go get a drink or something?
Elizabeth 'Libby' Parsons: Yeah, sure. I just have to check in with my parole officer.
Handsome Internet Expert: You were in jail?
Elizabeth 'Libby' Parsons: No, prison. There is a difference.
Handsome Internet Expert: Why? Too many parking tickets?
Elizabeth 'Libby' Parsons: No, I was convicted of murdering my husband.



My personal rating: 6,0 (a pretty decent piece also to see again. I like Lee Jones and adore Ashley Judd, not a tremendously great performance, but very watchable :)


Double jeopardy on IMDB