Certificate:

Director: Pedro Almodóvar

Release Date: 26 August 2011

Main Cast:

Antonio Banderas … Robert Ledgard

Elena Anaya … Vera

Blanca Suárez … Norma

Jan Cornet … Vincente

Marisa Paredes … Marilia

Blimey! What an amazing film. Pedro Almodóvar does it again.

A brilliant plastic surgeon creates a type of synthetic skin that withstands any kind of damage. His human test subject is a beautiful woman named Vera who is contained within his home, and cared for by his head servant Marilia. Vera wears a skin-coloured suit made out of fabric instead of clothes and she is constantly watched by Robert and Marilia. She never leaves her room, which only Robert himself holds the key to.

You get no more than that from me! An absolute must see.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Certificate:

Director: Luc Besson

Release Date: 3 February 1995

Tagline: A perfect assassin. An innocent girl. They have nothing left to lose except each other.

Main Cast:

Jean Reno … Léon

Natalie Portman … Matilda

Gary Oldman … Stansfield

Danny Aiello … Tony

I watched this film shortly after it was released. I say “watch”, but I switched it off because of Gary Oldman’s excruciating and embarrassing over acting, amongst other things. So, “why?” I hear you ask, “are you reviewing a film you watched fifteen or so years ago”. Well, it was leant to my husband so I thought I’d give it another chance. This time I watched it all, and I still don’t like it.

A hitman (who is really a gentle soul at heart) ‘inherits’ a young girl who’s family have been gunned down by a team of corrupt cops. Not only are these cops inept, but they look pretty ridiculous too. And yes, you’ve guessed it, Gary Oldman plays the and megalomaniacal leader of this ridiculous bunch. He’s some kind of drug addict (prescription?) who, when chewing his pill behaves like Hannibal Lecter (Silence of the Lambs) on acid. I don’t want to spoil the ending for you (if you still want to watch it) but I’m guessing that women and children were killed during the finale.

Natalie Portman is excellent as Matilda, but the character is unbelievable and unlikeable.

Leon is cliche ridden and pretentious. It’s like the Beatles and Elvis. You don’t dare say that you don’t like them/him because everyone else are sheep and will deem you to be a tasteless being who is clearly from another planet. Ask yourself this – have you ever come across anybody who says that they don’t like the Beatles or Elvis? No, of course you haven’t. Unless you know me, that is.

Rating: 1.5 out of 5 stars

Certificate:

Directors: Doug Liman (Identity), Paul Greengrass (Supremacy and Ultimatum)

Release Dates: 2002, 2004, 2007

Main Cast:

Matt Damon … Jason Bourne

Franka Potente … Marie

Chris Cooper … Conklin

I’m reviewing these all together as they are all of the same quality, which is not bad!

The Bourne films are, overall, pretty good films. As usual though (with this type of film) you have to suspend disbelief as there are quite a few situations that are, when you think about it, pretty ludicrous. However, all three films are consistently good and are well worth watching. I recommend that you watch all three back to back, as there are one or two confusing aspects which make more sense when watched in quick succession.

In a nutshell, the plot is this. A young man is rescued from the sea by a fishing boat. He has no idea who he is or what happened to him. Fortunately for him, there seems to be a fairly competent medic on board who removes bullets and such from him. The medic also removes a device that projects an image on the wall of details of a very exclusive Swiss bank account. Yes – we’re suspending disbelief from almost the word go! Anyway, the unidentified man goes to said bank to look at the contents of a security box. In it, he finds passports in various names all with his photo on them, money and a gun. He takes it that his name is Jason Bourne. His presence sets all sorts of alarms going off and he finds himself evading the security with alarming ease. He enlists a total stranger (she’s a sucker for money – money talks, after all) to drive him to Paris. Rather than just leave him in Paris, she stays with him and they *yawn* ‘fall in love’. Bourne is in the middle of a tangled web of corruption, and spends the three films in outrageous car chases and fights.

The Bourne films are perfect ‘popcorn movies’. Don’t worry about the nonsense – grab some munchies, sit back and enjoy!

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars (combined)

Certificate:

Director: Giorgos Lanthimos

Release Date: 23 April 2010

Main Cast:

Christos Stergioglou … Father

Michele Valley … Mother

Aggeliki Papoulia … Older Daughter

Mary Tsoni … Younger Daughter

Hristos Passalis … Son

Anna Kalaitzidou … Christina

Oh my. What a film! Dogtooth is unlike any other film I’ve ever seen. I really don’t know how to review it, because it causes all sorts of conflicting emotions. The film centres on a family where the parents keep their children totally isolated from society and and do not allow any outside influences to corrupt them. The children’s ages are never revealed but, physically, they are all adolescents. They have very low mental ages, and are all all totally emotionless in the sterile environment. The children never question their circumstances as this is all that they know. However, the father regularly brings home a work colleague of his to the house to provide sex for the son so that his natural male ‘urges’ are kept under control. Unsatisfied with the emotionless sex, she approaches the older daughter for sexual favours of her own, and this is where the seed of ‘corruption’ is planted.

So, what are the motives of the parents? Personally, I was left with the impression that they genuinely want to protect their children from all the bad things in life.

Dogtooth contains scenes of awkward humour, but those moment always end with an unsettling feeling. Overall, it’s a fantastic film that captivates from the start. It’s not always an ‘easy watch’, but it is a unique one.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Certificate:

Director: Dennis Gansel

Release Date: 19 September 2008

Main Cast:

Jürgen Vogel … Rainer Wenger

Frederick Lau … Tim Stoltefuss

Max Riemelt … Marco

Jennifer Ulrich … Karo

Fascist autocracy could never happen again in these enlightened times, could it? Worryingly, the answer is yes and The Wave demonstrates this brilliantly. A school has a ‘project week’, and teacher Rainer Wenger is assigned a class to discuss autocracy. However, things soon get out of hand…

Undoubtedly based on the events of the real life ‘Stanford Experiment’ (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_experiment), The Wave is a powerful film that shows how careful and alert we must all be that such events never happen again.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Certificate:

Director: Haim Tabakman

Release Date: 2 September 2009 (France)

Main Cast:

Zohar Shtrauss … Aaron Fleischman (as Zohar Strauss)

Ran Danker … Evri

Tinkerbell … Rivka Fleischman

I have no idea about Israeli films and what are taboo subject matters, but I’m guessing this is one of them. It’s basically a story of having to repress emotions and desires and the consequences one faces in a religion and community where such desires are deemed unacceptable. It also shows that religion is still controlled and driven by fear.

This isn’t a bad film, but it’s dreary. Very dreary.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

Certificate:

Director: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck

Release Date: 13 April 2007

Tagline: Before the fall of the Berlin Wall, East Germany’s Secret Police listened to your secrets.

Main Cast:

Ulrich Mühe … Oberstleutnant Anton Grubitz

Martina Gedeck … Christa-Maria Sieland

Sebastian Koch … Georg Dreyman

Know everything. They pretty much did. This might, at first, seem like a boring and dull subject, but the films hooks and reels you in from the first few minutes. A member of the East German authorities is given the task to monitor a writer who is seen as a threat to the government by writing anti-Communist material. The whole house has been bugged and Grubitz listens to and reports on any and every event that happens. However, the longer he listens to the events, the more unsure he becomes of his convictions…

Brilliant!

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Certificate:

Director: Alejandro González Iñárritu

Release Date: 18 May 2001

Tagline: Love. Betrayal. Death.

Main Cast:

Emilio Echevarría … El Chivo

Gael García Bernal … Octavio (as Gael García)

Goya Toledo … Valeria

An absolute must see. It’s wonderful on so many layers, that to reveal any of them would be wrong. Watch it and observe all the details. The way that all three stories are linked is sublime. Cinema at its best.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Certificate:

Director: Peter Brook

Release Date: 13 August 1963

Tagline: Evil is inherent in the human mind, whatever innocence may cloak it…

Main Cast:

James Aubrey … Ralph

Tom Chapin … Jack

Hugh Edwards … Piggy

A wonderful vision of human (especially male) behaviour.

Read the book, then watch the film.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Certificate:

Director: Zack Snyder

Release Date: 6 March 2009

Tagline: This city is afraid of me. I’ve seen its true face.

Main Cast:

Malin Akerman … Laurie Jupiter / Silk Spectre II

Billy Crudup … Jon Osterman / Dr. Manhattan

Matthew Goode … Adrian Veidt / Ozymandias

I watched the first seventy minutes of this and then switched it off. It is so incredibly boring I think that only fans of the comic will appreciate it.

Can’t say any more than that.

Rating: 0.5 out of 5 stars