Reviews

5 Reviews
Sort by:
Filter by Rating:
Moonfall
Moonfall (2022)
2/10
Limitlessly excessive
8 November 2022
If ever there was a director that needed to be handcuffed and kept away from the helm, it is Roland Emmerich.

With this movie, he makes Michael Bay seem like a sensitive, original and artistic soul that carefully treads where noone has gone before.

Emmerich's script piles on with movie cliché after movie cliché supported by bad lines from so so actors.

It's starts bad with an opening sequence that plays like what director Emmerich remembers of Gravity. Why not copy it?

Then there's the smart beautiful female scientist, the smarter male scientist gone awol, and the funny sidekick non-scientist who everybody thought was laughably crazy, but if redeemed at the end by sacrificing his life for the good of mankind.

There really is almost nothing original here, which is why Emmerich tries to compensate.

The special effects are not great, but it is the excess that makes this such a bad movie. There is no end to over-the-top explosions, buildings tipping over, hurricane winds that carry 18-wheelers, whole trains and all kinds of debris but of course the humans manage to stay on ground.

The movie also is a hodgepodge of buzzword concepts that Emmerich has heard about and that he thinks may make this movie relevant.

Climate change theme? Check. AI? Check. Nano robots? Check. Dyson Spheres that tap into stars? Emmerich must have wet himself when he heard that one.

In short, an ok Special effects team and good enough leads are let down by a stupid script and an out of control director. The movie is a disaster.
3 out of 4 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
His House
His House (2020)
9/10
Blown away about how good it is
25 February 2021
Remember when you as a westerner saw Asian horror imagery for the first time? The little girl with long black hair was such an unusual ghost back then.

I got similar vibes from this. Atypical horror imagery. Mysterious story. A connection to the very real life drama refugees coming to Europe have seen. Great ending. Really great actors. Great music too. It was just an awesome experience for me that exceeded my expectations.
2 out of 3 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
Lake of Death
Lake of Death (2019)
2/10
Confirms every prejudice I have towards Norwegian film
16 July 2020
This movie is bad. Really embarrassingly bad. The lack of talent on display is staggering.

The acting is bad.Conversations feel stilted and unnatural, with each actor waiting their turn to say their lines. The lead actress has no idea whatsoever how to act, and carries one stare through the whole movie.

The script is bad. I saw the original once many years ago, but can't remember to much of it. I feel like they've tried to modernize it a lot by throwing in every horror movie cliché they could remember.

The directing is bad. Right from the start there is exhibition - using one of the characters "explain" the background to the other characters. It's lazy. There are some attempts to create dream-like sequences, but it just comes of as amateurish. I'm guessing they are really happy with their lighting, but the end result comes of as silly.

There is so much that doesn't make sense. We follow the main characters to thos old worn-down house in the wood by the lake. Drama ensues. Weird things ensue. Yet for some reason, right after we're presented with a scene where two of the characters meet in between bedsheets flailing in the wind. Who thought it made sense that they would wash a lot of linnen in the middle of horror enfolding?

This movie confirms and justifies all the skepticism and ciritical view I've held against Norwegian film (I'm a Norwegian). It is just the worst.

To anyone else considering to watch this as their first Norwegian film, please DONT SEE THIS FILM. It is really bad, and any other Norwegian film will be better.

Watch Headhunters (2011) or Cold Prey (2006) or even The Wave (2015) instead.

I'm gonna give this a 2/10 just to be nice, but man this is probably 1/10.
19 out of 49 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
22 July
22 July (2018)
8/10
Intense
14 October 2018
I thought the infamous Paul Greengrass style was very well suited to this film. Like with United 93, the hand held camera style gives a 'you are there, in a documentary' feel. And after all, the events in this film did happen.

The action was intense, but perhaps a bit too short. We are given the impression that the shooting lasted only 5-10 minutes, but in reality it was much longer.

The acting was great.

I am native Norwegian but not at all bothered by the use of english-speaking Norwegians. I think I would have hated hearing american english knowing that the events took place in Norway.

I was surprised by how intense this movie felt. It really brought home the insanity of the first terror action in Norway.
4 out of 8 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
The Double
The Double (I) (2011)
3/10
Slow, clichéd, predictable, poorly executed
20 January 2012
Warning: Spoilers
Boy, how Richard Gere's career has dived since the days of American Gigolo and Internal Affairs. Yes, occasionally he shows up in a fairly good movie like Hachiko or Unfaithful, but then the superior performances are from other actors (Diane Lane, in that particular case).

This movie really shows the one-dimensional acting Gere does when given a poorly written script. Why he even bothers is mystifying.

Anyway, the movie is about Paul Sheperdson, a retired CIA agent played by Richard Gere, that once hunted down and killed 6 assassins of a group of 7. This was back in the 80s. He never got the last guy, and suddenly chose to retire.

Now 20 years later, he's asked to help track down the one who got away by working with a rookie FBI agent.

**Minor Spoiler alert** Early on, the film dispenses with mystery by revealing that Gere the retired CIA agent really is the escaped assassin himself. With that out of the way, the rest of the movie is about the rookie FBI agent getting closer and closer to finding out who the assassin is, and about Gere the assassin / CIA agent killing a few people here and there. **End Spoiler**

Of course, there is another twist towards the end. I won't say, but it feels contrived. Besides, by the time it comes you've long given up connecting to the characters, so who cares?

Problems: The major problems with this movie are: the script is poor, with gaping holes and poorly developed characters. There is absolutely no chance in hell you will ever care for any of the characters. The story is dull - you've seen it a thousand times before, and sometimes a thousand times better. The ex-spy / assassin theme doesn't resonate with anything on anybody's mind in our world, so nobody cares what happens in the movie at any point.

Direction: The film contains a few flashbacks to the 80s, where we get to see Richard Gere play Paul Sheperdson as a young agent. Except they FORGOT to make him look younger! For sure, Gere the actor looks incredible for his age (63, he's born in 1949) with his gray, full hair. But you wouldn't expect the CIA operative he plays to have the same hair color 20 years ago, would you?

The action sequences are not very exciting. Gere wielding his The acting is very bad. Topher Grace as the (supposedly brilliant) rookie FBI Agent is seriously miscast, while Richard Gere needs to ditch the action genre. Martin Sheen is there, and does an OK job I guess. No other characters will make any impression on you.

Conclusion: It doesn't suck completely, it just isn't worth your while and there are more exciting things to do.
50 out of 65 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Clear your history

Recently Viewed