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Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004)
Important film that shocked me to the bone and needs to be seen by everybody.
I can't really describe in words what I have in mind right now after seeing this beautiful documentary by Michael Moore. I find it very brave for a filmmaker to go and do such a good job in a documentary that might cost them their own life in a country that claims having freedom above all. I also find it great how Moore manages and expresses his own point of view, while others criticize him for having one. I guess many people cannot handle the truth especially now days. Many of those who criticize this filmmaker's point of view should consider thinking about this movie with an open mind. Just focus on the subject and forget how much you agree or disagree with Moore. How about this film as a documentary? Is it good? Is it bad? So how bad is it? Actually I might disagree about some of the points raised by this movie but that's deep inside my head and it was meant to be raised. You're free to think. It's actually much better if we do think. And to tell you the truth, my life was shocked few hours ago and this shock still affecting me.
Ignoring the technical details in my review for now and focusing on the emotional side I got. This documentary kept me interested minute by minute and second by second. I loved the way music was used. I also noticed something else about me there in the dark room (cinema theatre that is), and what I noticed was being touched as a human much more than focusing on the technical stuff as an amateur movie critic. I guess the beauty about Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004) is that it was meant to make us think, feel, raise questions, and mostly know (or get closer to) the truth in a positive way that might change your life.
Sometimes it is political and sometimes comic. It's even sentimental few times, but thought provoking after all and trying to stay as close to the absolute real truth as possible. Reminded me of Oliver Stone's daring, brave, great masterpiece that is JFK (1991) in many ways. I note here that both of them had great masterwork of editing using materials which we all surely saw on TV here or there and it involves conspiracy too.
In short: Important piece of work that needs to be seen by everybody (despite what MPAA says).
10/10
Za'er (2004)
Not good enough, but nice try
Bassam Al-Thawadi had made Bahrain's first feature film. The movie is his second effort after Hajiz, al- (1990) and this one is a production of Bahrain Cinema Company.
The movie stars Fatima Abdulrahim as Fatima, and she's trying her best to act here. Fatima has a vision hunting her for a long time. We get involved more and more with her while we get closer and closer to the story. The movie is about 87 min. which may be short but again it was maybe more than enough for the movie and the story to be told. Bassam Al-Thawadi's seems to be more of a nice storyteller than being a director. He wrote the story of the movie (as well as the script along with Fareed Ramadan) which is a good thing to have a movie written and directed by the same filmmaker.
Ali Al-Gurair plays the character of Ali, who is the ex-husband of Fatima and a work partner, as both works in the TV with the director Bassam Al-Thawadi giving a very nice cameo appearance as the boss of TV. Ali Al-Gurair was good as usual, funny as usual or maybe this time a little more above than that, and tried hard to stay in the character the whole time.
Ahmed Mubarak is a real highlight point in this movie, playing the character of Ahmed, as it shows he was the real supporting acting engine. He might have some over-the-top points, but along with the other performances, it made the movie so funny. You can't hold it not laughing at least few times during this movie, as my favorite joke involves the beautiful great actress Nicole Kidman!
The cast is very short to not mention, including some more cameos and few other actors like Ahmed Aqlan playing the character of Khalid, the brother of Ahmed. He gives a very average performance but his drug-addicted friend Ameen, played by Ameen Al-Sayiq, was an above average performance. I don't know enough about saving the best things for last, but that's what I'm about to do. Juma'an Al-Rowayai was the best performance in the movie. He's gifted and he proves it everytime he gets a chance lately.
The Cinematography was good in many ways, which Ahmed Al-Thawadi takes credit for, as it helped the movie to be more of a thriller. I definitely wished for better and costly cameras to give more to the movie, but that doesn't mean that this one was bad in anyway.
What was the main center of many conversations is that this movie used Dolby sound technology which helped giving the atmosphere to the movie.
The movie's highest point is probably the score done by Nawaf Kamal, I guess, if I remembered the credits correctly. It was a bit short, and most of the time the director depended on the silence and special sound effects instead of the music to develop his thriller.
Visitor (2004) means alot to every Bahraini. Maybe even so every Arabic filmmaker since it may give the green light for many other projects, or may mean more dieing hopes. I wouldn't like it much if compared to the best movies of the genre or the greatest movies of all time. But after all, this movie meant another positive step bringing us closer to our film dream, and that what it meant to me. So thank you Bassam Al-Thawadi.
5/10
Paycheck (2003)
A very good action movie with a nice little story
Philip K. Dick is known to movie fans as the man who wrote stories for movies like Blade Runner (1982) and Minority Report (2002). His stories requires your brain to work during the viewing of the movie. Many people look at this new movie expecting another mind-boggling one like Steven Spielberg's Minority Report (2002) except that it is not. Paycheck (2003) is directed by the action master John Woo, who's known for his great action sequences in movies, like Mission: Impossible II (2000), Face/Off (1997) and Broken Arrow (1996). So you must expect to see a lot of action in his latest movie.
The story stars with Michael Jennings (played by the usually bad actor, Ben Affleck) as the best reverse-engineer in the business. He gets loads of money for his services which usually last two months. Telling you a little bit more of the story would be to ruin the story and enjoyment for you.
The first thing to say about this movie, is that it has a good pacing to it. It kept me interested for the whole length by thinking of the events happening and by the cool action chases (or should I say an almost one long car chase?). Minority Report (2002) is among my favorite movies of all-time, so if you were like me and you're expecting this to be the same, well it's not. Don't see it for the great story because it's a short one, but see it if you like a nice story in a good action movie.
The special effects were really nice. It may not be the best of the year, but surely was good enough for the movie. There's for example that screen which Tom Cruise used to depend on in Minority Report (2002) which gives you the ability to work by a pen or something like that.
The cinematography was good especially in the car chases, but the movie is still trying to capture the style of Minority Report (2002).
Uma Thurman is the leading actress here helping Ben Affleck in the story. She is really good, as usual, but her performance is not even close to what she did in Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003). If you hate Affleck so much (like many others), then maybe you find her existence in the movie entertaining enough along with Philip K. Dick's great short story to continue watching this movie.
One of the best things about this movie is the score of this movie. I'm not sure who should get the credit but probably to all of the composers: John Powell, James McKee Smith and John Ashton Thomas. The score was energetic enough and it helped the action a lot. The score wasn't deep nor it was telling a story, but instead was a great score for an action movie, which this movie certainly is.
This movie might not be among the best Sci-Fi movies ever, but if I was giving the choice of how to make it, I'd say I'm glad it was done this way and by John Woo. The story wasn't Sci-Fi enough to suggest someone else better like Spielberg directing it, and I wouldn't have seen it if it wasn't for Philip K. Dick's story and DreamWorks SKG's production (yes I'm talking about the logo). If you want a nice movie to watch with popcorn in one hand and a Coke in the other, this one shouldn't disappoint you.
What I hated really about this movie is that it doesn't really go under the surface of the story. Let me explain it: many people never heard of something like 'reverse-engineer' so what is that? It is a process where you reverse engineer something. That sentence with a big dot to it. I mean, we never knew anything about the main character's job except for the title! There is some more ideas to think about in the movie, but no time is giving to you. Let the movie figure it out for you, so you just wait there wondering for a minute about it. I would much prefer for you to see this movie without knowing anything about it (as this also applies to most of the movies).
Affleck was trying to act hard here, especially after the disaster that is called Gigli (2003). He needed this movie and any other good movie coming to him to prove that he can act, but can he? He might have given us some two or three nice performances in the past, but no more. Expectations are Jersey Girl (2004) is going to help him a lot along with this movie in his current career.
Ringu (1998)
Good atmosphere for such type of movie, but nothing more
Lots of people argued about which movie is the better, is it the original-Japanese Ringu (1998)? Or the American re-make Ring (2002)? Before I give you my opinion, I have to say that viewing one of the two movies WILL affect your review of the other one. I guess most people knew about the two movies after the release of the American version [since it's more popular], although Ringu (1998) was popular in Japan but not everywhere else.
So, to get things straight, I'm one of those who first saw the American version: Ring (2002). And I'm saying this because it surely affected my opinion on Ringu (1998).
Lots and lots of people are going crazy about Ringu (1998), saying it's the better one, and it's the original h blah blah], and the most importantly, more scarier. I even heard [someone acclaimed] that the tape itself looks scarier too [now I found out that wasn't true at all]. From the very beginning you wait to get scared but nothing. Having seen Ring (2002) made me feel like this is not scary at all. To be honest, there was only two or three shots that I felt could be scary, but still not that much scary [and I'm telling you that I get scary easily plus that I find the-very-underrated-horror-movie What Lies Beneath (2000) is the best I've seen in scaring-me-by-the-mood genre]. When comparing Ringu (1998) to Ring (2002), the American version was much better to me. I find the American version as one of my best 5 horror movies. I know that there are people saying this movie wasn't scary, but I don't care. It was scary as hell to me.
The best thing about Ringu (1998) is the soundtrack. The music sets the mood, the atmosphere and it's the only thing that proves this as a horror movie. There's a scene where Yoichi Asakawa [son of Ms. Reiko Asakawa] goes upstairs, that was nice. The directing is very good but not all the time. The Cinematography was good and was a big support for the movie. The acting here is good, although nothing special, but at least Nanako Matsushima [Reiko] did a well job. The story was very good, but can be confusing. Some people even didn't understand it either here nor in the American version, but the American version was quite more understandable. There are some differences in the story [for example there are no horses in the Japanese version]. I liked the American-version's story more, because this one [Ringu (1998)] sounds more extraordinary. The best thing about Ringu (1998) against Ring (2002), that Ringu (1998) sets the mood in the entire feature, which is really great to me. The best horror movies should always set the mood for enough length of time. A great example of setting the mood is Signs (2002). I don't think the American version laked this, since it kinda does set the mood somehow, it didn't leave a space for me to feel a need to have my mood set. I still have to give 4 stars out of 5 for setting the mood. Here is a high-suspense movie in which you even feel something scary was going to happen [almost] every moment in the process. The thing is that there almost weren't any scary scenes to hold up to that great atmosphere and mood . Check out What Lies Beneath (2000) & The Sixth Sense (1999) to understand what I mean. I have three points to raise here: 1- The Japanese language which I'm sure most of you don't understand it so you will waste your time reading the subtitles [instead of watching the movie] just trying to keep up with the dialogue. 2- The cultural differences which we are again unfamiliar with. 3- The whole new-American-movie-generation thing meaning we became unable to wait for something to happen for so long. We want stuff to happen, we want it now and we want a lot of it! [Aliens (1986)] In addition, Spielberg once said that if he made [the masterpiece] Jaws (1975) now after more than 25 years people won't get excited to it, because we learned to become impatient [and I believe he's right]. One last thing, is that everybody says low-budget never necessarily means bad, so why does high-budget [Ring (2002)] means bad this time?
Bottom line: Someone said a theory that says: "Everyone who saw Ring (2002) first seems to have liked it more than Ringu (1998) and vise versa". So, to you, I guess you should see Ringu (1998) before Ring (2002). To me, I choose Ring (2002).
3.5/5.0
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003)
Cool action but nothing else much
(SPOILERS inside)
Tagline: If you're a true fan of Terminator & T2 then forget T3 (or whatever!). And if you actually think JP3 is better than JP & JP2 and MIB2 is better than MIB then you better go now to book your seat for T3!!
First of all I'm a fan of Terminator the original and the first sequel. I find T2 is better than the original in many ways (although this is somehow a tough decision to make coz the original was great). T2 got great great action scenes, better story, great special effects by ILM, great acting by Linda Hamilton, cool ideas with a great story all the way, great directing, and great music. Enough? I dunno. I may add that I love it how T2 unfolds the story and all the scenes that make you scream COOL (like young John Corner riding his bike/ Sarah and her sporty acting/ T-800 looking for cloths with that song/etc..).
So I went to T3 wishing to see something equal to that or maybe (just maybe) better. I knew I wouldn't buy anything if it's not James Cameron but I went along with the story anyway. Well, I tried alot to enjoy it but I couldn't. I laughed few times for Arni's lines. I actually started enjoying this movie in the last minute and couldn't understand how can it end like this, and now I hate it more because of this. The ending was very interesting: It's kinda promising ending (for at least another sequel) as hell as possible but you can use it as the true ending of the series. One thing to add is that I totally hated to see how Matrix Reloaded was affected by Minority Report, and now I see T3 getting affected by Matrix. Give me a break!
Let's get to the details: Arnold seems to get better in the Terminator series. He started to look older though. I missed Sarah Corner and I especially missed Linda Hamilton. John Corner got some nice acting but he surely doesn't look like young John (from T2) to me. T-X was cool and it's good acting by Kristanna Loken, but I don't see her that much of sexy as they wanted us to think and as everyone is calling her that. Music? Well all I can say that it's nice, not much. Cinematography? Also nice, but not so great as Minority Report or Matrix Reloaded. Story? We all wanted to know more and more about the future and how everything happened and all, but I don't find T3 necessary to the series. I also hated how it ended, because we can end it just here (i.e. you know the war of the future and all) but it also opens the door if there ever gonna be T4 or more (i.e. we can actually see the war finally). Anything positive? Well yeah, the action scenes. They did a very good job on the action scenes. Cool action, they tried to make it as real as possible, and the special effects were great. If it was up to me, at least I'd shorten the introduction and add more to the story after the ending.
Was this any real review? Nope. I just wrote my opinion.