The Orphanage

Guillermo del Toro’s latest movie is yet another fantastic journey

Guillermo del Toro’s new movie, “The Orphanage,” follows in the footsteps of his other movies.  This is magic realism set in an orphanage where, as you’d expect, things are not what they seem.

In this film, the special effects take a back seat to the story, which is about a woman, who grew up in an orphanage, and her adopted son.  And, even though the ending was apparent, to me, by the middle of the film, I was enthralled with the story, discovering the details of the causes for the plot and seeing the ending unravel.

This is a must-see film!  You can visit the movie web site here.

Youth Without Youth

We saw “ Youth Without Youth,” the new Coppola movie.

The internet database entry is here and the studio web site is here.

I liked this movie and Aviva didn’t – its a story about love, life and the metaphysics of time.  Tim Roth plays the main character, who is struck by lightening and becomes younger by some thirty years.  I don’t want to give away the plot, but make sure to look for the roses….

The Kite Runner

Saw it this afternoon at a midday matinee.

Wow, what a movie – I cried twice during the film, and Aviva cried through most of it.

Its a story of family, trust, friendship, bullys and standing up for one’s beliefs.  Its set mostly in Afghanistan just before the Soviet invasion and then during the Taliban.

This should be an Oscar contender this year.

My Brother Is An Only Child

A good Italian film from the Chicago International Film Festival.

Since I’m between jobs I’ve been trying to spend more time with Aviva.  She and I don’t typically like the same films, but I agreed to go with her to see this one for a Saturday night out.

We ate dinner at a restaurant next door (I can’t remember the name).  The food was quite good, Japanese fusion, and I’d go back there again.

The movie was actually very good; you can read the festival’s review here.  Its the story of two brothers that end up having completely different lives.

Eastern Promises

We saw “Eastern Promises” Sunday morning.

Eastern Promises is David Cronenberg’s latest movie.  Its a bit of a departure for him.  The movie is set in London and involves the Russian Mafia.  A young woman is rushed to the hospital – she dies but gives birth to a baby girl.  The young doctor finds her diary tucked in a pocket and takes it.  From there the story builds to a dramatic and effective fight scene (warning – there’s male nudity here!) that’s all Cronenberg.

The film is shot in a very harsh high-contrast style that fits nicely with the story (this too is a trademark, I think, of his films).  The rain (which is so common in London) also adds nicely to the depressing aspects of the story.

Its a short film (running just over 1 1/2 hours) but it was worth it I think.

Hannibal Rising

We saw “Hannibal Rising” yesterday.

We wanted to see this Saturday but the Chicago Reader had the wrong show times for the theatre. So, we went to the first showing on Sunday morning.

The movie was fun; it explains why Hannibal Lechter eats people, how he got involved in art and medicine, and why he doesn’t love anyone (like any good sociopath, right?). The movie has some problems, for example its not nearly as graphic as the other movies in the series. Its slow in spots (Aviva looked at my watch at one point). Visually, it wasn’t
stunning.

But, if you’re a fan, you should see this movie anyway – you’ll probably enjoy it overall, I did, and hope a paperback edition comes out before our trip to Italy in May so I can take it along to read.

Borat

Probably the most tasteless movie I’ve seen in a long time, “Borat” is really funny! He makes fun of everyone, but especially anti-Semites. Really worth the price of admission. Especially the “running of the Jews.”

Apocalypto

Aviva and I went to see Apocalypto on Christmas day. Interesting film – as I suspected, it was visually stunning and very, very violent (I had to cover my eyes a couple of times). The movie is somewhat predictable – man is separated from his family, survives by luck and skill, returns, saves his family in the nick of time and goes back to his old lifestyle.

The chase scene was too long, and I looked at my watch three times during the trek to the Mayan city. I can’t fully recommend this movie, but it is visually stunning….

Last King of Scotland

Title: Last King of Scotland
Viewed on: October 21, 2006

Aviva and I took Aviva’s mom, Lily, to see this movie.

The film is about a Scotish doctor, Dr. Garrigan, who goes to Uganda fresh from school, meets Idi Amin, becomes his personal physician, and then things get scary (I don’t want to give the film away in case you want to see it).

Lily felt it was too violent, but I thought it wasn’t violent enough. Amin killed lots of Udandans – this was almost a magical realization for Dr. Garrigan that this is going on; he sees it in a newspaper. The pacing was off – I looked at my watch at least three times during the film.

On the plus side, Forrest Whitaker makes a great Idi Amin – he’s got the expressions, the capricous behavior and the accent down pat.

But, this isn’t really a story about Idi Amin, but instead about the doctor, and I don’t think its that good.