00s Movie Review - 30 Days of Night

Director: David Slade
Genre: Horror/ Thriller
Runtime: 115 minutes
Year: 2007
Starring: Josh Hartnett, Melissa George, Ben Foster, Danny Huston, Manu Bennett, Mark Boone Junior

Description: After an Alaskan town is plunged into darkness for a month, it is attacked by a bloodthirsty gang of vampires.

Review: Comic books are perfect source material for film makers. Off course superhero movies, but films like “300” and “Sin City” were based on craphic novels. The dark comic “30 Days of Night” caught the interest of director David Slade and producer Sam Raimi. A story of vampires that haunt a Alaskan town that lives in total darkness for 30 days.
The town is called Barrow. Most citizens leave Barrow before the last sundown. But there are people left behind. On the evening before the 30 days of darkness begin, dog are brutally killed, cellphones are burned and computers are disconnected. The vampires know what to do to cut the people of from the rest of the world.
The vampire look not like your every day blood suckers. And they don’t just bite your neck to drink your blood, they rip their victims apart with their knife sharp teeth. And you can’t kill them, unless you cut off their head. And they speak a language we don’t understand. The leftover citizens, led by sheriff Eben, have to either avoid or beat the vampires to survive.
Although “30 Days of Night” is seen as a mediocre horror film and doesn’t get raving reviews, I always thought that it was an underrated film in the genre. The premise is really terrifying. A town in total darkness, being terrorized by creatures of the night. And it being a distant town makes it even scarier. This is a movie that genuinely scares me, what a horror movie should do.
Off course it has its flaws. The characters lack depth and the story overall is a bit thin. But there is enough to see and the film is visually very well done. And those flaws are easily forgotten. “30 Days of Night” is, in my eyes, an excellent film in the vampire horror genre.

Rating: 4 / 5

100 Movie Challenge 2017 - # 18: Inferno

Director: Ron Howard
Genre: Drama/ Thriller
Runtime: 121 minutes
Year: 2016
Starring: Tom Hanks, Felicity Jones, Ben Foster, Irrfan Khan, Omar Sy

Description: When Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) wakes up in an Italian hospital with amnesia, he teams up with Dr. Sienna Brooks (Felicity Jones), and together they must race across Europe against the clock to foil a deadly global plot.

Review: In 2017, author Dan Brown will release his new book “Origin”. This will be the fifth book where Robert Langdon tries to solve puzzles and mysteries. It was actually time for “The Lost Symbol” to be turned into a film, but director Ron Howard preferred to work on “Inferno”.
Robert Langdon wakes up in a hospital in Florence, with a nasty head wound. He doesn’t know how he got there or what happened to him. Langdon doesn’t have a lot of time to think about that. While Langdon is constantly hallucinating, he has to flee the hospital and doctor Sienna helps him. Eventually Langdon finds out more about what happened to him and together with Sienna he has to stop a catastrophe from happening.
Dan Brown took Dante’s Inferno as his theme for this story. The story and execution are very entertaining, but everything that happens goes a little bit too easy. Langdon sees a riddle or clue and within seconds he gives us the answer to it. And logics is also something they didn’t use a lot for “Inferno”. When you set that aside, you’re going to enjoy “Inferno”.
Tom Hanks is still really good as Robert Langdon. If it wasn’t for him, “Inferno” wouldn’t be as interesting. The chase scenes in the film exciting, but the plot is sometimes predictable. The plot twist in “Inferno” was a little strange. I didn’t really like that part.
I’m a big fan of Dan Brown’s books. So far “The Da Vinci Code” is still the best book to movie adaptation and sadly “Inferno” is my least favorite. Still not a bad movie, but it’s not that refreshing or surprising.

Rating: 3/ 5

100 Movie Challenge 2016 - # 147: Hell or High Water

Director: David Mackenzie
Genre: Drama/ Crime
Runtime: 102 minutes
Year: 2016
Starring: Ben Foster, Chris Pine, Jeff Bridges, Dale Dickey, William Sterchi, Gil Birmingham, Keith Meriweather, Jackamoe Buzzell, Katy Mixon, Amber Midthunder, Joe Berryman, Taylor Sheridaon, Howard Ferguson Jr., Debrianna Mansini

Description: A divorced father (Chris Pine) and his ex-con older brother (Ben Foster) resort to a desperate scheme in order to save their family's ranch in West Texas.

Review: We follow two brothers that want to keep their family ranch. To buy it back from the bank, they decide to rob banks. In the opening, Tanner and Toby rob two banks in a row and drive off. Their plans are pretty solid. But cop Marcus, who is almost retiring, is determined to find them.
Toby wants a better future for his ex-wife and kids. And he also tries to tame his reckless brother Tanner, who just got out of jail. On the other side there is Marcus and his partner Alberto, who are trying to find the robbers.
“Hell or High Water” is a modern western, that balances between violent scenes and chases, but also moments of awareness and and critical look on the American society. At one moment it’s a family drama and then it’s cynical humor.
The atmosphere sometimes reminded me of “No Country for Old Men”, but there is more room for optimism in “Hell or High Water”. The band between the two brothers is the heart of the film. With violence and tension added, there is still a little bit of hope left for a better future.
The acting by Ben Foster, Chris Pine and Jeff Bridges is phenomenal. All three of them perform equally as good, without overdoing it.
“Hell or High Water” is one of those movies tha gets a lot of praise, but it’s flying pretty much under the radar. Which is a shame, because more people really need to see this film.

Rating: 4,5/ 5

100 Movie Challenge 2016 - # 82: 360

Director: Fernando Meirelles
Genre: Drama
Runtime: 115 minutes
Year: 2011
Starring: Jude Law, Rachel Weisz, Anthony Hopkins, Ben Foster, Moritz Bleibtreu, Jamel Debbouze

Description: A dramatic thriller that weaves together the stories of an array of people from disparate social backgrounds through their intersecting relationships.

Review: “360” is a mosaic film where there are multiple storylines and characters that on some point intertwine and overlap. This theme can make a movie stronger. In “360” those storylines are further apart from each other and it never reaches the depth that it should have.
A sex offender that is released from prison and can’t touch any women, is approached by a charming girl at an airport. A driver for a criminal who is letting his own marriage fail because he is slaving for his boss. A call girl with a hidden agenda. “360” does have some intriguing storylines.
The real problem is that only a few storylines have been executed well. The rest is only half done. Which makes some connections a little farfetched or even useless.
Some characters give the film a little bit of hope. The sex offender is an intriguing character, but he doesn’t get a lot of attention. It’s fascinating how he struggles. And the storyline of the driver and a woman he meets on the street is very nice to watch too.
But most characters hardly have a chance to grow. Rachel Weisz and Jude Law play a married couple who find love outside their marriage. That’s really all there is. There are no motives or marriage problems revealed. The characters stay at a distant and are very one dimensional. And this goes for almost the entire film.
Like mostly in movies with a mosaic structure, there is no leading character. But there should be a central focal point and “360” is missing that. It could have been a really good movie, because I always love these kind of film. “360” just didn’t do it for me. Even Anthony Hopkins couldn’t make that happen.

Rating: 2,5/ 5