10s Movie Review - The Snowman

Director: Tomas Alfredson
Genre: Crime/ Drama/ Thriller
Runtime: 119 minutes
Year: 2017
Starring: Michael Fassbender, Rebecca Ferguson, Charlotte Gainsbourg, J.K. Simmons, Val Kilmer, Toby Jones, James D’Arcy, Chloë Sevigny

Description: Detective Harry Hole (Michael Fassbender) investigates the disappearance of a woman whose scarf is found wrapped around an ominous-looking snowman

Review: Every once in a while, a film is planned that can’t fail, at least on paper. “The Snowman” is based on a popular best-selling novel. It has a director who delivered succesful movies and a cast that understands its craft. So what can go wrong? Well, I don’t know what went wrong, but “The Snowman” is a terrible movie.
“The Snowman” is the first film based on a populat book series starring detective Harry Hole. Good ad his job, but bad in getting his personal life together. He has a struggling relationship with his ex-girlfriend and her son and deals with a drinking problem. In the first half hour we see Harry wake up in three different places I the morning, after drinking all night.
To restrain his inner demons, Harry needs a case that he can hold on to. When a killer is on the loose in Norway, killing and beheading young women, he can finally shows off his skills again. On every crime scene, the killer leaves a snowman, which will become the signature.
You would think this is the perfect plot for an intense cat and mouse game between a cop and a serial killer. But this never happen. Where did it go wrong? It’s not director Alfredson, who previously gave us “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” and “Let the Right One In’”. He blamed the hasty production process.
This does show, especially in the subplots of the film. Sometimes they feel out of context and it never really feels like a whole. Especially the scenes with Val Kilmer, which are sometimes even comical and plain weird.
Morbid things happen in this movie, but the movie never shocks, scares are gets exciting. Movies like “Zodiac” or “Sev7en” are perfect examples of how it should have been. “The Snowman” lacks everything that those two movies have.
Michael Fassbender isn’t bad, but he isn’t as strong as usual. And I seriously think that, if it weren’t for him, this movie would’ve even been worse.
“The Snowman” is better of left unwatched. It’s a waste of time.

Rating: 1,5/ 5

100 Movie Challenge 2017 - # 133: Dunkirk

Director: Christopher Nolan
Genre: Drama/ Action
Runtime: 105 minutes
Year: 2017
Starring: Kenneth Branagh, Cillian Murphy, Mark Rylance, Tom Hardy, Barry Keoghan, James D’Arcy, Harry Styles

Description: Allied soldiers from Belgium, the British Empire and France are surrounded by the German Army, and evacuated during a fierce battle in World War II.

Review: You would think that we have enough WWII movies in Hollywood. But still movies based on this war are released. And every once in a while you wonder why this wasn’t made earlier. “Dunkirk” is one of those films. Aside from a British film from 1958 and a very impressive shot in the film “Atonement”, the battle for Dunkirk has been overlooked.
The fact that there were no Americans involved might be a reason, because the evens around Dunkirk happened about 18 months before the US got involved.
“Dunkirk” seems like a war epos, which is perfect for a director like Christopher Nolan. But this film is very different from the rest of his films. He never took on a true story and often works with existential themes. But Nolan is obviously very versatile and proofs that he can easily create a war movie with substance and subtlety. You can see it in the first 30 minutes, very timid and hardly any dialogue.
“Dunkirk” opens when the British army has withdrawn to the Dunkirk and is enclosed by the Germans. To draw the situations, newsflashes and flashbacks are left out. That the story starts here is surprising, because most Hollywood movies take their time to introduce. It starts right were the action is. And this is a fresh take on the theme.
For a war movie, Nolan kept it to a minimal and was very modest. The film isn’t over sentimental or dramatic. No extra fuzz. A story from a large scale, told by focusing on the smaller human moments.

Rating: 4/ 5