10s Movie Review - The Mountain Between Us

Director: Hany Abu-Assad
Genre: Drama/ Adventure/ Thriller/ Romance
Runtime: 103 minutes
Year: 2017
Starring: Idris Elba, Kate Winslet, Beau Bridges, Dermot Mulroney, Linda Sorensen

Description: Stranded after a tragic plane crash, two strangers (Kate Winslet, Idris Elba) must forge a connection to survive the extreme elements of a remote snow-covered mountain. When they realize help is not coming, they embark on a perilous journey across the wilderness.

Review: Neurosurgeon Ben is on his way to perform a very complex surgery on a young patient. Photographer Alex is about to get married. Both are stranded on an airport, when their flights are cancelled due to the weather.
Alex manages to rent a private plane and overhears Ben, who is in a similar situation having to be at his location the next day. They board the plane together, but their pilot suffers from a stroke and they crash. They end up in a snowy landscape, with no people or towns nearby. Ben and Alex don’t know each other, but are forced to survive together.
The pilot didn’t survive, but his dog did, so Alex and Ben have a companion. With minimal supplies and a couple of chocolade bars they two have to decide if they wait for help or look for help by foot.
Director Hany Aby-Asad used the book “The Mountain Between Us” by Charles Martin, as its inspiration. It’s an ambitious project, while the screentime is filled with only two characters and a dog. And he got lucky with Kate Winslet and Idris Elba as his stars. “The Mountain Between Us” is beautifully shot. And the first half of the film I really liked. Ben is the stronger of the two, so he has to make sure Alex makes it through. But as soon as the two are on an equal playing feel, so to say, you realize hos old fashioned this story actually is. Alex becomes this ‘damsel in distress’, when she is in fact a very strong woman on her own. And Ben is ‘the knight in shining armor’, who will make sure that he will get her of that mountain.
And what bothered me the most: this is supposed to be a survival movie, right?. I really loved this part. Why does there have to be a love story? From being a good and solid survival tale, it turns into a mediocre romantic drama. With a very cheesy ending I might say.
I was so disappointed in this film. Not because of Elba and Winslet, they are great. But the direction the story takes is just so lame.

Rating: 2/ 5

10s Movie Review - Bridget Jones's Baby

Director: Sharon Maguire
Genre: Comedy/ Romance
Runtime: 123 minutes
Year: 2016
Starring: Renée Zellweger, Colin Firth, Patrick Dempsey, Jim Broadbent, Gemma Jones, Emma Thompson

Description: Bridget's (Renée Zellweger) focus on single life and her career is interrupted when she finds herself pregnant, but with one hitch ... she can only be fifty percent sure of the identity of her baby's father.

Review: After an absence of twelve years, the clumsy and most awkward single woman of all-time is back: Bridget Jones. The previous two films, “Bridget Jones’s Diary” and “Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason”, were based on the books by author Helen Fielding. For this movie, the inspiration came from columns Fielding wrote for ‘The Independent’. The third book, where Bridget is a 50-year old widow, remains untouched. The result: a somewhat happier story that takes place ten years before that.
When we first meet Bridget in this film, she is celebrating her 43rd birthday. Alone. On the couch. In her pajamas. Singing to 90s music. At the end of “Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason”, she claims to have found true love and happiness with Mark Darcy. But she is once again single and Bridget doesn’t really mind that.
Her lonely, happy and seemingly uncomplicated life comes to an end when it appears she is pregnant. Who the father is, she is not sure of. In a short period a time, she had ‘relations’ (her words) with two men: Handsome American Jack Qwant and her old flame Mark Darcy.
Jack appears to be a billionaire, who earned a fortune by working out algorithms that calculate if you’re right for your partner or not. But can love be based on that?
“Bridget Jones’s Baby” is definitely not new and original and it has some really predictable moments. But like the first two, the main element is fun. They are such a joy to watch, as is this third film. Renée Zellweger still does a great job portraying Bridget and the moments between Jack and Mark are really funny. My favorite part was actually Emma Thompson, with only a small but very memorable role. All her scenes are gold.
Bridget’s new boss is a downside of the film. She is an annoying character and doesn’t really add anything to the story. And the fake twist. Didn’t like that either. We all knew how it was going to end and they led us to believe something else first and then make the ‘big reveal’. That’s thinking the audience is dumb.
Overall, I really enjoyed this comedy and the return or Bridget Jones. There are hints to a possible sequel, but I think they should leave it here.

Rating: 3/ 5

10s Movie Review - The Circle

Director: James Ponsoldt
Genre: Thriller/ Drama
Runtime: 110 minutes
Year: 2017
Starring: Emma Watson, Tom Hanks, Bill Paxton, Karen Gillan, John Boyega, Patton Oswalt, Glenne Headly

Description: Mae Holland (Emma Watson) lands a dream job at a powerful tech company called the Circle, only to uncover an agenda that will affect the lives of all of humanity.

Review: In 2013, author Dave Eggers finished “The Circle”, a dystopian novel that was compared to George Orwell’s “1984”. It was a popular book and it’s a surprise it took four years to be turned into a film. But does a praised book always need a movie adaptation? Well, for “The Circle” it’s a no.
Mae Holland’s life is about to change, when she is invited for a job interview at ‘the Circle’. You see the big difference between the dusty and old school call center Mae works at, to the ultra-modern and complex 'the Circle'. For Mae, ‘the Circle’ is the place to be. She ends up at the ‘customer experience’ department. We also meet CEO Eamon Bailey, who presents an advanced camera system. It’s clear that ‘the Circle’ is a company that sees the invasion of privacy as a device to reach political goals.
Everyone listening to Bailey believes in ‘the Circle’, Mae is one of them. And it doesn’t take her very long to become one if the icons of the company. Emma Watson is a fantastic actress, but her talent is underused. And it feels like Tom Hanks, my all-time favorite, is out of place. Both do a solid job, but if you have these fantastic performers, give them something to work with.
Bailey and his neurotic followers can’t be taken seriously. And when they present a program called SoulSearch, that’s the ultimate low. And the creators of this system, never see that it’s a dangerous tool? Not very credible.
The story criticizes society and there it’s crucial to be believable. And it never feels like that. It’s rushed and it loses the actual focus of Eggers’ novel: the danger of digital independence.
The story and concept of “The Circle” are really good, the book was great. I think it would have been better as a mini-series.

Rating: 2 / 5

Movie Reviews - Searching

Director: Aneesh Chaganty
Genre: Drama/ Thriller
Runtime: 100 minutes
Year: 2018
Starring: John Cho, Debra Messing, Sara Sohn, Alex Jayne Go, Megan Liu, Kya Dawn Lau, Michelle La, Joseph Lee, Dominic Hoffman, Connor McRaith, Briana McLean

Description: After his 16-year-old daughter goes missing, a desperate father (John Cho) breaks into her laptop to look for clues to find her.

Review: Like many of us can’t sit through an entire movie without checking their phone, that’s how attached David Kim is to the digital world. When his 16-year old daughter Margot doesn’t respond to his message, he sends another one. And another one and another one. Just as many times before he gets angry. But this anger soon turns into concern. Where is Margot?
However the police, with detective Rosemary Vick leading the investigation, does everything they can to find Margot, for David it doesn’t go fast enough. He uses Margot’s laptop to find out more about her disappearance. He goes through her social media, e-mail, messages. David finds out that his daughter was a total stranger to him.
In this ambitious thriller, by director Aneesh Chaganty, everything is seen though media screens. It feels weird at first, but you get used to it very easily. We see what David Kim sees and does. Sending messages, clicking and opening tabs, facetiming.
The film has a simple title and a theme that has been used many times before, but this film is very complex and unique because of the used format. And “Searching” is a highly unpredictable film, that will even fool the more experienced moviegoer. There are some unexpected twists, which is very rare in Hollywood these days.
The average film fan will not appreciate this film for what it is and what it does, but if you look deeper and further, you see the excellence that is called “Searching”. It’s great to see originality hasn’t died yet!

Rating: 4,5/ 5

00s Movie Review - The Lovely Bones

Director: Peter Jackson
Genre: Drama/ Thriller/ Crime/ Fantasy
Runtime: 135 minutes
Year: 2009
Starring: Saoirse Ronan, Rachel Weisz, Mark Wahlberg, Susan Sarandon, Stanley Tucci, Michael Imperioli

Description: Centers on a young girl (Saoirse Ronan) who has been murdered and watches over her family - and her killer - from purgatory. She must weigh her desire for vengeance against her desire for her family to heal.

Review: “The Lovely Bones” sows that last days of Susie Salmon’s life and her first steps into heaven. Susan is a 14 year old girl, who dreams of becoming a photographer. Her life abruptly ends when she is brutally murdered. Her parents start a search for the killer. Meanwhile, Susie is in the ‘inbetween’, a place where the dead end up when they aren’t ready for heaven yet. And she watches how her father becomes obsessive in his search for the man who killed his daughter.
The film looks magical, the ‘inbetween’ looks beautiful.
Stanley Tucci and Saoirse Ronan are the two highlights of the film. Both performances are solid and strong. Ronan fits the dream world perfectly and Tucci is creepy as the sinister Harvey. He gets totally lost in his role and it’s really hard to imagine someone else in this role.
The tempo of the film is not that solid though. Sometimes it’s fast paced, sometimes it’s a bit of a drag. And the tone of the film sometimes switches too, which makes it a bit messy here and there. This doesn’t fit the dreamy world at all.
It’s really hard to rate this film, because it’s a really beautiful movie. It looks gorgeous and has some really good performances. And the story is beautiful as well. But there are some inconsistencies here and there. A case of ‘the book was better’ is in place here, but I still really enjoyed the film.

Rating: 3,5 / 5

Five to Watch - Movies About Missing Persons

“Searching” is in theaters now and I’m going to see it myself tonight. So this brought me to this theme. I selected five films, where people are reported missing, that I think are worth watching or are somehow overlooked

In the Valley of Elah
A retired military investigator works with a police detective to uncover the truth behind his son’s disappearance following his return from a tour of duty in Iraq. The movies does an excellent job of showing that post-traumatic stress syndrome is not an oddity, but rather a growing problem in an army of young men whose job requires to be quick on the trigger. The movie belongs to Tommy Lee Jones, as the grieving father. And Charlize Theron as the determined detective. Both turn in outstanding performances. Jones shines, playing a man who has spent his life holding in his emotions and can’t change now, even as his world is falling apart. Theron radiates strength as a woman trying to survive in a sexist police department where all her male colleagues are certain she slept her way into her detective’s job.

Changeling
A grief-stricken mother takes on the LAPD to her own detriment when it tries to pass off an obvious imposter as her missing child. It’s a terrific story based on true events, has outstanding performances and is very well directed by Clint Eastwood. Angelina Jolie is great as her character fights, what seems to be at first a lost fight, for her son in a world vontrolled by men.

The Vanishing (Spoorloos)
Dutch couple, Rex and Saskia, stop at a service station to refuel. Saskia never returns. Three years later, Rex’s obsessice quest to find her is taken to unprecedented mania, when he starts to receive taunting letters from her abductor. The cat-and-mouse game between the two men ratchets up unbearable tension. There is also an American version, with Kiefer Sutherland, Sandra Bullock and Jeff Bridges, but it’s not as good as the Dutch version.

Breakdown
A man searches for his missing wife, after his car breaks down in the middle of the desert. It’s a great thriller that keeps you second guessing until the end. And it’s fast paced. Very much underrated.

The Texas Killing Fields
In the Texas bayous, a local homicide detective teams up with a cop from New York City to investigate a series of unsolved murders. This film might never find its audience, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t a great film. I did like it, a lot. And think it’s underrated and much overlooked as well. I loved Jessica Chastain, Sam Worthington and Jeffrey Dean Morgan in this film.

Movies to Look Forward to - September 2018

Another month, more new movies. Here is a look at the movies, that I think are worth my time, that are released this September.

September 6th – Peppermint
Director: Pierre Morel
Starring: Jennifer Garner, John Gallagher Jr., John Ortiz, Method Man, Juan Pablo Raba
Description: Peppermint is a revenge story centering on a young mother who finds herself with nothing to lose, and is now going to take from her enemies the very life they stole from her.

September 6th – Searching
Director: Aneesh Chaganty
Starring: John Cho, Debra Messing
Description: After his 16-year-old daughter goes missing, a desperate father (John Cho) breaks into her laptop to look for clues to find her.

September 13th – Papillon
Director: Michael Noer
Starring: Charlie Hunnam, Rami Malek, Tommy Flanagan
Description: Wrongfully convicted for murder, Henri Charriere (Charlie Hunnam) forms an unlikely relationship with fellow inmate and quirky convicted counterfeiter Louis Dega (Rami Malek), in an attempt to escape from the notorious penal colony on Devil's Island.

September 13th – The Predator
Director: Shane Black
Starring: Boyd Holbrook, Thomas Jane, Jacob Tremblay, Olivia Munn, Keegan-Michael Key, Trevante Rhodes, Sterling K. Brown, Alfie Allen, Jake Busey, Yvonne Strahovski
Description: When a young boy accidentally triggers the universe's most lethal hunters' return to Earth, only a ragtag crew of ex-soldiers and a disgruntled science teacher can prevent the end of the human race.

September 20th – Johnny English Strikes Again
Director: David Kerr
Starring: Rowan Atkinson, Emma Thompson, Olga Kurylenko, Ben Miller
Description: After a cyber-attack reveals the identity of all of the active undercover agents in Britain, Johnny English (Rowan Atkinson) is forced to come out of retirement to find the mastermind hacker.

September 27th – A Simple Favor
Director: Paul Feig
Starring: Anna Kendrick, Blake Lively
Description: Stephanie (Anna Kendrick) is a mommy blogger who seeks to uncover the truth behind her best friend Emily's (Blake Lively) sudden disappearance from their small town.

September 27th – The House with a Clock in Its Walls
Director: Eli Roth
Starring: Cate Blanchett, Jack Black, Kyle MacLachlan
Description: A young orphan named Lewis Barnavelt aids his magical uncle in locating a clock with the power to bring about the end of the world.