My Sassy Girl (2008)

My Sassy Girl
Director: Yann Samuell
Writer: Victor Levin
Remake of: Yeopgijeogin geunyeo
Cast: Elisha Cuthbert, Jesse Bradford, Austin Basis, Chris Sarandon, Jay Patterson, Joanna Gleason

Plot:
Charlie (Jesse Bradford) is a business student and the epitome of a nice guy. One day he meets Jordan (Elisha Cuthbert), pretty and incredibly drunk. He saves her from falling in front of a subway train and then carries her home when she passes out in the station. After that Jordan turns Charlie’s entire life completely upside down with her erratic behavior.

This movie could have been quite nice – if Jordan hadn’t been the most grievous instance of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl that I have encountered in my life. That immediately reduces the film to mediocre, max.

Bad Teacher (2011)

Bad Teacher
Director: Jake Kasdan
Writer: Gene Stupnitsky, Lee Eisenberg
Cast: Cameron Diaz, Lucy Punch, Justin Timberlake, Jason Segel

Plot:
Elizabeth (Cameron Diaz) dreams only of one thing: marrying rich and never having to work as a teacher again. She seems to have achieved her goal, but then her fiancé dumps her. So Elizabeth takes up teaching again and sets her mind on a new pair of boobs – that is sure to bring her the success she seeks. And when she meets Scott (Justin Timberlake), heir and new teacher at her school, she seems to have found her next target. But that puts her directly in competition with Amy (Lucy Punch), who is basically the exact opposite of Elizabeth.

I didn’t expect much of this film and therefore wasn’t really disappointed. It’s okay, it even made me really laugh a couple of times, but other than that it was pretty meh.

This Must Be the Place (2011)

This Must Be the Place
Director: Paolo Sorrentino
Writer:  Umberto Contarello, Paolo Sorrentino
Cast: Sean Penn, Frances McDormand, Judd Hirsch, Eve Hewson, Kerry Condon, Harry Dean Stanton, David Byrne, Shea Whigham

Plot:
Cheyenne (Sean Penn) is a rock star in retirement living in Ireland who divides his time between  his wife Jane (Frances McDormand) and his fan Mary (Eve Hewson). But when he hears that his father is about to die, Cheyenne makes his way to the US – only to find out that he is too late. But he finds out that his father has been hunting a Nazi who has been tormenting him during WWII. And suddenly Cheyenne finds himself on the same hunt.

The movie is much like its protagonist: charming, funny and peculiar. But the whole Nazi-hunting story feels tacked on and runs too long. Still, it’s all worth it for Sean Penn in that role.

Poulet aux prunes [Chicken with Plums] (2011)

Poulet aux prunes
Director: Vincent Paronnaud, Marjane Satrapi
Writer: Vincent Paronnaud, Marjane Satrapi
Based on: Marjane Satrapi‘s graphic novel
Cast: Mathieu Amalric, Edouard Baer, Maria de Medeiros, Golshifteh Farahani, Eric Caravaca, Chiara Mastroianni, Isabella Rossellini

Plot:
Nasser-Ali (Mathieu Amalric) is a violinist who recently lost his violin. Unfortunately he can’t manage to find a new one that satisfies him and so he descends into a deep depression and decides to die by refusing to eat. While he wastes away, he  revisits important episodes in his life and imagines his kids’ futures. But maybe his depression has less to do with his violin and more with the woman he met on the street and  who didn’t recognize him?

Poulet aux prunes is a visually stunning film – especially every time they mix it up with animated sequences – and has a nice sense of humor. But Nasser-Ali is such an asshole that I couldn’t really enjoy the film.

Cairo Time (2009)

Cairo Time
Director: Ruba Nadda
Writer: Ruba Nadda
Cast: Patricia Clarkson, Alexander Siddig, Elena Anaya, Amina Annabi

Plot:
Juliette (Patricia Clarkson) comes to Cairo to visit her husband who is working there for the UN. But when she lands, instead of her husband, it’s Tareq (Alexander Siddig) who picks her up. Tareq used to work with her husband, who is caught up in Gaza. As Juliette waits for her husband to return, she starts to spend more time with Tareq and their sympathies for each other deepen.

Cairo Time was a beautiful, well-written and perfectly acted film that I enjoyed much more than I thought I would.

Home from the Hill (1960)

Home from the Hill
Director: Vincente Minnelli
Writer: Harriet Frank Jr., Irving Ravetch
Based on: William Humphrey‘s novel
Cast: Robert Mitchum, Eleanor Parker, George Peppard, George Hamilton, Luana Patten

Plot:
Wade Hunnicutt (Robert Mitchum) dominates not only his entire family but basically his entire town, where he has slept with almost the entire female population. His wife Hannah (Eleanor Parker) tolerates it and compensates by doting on their son Theron (George Hamilton). But when Theron tries to get out from under his mother’s wing, he turns to his father and his father’s loyal employee Rafe (George Peppard) and gets his first hunting lessons.

I went into the film not knowing much about it [I had totally forgotten why I wanted to see it and therefore reserved a ticket - I didn't even know the general plot anymore], so I wasn’t entirely certain what to expect. That means that for the first bit of the film I was a bit unsure because nothing much happened. But once I realized that this was just a family story and stopped waiting for the big events, I absolutely fell in love with the film.

Cape Fear (1962)

Cape Fear
Director: J. Lee Thompson
Writer: James R. Webb
Based on: John D. MacDonald‘s novel The Executioners
Cast: Gregory Peck, Robert Mitchum, Polly Bergen, Lori Martin

Plot:
Sam Bowden (Gregory Peck) is a successful lawyer with a nice family. But when Max Cady (Robert Mitchum) – who Sam got convicted with his testimony for attacking a young girl – is released from prison, Max starts to threaten Sam’s entire life and family. He stalks all of them, but particularly Sam’s daughter Nancy (Lori Martin), but always just within the law – until he forces Sam to resort to desperate measures.

Despite the excellent performances by both Robert Mitchum and Gregory Peck, that movie was a bit slack and underwhelming.

Luftslottet som sprängdes [The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest] (2009)

Luftslottet som sprängdes
Director: Daniel Alfredson
Writer: Ulf Ryberg
Based on: Stieg Larsson‘s novel
Sequel to: Män som hatar kvinnor, Flickan som lekte med elden
Cast: Michael Nyqvist, Noomi Rapace, Lena Endre, Peter Andersson, Michalis Koutsogiannakis, Annika Hallin, Georgi Staykov, Micke Spreitz, Anders Ahlborn, Aksel Morisse

Plot:
Lisbeth (Noomi Rapace) is recovering in a hospital from the events in Flickan som lekte med elden and awaiting her trial for murder. Mikael (Michael Nyqvist) asks his friend Annika to represent her in court, while he tries to do everything in his power to acquit Lisbeth and to show how there was a conspiracy against her which started when she was 12 years old. He also provides Lisbeth with the possibility to write her own autobiography – something which will hopefully help her in court.

After Flickan…, Luftslottet som sprängdes is definitely a step up again, though the first one definitely remains the strongest of the three films.

The Darkest Hour (2011)

The Darkest Hour
Director: Chris Gorak
Writer: Jon Spaihts
Cast: Emile Hirsch, Olivia Thirlby, Max Minghella, Rachael Taylor, Joel Kinnaman, Veronika Ozerova

Plot:
Sean (Emile Hirsch) and Ben (Max Minghella) come to Russia to introduce their exciting new software. But as soon as they land, things start to go wrong, their software gets stolen by the arrogant Skyler (Joel Kinnaman) and they realize that they came to Russia for nothing at all. So they head to a bar, where they meet the tourists Natalie (Olivia Thirlby) and Anne (Rachael Taylor). But before the night is over, a strange rain of light starts to hit Moscow and they quickly  discover that that is only the beginning of the alien invasion and their fight for survival.

The levels of stupid people manage to cram into one film continue to astound me – and The Darkest Hour really is the new high on that count. Unfortunately, it is not very entertaining with it.

[I hate-hate-hate those "cyrillic" movie posters. You know what it says there, if you translate the cyrillic to the roman alphabet? DDYAKEST. Bloody hell. Though admittedly, it is a fair representation of the film.]

Flickan som lekte med elden [The Girl Who Played With Fire] (2009)

Flickan som lekte med elden
Director: Daniel Alfredson
Writer: Jonas Frykberg
Based on: Stieg Larsson‘s novel
Sequel to: Män som hatar kvinnor
Cast: Michael Nyqvist, Noomi Rapace, Lena Endre, Peter Andersson, Michalis Koutsogiannakis, Annika Hallin, Ralph Carlsson, Georgi Staykov, Micke Spreitz

Plot:
A few years after the events in “Män som hatar kvinnor”, Lisbeth (Noomi Rapace) returns to Sweden to remind her “guardian” Bjurman (Peter Andersson) of their deal. In the meantime, Mikael (Michael Nyqvist) is investigating a sex trafficking ring together with his young colleague. But when said colleague, his girlfriend and Bjurman are found dead and Lisbeth is accused of all three murders, Mikael’s and Lisbeth’s paths cross again. While Lisbeth is on the run, they both work feverishly to find out what’s going on.

Flickan som lekte med elden suffers from the sequel sickness: while the desperate attempt to up the stakes leads to too much conspiracy, the movie struggles even more with the weaknesses of the first one, foremost the pacing.