Ballast (2008)

Ballast: an attribute that tends to give stability in character and morals; something that steadies the mind or feelings. Understanding the definition of the title of this film gives a lot of insight into the subject matter of this film.

The film starts with a 20-something shooting himself in an attempted suicide with his friend coming to the rescue. We learn what drove him to this decision slowly and the decisions he is now making, after his recovery, to change his life. He shows he is human and falters several times but we can see his life has changed for the better.

I found myself trying to understand this family story, very curious for the first 30 minutes. You gain information little by little and leave the film feeling like you know enough. Many times stories like this are left open ended to the point that you get nothing out of it.

Picked by Ebert as one of his top 20 movies of 2008, I was happy that I stumbled across this one at the local library and checked it out. Give it a chance and you might be surprised. Definitely an art-house film though, don't expect action or subject matter suitable for children.

Vote: 7/10

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1153690/

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The White Ribbon: Das weisse Band (2009)

By far the most overrated film of the year. Built up to be a glimpse of pre-WWI Germany, I thought this film was going to be deep and give me some insight into the generation of Germans that took us into two World Wars. Instead it was just a story about a small town village with strange mysteries.

The problem with this film is that the director or author, I'm not sure which. Took all of this on hearsay from many many years ago. These events for the most part are exaggerated, assumed, and assumptions. Not the kind of resource I want for teaching me a little about history.

The film can off as dry, slow, and ready to break out at any moment. I felt myself saying, "Any minute now it is going to get good," but it doesn't. The black-and-white do nothing to help the movie because the director never uses the lighting for visual tricks, or anything to justify it other than, this is from a time long, long ago.

Very disappointed in this one. Very happy the Oscars did not give it the win, once again they got it right on the Foreign film winner with "A Secret In Their Eyes." And once again the Golden Globe winner in this category sucked.

Vote: 3/10

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1149362/

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The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo: Män som hatar kvinnor (2009)

I have to say I was a little leery of this series at first. Some of the book series lately haven't been something that interest me, e.g. The Twilight Series, Saga, whatever. I've heard good things about this series though, and wanted to see the original Swedish series before Hollywood gets its hands on it [and ruins it... did you know they want Scarlett Johansson for this!??! awful].

Plus, Stieg Larsson, the author, is very close to my last name... Larsen... so I had to give it a chance. Noomi Rapace and Michael Nyqvist were very well cast for these parts. The film seemed to fit the cast and location well, and although I've been told there are a lot of elements from the book that have been left out, the script seemed very complete and the story was compelling.

The film is a murder mystery, Nygvist's character is hired to investigate a disappearance from 30 years ago, and Rapace [a hacker] helps in the investigation after nosing-around on Nygvist's computer.

You have to read, so that immediately turns some people away. It is a lot less reading than the book though, right? Don't wait for the Hollywood version, they are sure to screw it up. The themes are very very adult. There is a rape scene and some things that might make you uncomfortable. It is worth checking out though.

Vote: 9/10

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1132620/

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The 39 Steps (1935)

It is always a treat to get to another Alfred Hitchcock film. This one, one of his earlier works, is probably one of his best from his first 15 years as a director. Starring Robert Donat the running question throughout the film is "What are the 39 Steps?"

The general plot of the film is that a spy is killed and Donat is on the run after being falsely accused. The action scenes were kind of ironic to me. In modern films we seem to focus on slow-motion, in this film... something I've seen in other films of this generation... they actually speed up the film to simulate action. Kinda funny, and pretty silly looking. Maybe we'll say that about slow-motion in 50 years.

I definitely felt duped in retrospect, a fantastic ability of Hitchcock, and one of the reasons I love his works. It isn't one of his top 5 films, but it is still very very good.

Vote: 8/10

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0026029/

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It's a Gift (1934)

Giving this film a 6/10 is probably very generous. W.C. Fields stars in this slapstick comedy early in the talkie period. There is little theme music, yet loaded with awful sound effects. Such as, kids screaming, sprinklers making an angry wife yell, neighbors screaming up and down stairs.

The comedy bits are much like a silent film. Fields trying to shave for 10 minutes, trying to sleep on his patio for 15 minutes, trying to start his car. This is one of those annoying film where the father can't seem to do anything right. Not my favorite genre.

Vote: 6/10

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0025318/

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Death Race (2008)

Another Jason Statham action film. He sure does have a good agent. Seems like he is in every action film lately. Joan Allen plays the jail warden, she was pretty good as the bad guy [gal].

Good action, and honestly very few cheesy lines. Which was good, because in a movie where people are constantly dieing when being driven off the road, the opportunities were endless.

Tyrese Gibson also was pretty good as the other star car driver. I just don't think the plot and premise of the film was that great. I can't find any really good points to bash the movie on, it was just ok for me.

I'm usually very opinionated about action films because it is like shooting fish in a barrel to make fun of them. But this action film really didn't have that much to make fun of. It was kinda fun, kinda stupid, kinda good.

Vote: 6/10

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0452608/

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Children of Paradise: Les enfants du paradis (1945)

A black-and-white 3 hour French romance from 1945 centered around a mime. Still interested? You must be crazy like me about film...

This movie is on three of my lists. The IMDB Top 250 from 2004, where it squeaked in at #250. The 1001 Movies to See Before You Die... which sometimes feels like the 1001 Movies that Make You Want to Die. Then part of Ebert's "Great Movies".

The general plot of this film is that four men are in love with one girl. They all plot against each other and her [when they can't have her], in attempts to have her for themselves. Baptiste is in a love triangle of his own with the woman that loves him, and this other girl.

Entertaining at moments, and with merit for it's time and genre. I just have little interested in a film like this, and three hours can be difficult to get through for any foreign film.

Vote: 6/10

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0037674/

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