Into the White (2012) Norway

A true story that happened in WWII you might never heard.

Drama | War

Review:

     It was inspired by the true story but made few changes in script to look dissimilar to other similar plot movies. But still people are comparing it to movies like 'No Man's Land' and 'Hell in the Pacific'. This Norwegian movie had international cast. A couple English and a trio Germans. It was almost an English language movie, except in few parts where German soldiers speak German.

     Unlike other fictional stories this movie was breathtaking. The whole movie was shot in a wooden cabin which located in the snow covered no man's land. That setting reminded me the Charles Chaplin's 'The Gold Rush'. Don't mistake it as a pure war movie, it was a drama with a backdrop of second world war. You can see only men with a soldier's suit and guns which they never use it.

     This movie tells the certain parts of the story that happened back in 1940. The filmmakers chose to tell only the drama parts, but I wanted the rest of the story. Like when they were taken back to the nearby English soldier camp what happen to the German prisoners. Of course they said it in words during before the end credits roll up. But I am eager to see it in a movie because I love movies.

     I think Rupert Grint had a good role other than he had in the Harry Potter series or any other recent his movies. The rest of the guys were also given their solid performances, especially Germans cast and their characters were so diverse. It was an unbelievable true story, glad to know it through this fine movie. All the thanks to the cast and crew for this wonderful drama.

Similar movies:

No Man's Land, Hell in the Pacific, Defiance, Saving Private Ryan, Pianist

Suitable for:

Tween, Teen, Adult, All

Final verdict:

Ignore, Bad, Average, Good, Excellent

• Tween: From age between 7 to 12
• Teen: From age between 13 to 19
• Adult: From age above 20
• Ignore: Not worth watching
• Bad: Not good but watchable
• Average: 50-50, choice is always yours
• Good: great certainly not masterpiece
• Excellent: A must see, Masterpiece

Kiss Me You Fucking Moron (2013) Norway

A well known teen romance-drama, for a change in different language.

Comedy | Drama | Romance

Original title:

Kyss Meg For faen I Helvete (Norwegian)

Review:

     A romance-dramedy from Norway. This movie did not turn as what I expected. I was deceived by the tempting title. In the end, I found it a very common teen theme. Most of us are usually so familiar with this kinda story, in fact from Hollywood I must say. As per the Norwegian perspective, this movie could be a fresh product and well made.

     A rebellious teenage boy is forced to do community service after he was bullied his schoolmate. He has to team up with a girl who is exactly opposite to him. His friends tease him, but sometime later he begins to defend her. A little crush between them begin to grow, but the different lifestyle they live in resists it. Yeah, I know it was the story of 'A Walk to Remember' that is what this movie is largely influenced. Same storyline, but the characters and platforms are changed. Although it was not an emotional romance tale, but a heartwarming story of young people.

     You must not consider both the movies are same from frame to frame. The second half is totally varied and travels different direction. Different language, different people, different accent, different places, all these together gave me a different experience than the title I mentioned in the above paragraph. Probably that is the reason I did not get bored to watch till the end I guess. I believe it won't work for everyone in that way so I put it in an average list.

Similar movies:

Sixteen Candles, Pretty in Pink, Never Been Kissed, Tamara Drewe, According to Greta

Suitable for:

Tween, Teen, Adult, All

Final verdict:

Ignore, Bad, Average, Good, Excellent

• Tween: From age between 7 to 12
• Teen: From age between 13 to 19
• Adult: From age above 20
• Ignore: Not worth watching
• Bad: Not good but watchable
• Average: 50-50, choice is always yours
• Good: great certainly not masterpiece
• Excellent: A must see, Masterpiece

A Woman Under the Influence (1974) Hollywood

A married couples fight in unusual circumstances.

Drama

Review:

     It is a shame that the actress did not win Oscar for her performance in the lead role. In my opinion, she should have won. She was much older than me now in this movie, but I fell for her, I fell in love with her. Usually actors would get such challenging roles more often, but for an actress it is a rare opportunity and Gena utilised it very well.

     The story was so simple, but performances what made the impact on me to like it a lot. The child actors too had the fine opportunity to share screenspace with the senior artistes and exhibit their talents. Scenes were flawless and fits perfectly in the narration. Some of them were dark humors. As much we enjoy those, it begins to have turned in story and derives new dimensions and situations. Some of them makes us wonder and one of it was when children get drunk.

     Most of the story takes place in the house like we were watching some stage play or more like a Hitchcock movie. Outside shots were very few which includes workplaces, beach and a couple of others like streets etc. I would say it was absolutely a brilliant direction and screenplay. Each scene in movie demonstrates its motivation very well for us.

     A most interesting story of a most interesting couple who fight for their marriage and happiness. Emotional appeals as well as entertains with some of fun circumstances around. This is not only about a family affair, but also tells about friends who give good care and support to them. I don't know how 150 minutes went so fast but I enjoyed every frame of it. The movie that will remain in us, reminds forever.

Similar movies:

Rain Man, I Am Sam, A Beautiful Mind, Scent of a Woman, One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest

Suitable for:

Tween, Teen, Adult, All

Final verdict:

Ignore, Bad, Average, Good, Excellent

• Tween: From age between 7 to 12
• Teen: From age between 13 to 19
• Adult: From age above 20
• Ignore: Not worth watching
• Bad: Not good but watchable
• Average: 50-50, choice is always yours
• Good: great certainly not masterpiece
• Excellent: A must see, Masterpiece

Antboy (2013) Denmark

A little superhero's a big adventure. 

Adventure | Comedy | Fantasy | Science Fiction

Tagline:

"Superheros come in all sizes."

Review:

     A children's superhero movie that offers nothing great moment for adults. Specially made movie for tween kids, definitely they gonna enjoy. For adults, it is like a spoof and kids' version of the Spiderman movie. Yeah, it was kinda inspired by the Spiderman movie so they gave right credit by mentioning it in the story.

     Most of the modern Danish movies I saw were very impressive. They take challenging subjects and carve into a great piece. It is a lookout film industry like South Korea. So I laid my on this movie when I saw the first teaser as I am a children movie fan. This was a good movie, but as a middle aged man this did not work for me.

     The kids gave their best, many were debuted with this so it's their first experience to perform in front of the camera. It's clearly visible their amateur acting skills. Only experience can teach and improve them on this field. For a maiden movie they have done a decent job except lack in facial expression in different situation of the story.

     The first Danish superhero movie based on the children's book. This movie was very short, runs for less than 80 minutes, so it was the reason it did not bore me. As a superhero movie, there's not enough stunts in it. Looks like they kept it low to target little kid's audience. Even the story was also familiar, only characters were derived. Overall, it can be acceptable, but not by the large margin.

Similar movies:

Diary of a wimpy Kid, Ramona and Beezus, Nim's Island, Stuart Little

Suitable for:

Tween, Teen, Adult, All

Final verdict:

Ignore, Bad, Average, Good, Excellent

• Tween: From age between 7 to 12
• Teen: From age between 13 to 19
• Adult: From age above 20
• Ignore: Not worth watching
• Bad: Not good but watchable
• Average: 50-50, choice is always yours
• Good: great certainly not masterpiece
• Excellent: A must see, Masterpiece

The Cave of the Yellow Dog (2005) Mongolia | Germany

A little girl's a little summer adventure.

Drama

Original title:

Die Höhle des gelben Hundes (German)

Review:

     One of the rare movie about the people most of us won't know their culture and lifestyle. This is a Germany-Mongolian jointly produced and Mongolian's Oscar submission during the year 2005. The movie about a small Nomad family who live in the grasslands of the Mongolia.

     The story follows when a young girl named Nansal returns home for summer vacation. Soon she finds a strayed puppy in a nearby cave and brings it to the home. But her father is against the idea of keeping it around. So Nansal hides it from him and provides required facilities. As the dog was raised in wild it finds hard to fit in the human surrounded condition. After some incident the dog will be left behind by the family, but his heroic effort makes them to realize his worthiness.

     It was a dog movie, but the dog did not exactly ruled the movie. They showed it just as a small part of the story which comes now and then, more like a reality. Actually, it was told from the girl Nansal's perspective. Her little adventure in the summer. There was a story where an old woman tell to the girl, it was really good, a meaningful proverb.

     The family in the movie was a real nomad family. They were not professional actors, but they gave the best performance. We can't call it a performance, they just executed what they do in their daily life, but this time in front of a camera, that's all. And the director and his crew captured it in the camera very well. They also captured the beauty of grassland of Mongolia.

     Due to this movie I came to know a little about the people called Nomad. It was more like a documentary than a regular cinema. The place where the movie shot was breathtaking. A perfect art movie from all the angles. A good relief movie and gives a watching satisfaction if you are fading up watching plenty of commercial movies.

Similar movies:

Siberia Monamour, How I Ended this Summer, kauwboy, Fly Away Home, Duma

Suitable for:

Tween, Teen, Adult, All

Final verdict:

Ignore, Bad, Average, Good, Excellent

• Tween: From age between 7 to 12
• Teen: From age between 13 to 19
• Adult: From age above 20
• Ignore: Not worth watching
• Bad: Not good but watchable
• Average: 50-50, choice is always yours
• Good: great certainly not masterpiece
• Excellent: A must see, Masterpiece

Cutie and the Boxer (2013) Hollywood

A tale of two masterful artists in an unfamiliar territory.

Documentary | Biography

Review:

     It was the perfect title name. Cutie (Noriko) is an illustrator and her husband Bullie (Ushio) is 20 years older than her who is a craft maker live in New York city. Usually documentaries about successful people would consider as inspiration. But this movie features two Japanese born couples who are masterful in art and crafts and their unsuccessful career. A good opportunity for us, a lesson to learn from their mistakes in life. Simultaneously, their relationship inspires about how to share happiness as well to face the worst situations.

     This movie won't only tell about the art and crafts, but also the romantic life. Especially it clearly denotes the difference between east and west regarding relationships. Married life is full of ups and downs, taking part in all the situation together is a true commitment. In this movie, it explains very nicely those subplots alongside main theme. When Bullie was in a trouble Cutie gave a solid support, that is what every man asks for. They too had small-small fights sometime big. In the west, that is enough one to get divorced.

     This story is set when Bullie celebrates his 80th birthday. It was amazing to know their 40 year relationship stood unbreakable. But what I bothered was their son Alex who was totally discarded in between these two's life's struggles. Too bad that he became alcoholic like his father that led him failure in life. This movie won't tell much about Alex, he appears only for a few minutes. At those times it is clearly understandable about failed parenting.

     Success won't only come from the true dedication, sometimes it depends on others too. It requires identifying their talent and give an opportunity to work and right value for their products. This couple's talent was not recognized due to the people of society who are unfamiliar with this kinda art. I believe if they would have lived those 40 years in Japan it would have been different lifestyle they could experienced. Only the time and place they had was wrong.

Similar movies:

Hope Springs, Quartet, Song for Marion

Suitable for:

Tween, Teen, Adult, All

Final verdict:

Ignore, Bad, Average, Good, Excellent

• Tween: From age between 7 to 12
• Teen: From age between 13 to 19
• Adult: From age above 20
• Ignore: Not worth watching
• Bad: Not good but watchable
• Average: 50-50, choice is always yours
• Good: great certainly not masterpiece
• Excellent: A must see, Masterpiece

20 Feet from Stardom (2013) Hollywood

The forgotten sidekicks.

Documentary | Music

Tagline:

"Meet the unsung heroes behind the greatest music of our time." 

Review:

     I am not that aware of the artists from the old days, but I recognize them by some of hit tracks I know. Since I don't know much about the musics of before 80s, I just enjoyed the stories they told in this documentary. This movie is about the back-up singers and their's life with achievements and struggles.

     I had no intention of watching this music-documentary film if it was not nominated for the American Academy Awards. And I am surprised the tale they told about what they went through in their life and everything. Particularly a line one of them say as like 'in entertainment business nothing is guaranteed', so true. I have heard about film celebrities who lost everything within, just like that. So I think it is a good movie for young people to study about what to do and what not to do if they choose this same field as their profession.

     Some of them who attempted solo tell their sudden fall before the career taking off. From their perspective, it was heartbreaking because they were awesome. In fact, most of them were better that the lead singers and had an incredible voice. Then those times ethics of the music world were different than now. Those who attempt risk will terribly fail, sometime it put them into the edge of their career.

     One of the sidekick singer says in her interview that she worked as a house maid. She did it just to survive in the world after losing the job. It was a sad but true story of the unsung heroes of the past. It was not a must see, like any documentary movie this one unwraps the untold secrets of the unknown true stars.

Similar movies:

Searching for Sugar Man, This is it, Marley

Suitable for:

Tween, Teen, Adult, All

Final verdict:

Ignore, Bad, Average, Good, Excellent

• Tween: From age between 7 to 12
• Teen: From age between 13 to 19
• Adult: From age above 20
• Ignore: Not worth watching
• Bad: Not good but watchable
• Average: 50-50, choice is always yours
• Good: great certainly not masterpiece
• Excellent: A must see, Masterpiece