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Mindhunters * Renny Harlin * 2004

At a ‘three DVDs for E 15,-‘ action I had to pick a third film from a variety of crap, ‘Intollerable Cruelty’ and this film which I didn’t know. I picked ‘Mindhunters’.
A group of FBI-profilers-trainees are dropped on an island for their final task. They have to solve a murder case, but instead get killed themselves one by one. ‘Mindhunters’ is supposed to be a grim, psychological thriller, a variation on the ‘find the serial killer’ theme. In a way it is, but the story isn’t too interesting, the film isn’t too special and the result is disappointing.

Mifunes Sidste Sang * Søren Kragh-Jacobsen * 1999

mifune’s last song

After “Festen” and “Idioterne” this was the third film made according to the rules of Lars von Triers “Dogme95”. Indeed it took a long time before I first saw this film. However all/most dogme-films are made by different directors, those that I saw so far are similar in style. Of course there are rules for the lighting, decors, etc. but also the sence of humour, characters and making of stories is quite alike.

Mifune is about a man named Kresten who hasn’t seen his family for 10 years. When his father dies he goes back to the remote farm where he grew up. There he has to take care of his mentally not 100% brother. Since they both can’t cook, make coffee or clean up, Kresten hires a house-cleaner in the form of the prostitute Liva. Of course Kresten and Liva fall in love, Kresten’s wife stops by and wants a divorse, Liva’s son turns from asocial to kind and Rud (the brother) doesn’t quite get it all.

As in all Dogme-films that I saw so far there is a serious case of over-reacting to situations and again brought with a weird (Danish?) kind of humour. Many people think that Mifune isn’t the best of the first three Dogmes, but I can’t think of any reason why. All Dogme’s are in my opinion not brilliant but quite amusing. <3>

Metropolis * Fritz Lang (1927)

Lang had a vision of the year 2000 and made a film of it in 1927. This makes “Metropolis” a science-fiction film of course. Inspired by the Manhatten skyline, Fritz created a ‘worker’s city’ with skyscrapers, but this city is deep underground. The working men live in the underworld, while the rich people live in the upper world. Both worlds are governed by Joh Fredersen. Fredersen’s son falls in love with a woman and becomes concerned by the fate of the workers. These workers have put their hope in a visionary woman, but a failed trick of Fredersen, the workers start to rebel against ‘the machines’ (and the rich people, Fredersen in particular) causing the destruction of their own city.
Being 80 years old, “Metropolis” is a non-speaking film with very bombastic music and images with texts for explanation or what someone says. During the years the original film crumbled and got lost for 25%. According to the makers of the DVD version that I saw, their version comes closest to the original. Inspite of the loss of a large part of the film, it still takes 2 hours. The film itself is alright. The production was massive (over 37.000 people cooperated!), the stages are nice, expecially for that time and the nazis liked it so much that they asked Lang to make their films. Lang fled to Hollywood, making more films for another 30 years. A classic that you may want to see some time.

Merlin * Steve Barron * 1998

DVD distributors have discovered the market for older films and (old) TV series which are sold cheaply. “Merlin” is a three hour epic about of course the Celtic wizard Merlin (Sam Neil). I got this DVD for only E 3,50 (second DVD half price), which is for the better, because the film is not really good. The story is a bit too loosely based on different Celtic myths about Merlin and King Arthur and the presentation is a little childish. I think “Merlin” will appear more to Harry Potter fans than to people interested in Celtic mythology. It is no boring watch though, but with a little effort, the result could have been better.

Memento * Christopher Nolan * 2000

A brilliant movie about a guy who has been in a terrible accident in which he lost both his short-term memory and his girlfriend. Because of the lack of his memory, he makes pictures of important things he encounters on the search for the murderers of his girlfriend. Clues are written on papers and important clues tattood on his body. “Memento” is magnificently told backwards, adding to the disability of the main character. You will see a scene and when it ends, you will get the scene of what happened before what you just saw. It sure takes the whole movie to figure it out and even afterwards you will have to discuss it with people to fully comprehend “Memento”. The great atmosphere, shooting in black and white, the disturbing images of Guy Pearce with his body full of texts and the idea that things are entirely different from what the main character things, make this movie one of the best that I saw in the last year.

Mean Machine * Barry Skolnick * 2001

After the great British comedies “Lock Stock And Two Smoking Barrels” and “Snatch” Vinnie Jones got a major part in “Mean Machine”. As a soccer player who threw away his carreer he ends up in jail where he picks up his old profession when he is asked to coach the inmates-team. “Mean Machine” is rather funny, but not as funny as the other two films that I mentioned. Enjoyable to see some time, but not a ‘must-see’.

The Matrix Revolutions * Andy + Larry Wachowski * 2003

I must have have paid no attention since I don’t remember that this film played in the cinemas. It must have been Christmas last year or so or was it before another Lord Of The Ring? Anyway, I saw the last part of the Matrix trilogy on rental DVD. What I remember from part 2 was that it was too much action and too little conversation. This problem is mostly solved in the last part. Of course there is still of a lot of action and the special effects are again more impressive, etc, etc., but the Wachowski brothers made time for nihilist philosophy and quite a bit of humour. What you often hear is that this last part clears up a lot of things, and hat the end is quite surprising. Hmmmm. Of course you can imagine that there is a final battle with the machines. Since The Matrix is an American film, the people win. Also you can imagine that there is a final battle between Neo and the Smiths and a lot of time is spent on this fight. Some more things are to be expected. A line that was detectible in part 2 is continued here, which is the line of unlogical parts in the story. In order to put things to an end and to make things more impressive, grave concessions have been made to the original philosophy behind the trilogy. Just to name a few things: what is possible inside and outside the matrix, the power of the writers of the programs and even an extra world had to be created.
No matters though, The Matrix Revolutions was -to me- more enjoyable than part 2. It is entertaining, some nice ideas are posed, some questions are answered, many are asked and all in all I definately need to see Revolutions again to make a clearer picture of it. I think I will wait for a trilogy DVD box or so, so I can see them all together.

So, if you liked part 2, you will love part 3 and if you liked part 1 for the philosophy, you can also savely watch the final part. (4)

The Matrix Reloaded * Andy + Larry Wachowski * 2003

This is without a doubt the most spectacular actionfilm that I ever saw. The question is if that is what we are waiting for for The Matrix 2. I am no fond of actionfilms and in The Matrix 1 I even skip the scene in which Neo and Trinity violently enter the building in which Morpheus is captured. Oh well, I didn’t see 1 in the cinema and special effects on a large screen are usually better.

So, for the few who haven’t seen it, should you go and see “The Matrix Reloaded”? There is seriously less philosophy in this one and far too much action and special effects. All very impressive of course, but all the fighting, etc. is strenghed out beyond belief. Nice scenes tend to get boring after five minutes (or more!). The story is a bit further developed. Neo and Trinity are lovers, you get to see Zion, the city under the ground, Morpheus seems to have a boss who also has bosses, agent Smith is no longer a normal agent. Also a few new characters, some nice, some superfluous. Towards the end the story itself (the matrix, the real world, dreams and then all through eachother) becomes ununderstandable. I probably will see it again when it is available on video. So, should you go and see it? If you ask me, if you like 1 for the background/philosophy, better wait until you get a cheaper chance than the cinema, if you like actionfilms with state-of-the-art special effects which are indeed 10x better than all Matrix-clones together, when you are not afraid of some martial arts and serious shooting scenes, maybe this is one that you want to see on the big screen.
(PS, for The Matrix 1 go to the articles section)

Mathstick Men * Ridley Scott * 2003

Nicholas Cage is an actor that can pull me over the line for seeing a film. “Mathstick Men” has a not too original story. Cage is a swindler whose life changes when his fourteen year old daughter comes into his life and he teaches her his profession. Quite similar to “Leon” for example. The story develops and ends not too surprisingly. Nicholas Cage is the perfect actor for a neurotic criminal with many tics, fear of dirt and open spaces. Cage really carries the film and makes it into a nice comedy in the vein of for example Coen-films. For some reason the videoshop had this film under “thriller”. <30/8/04><3>

Matador * Pedro Almodóvar * 1986

“Matador” is the last film in the Almodóvar box (apparently the library left out “Volver” to rent it separately). This film is more entertaining than “La Ley Del Deseo” and there are many returning actors. “Matador” is about people with a death-fetish and has the usual Almodóvar amount of sex and shock. However the film is good in story, acting, etc. I found it merely fine. Not a boring watch, but no top-film either.