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Cat People (1982)
Schrader remake - on fire, with gasoline.
Erotic thriller with Nastassja Kinski starring as a young female who's gone searching for her own, inner self. In many ways a remake of the 1942 original, but also in many ways not a remake - a film that stands its own ground, this has a quality of sexual awakening and excitement that the original didn't have. Fabulous music by Giorgio Moroder (also featured is David Bowie's hit-single "Putting Out the Fire") accompanies many of the bloody and sexually occupied scenes that hammers on like they belonged in a artsy-fartsy porn flick. Kinskis performance at the center is typically her: odd, tactless, awkward, outlandish and sensual - in other words, highly enjoyable. She's fantastically beautiful, and she moves through a New Orleans during the fall, shot by John Bailey. And even though the level of thrills ain't always sky-high, the film has a charm and atmosphere that makes it a interesting, stylish and sexy cult picture.
Den enfaldige mördaren (1982)
Powerful and admirable film by Hans Alfredson.
Den Enfaldige Mördaren deserves to be better known. It's a fabulous film directed by Hans Alfredson and stars Stellan Skarsgård in one of his most memorable performances as the hare-lipped young man Sven, who's considered retarded by his surroundings. He seeks consolation and spiritual strength in his faith and visions as his life becomes difficult and tormenting as a worker for the vicious local factory owner Höglund (played by Alfredson himself).
Superbly played out in a slight retrospective manner, the film beholds a major heart. The emotional aspect is big as we witness Sven throughout the film; his childlike manners and his close relation to his guardian angels, the way he gets involved with the girl-next-door, and getting the opportunity to step up and being treated as an adult, receiving weekly salary and learning how to drive a motorcycle. It's a moving journey of a man who everyone around him seems to misunderstand and neglect. These bright and uplifting moments in the film works as a great counterbalance to the darkness it beholds, especially in the character of Höglund - he's first presented to us lurking into the stable where Sven sleeps among the animals, and he speaks violently and shows no affect for Sven, who's just lost his mother. Höglund treats Sven's sister as meat, shows no affection for his wife and kids, and uses gruesome actions to behold power in the local county.
Den Enfaldige Mördaren is packed with symbolism and ideas, and it flows carelessly in place and time (we sense both the Middle Ages and something futuristic, and everything in between) and tells a tale a multi-layered tale, shuffling so many elements of humor, romance, spirituality, society's mangles, vengeance and adventure. It's a film that makes one enthusiastic about European cinema.
Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983)
Come cross over into the Twilight Zone.
A Twilight Zone movie divided into four chapters directed separately by John Landis, Joe Dante, Steven Spielberg and George Miller - how awesome sounds that? And yes it is awesome, or at least, occasionally it is. The opening prologue of the film is surely one of the great bits as we see Dan Aykroyd and Albert Brooks driving late at night singing along to CCR's "Midnight Special", what follows is both scary and funny. The quality of the four stories varies, but they all behold entertainment and easy fun. The best story is surely enough the last segment, "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet", directed by George Miller, starring a trembling and scared John Litghow. The film excels at certain points, and is a must-see for anyone who loves sci-fi / horror movies.
Psycho II (1983)
An impressive achievement.
Psycho (1960) got its follow-up twenty-three years later, and who could have predicted such a quality film as this. Some major assets in the original was its psychological layers, its atmosphere, and the major performance by Anthony Perkins, and impressively, Psycho II contains all of this. The story evolves well, and the antagonist Norman Bates (Perkins) who we saw in a mental cell with his face blurred as a skeleton skull in the final scene of the original, is here presented as someone who's trying to earn himself a place back in society, and as someone the viewer really feels sympathy for. That's a great twist, and as the first half of the film gels elegantly, the second half ups the game with several surprises and complex plot progressions. The cinematography Dean Cundey is splendid, the performances by Anthony Perkins, Vera Miles and Meg Tilly and the music by Jerry Goldsmith is outstanding. Psycho II is definitely one of the best horror sequels I've seen.
Moonrise Kingdom (2012)
About young love.
Wes Anderson's melancholic, magical, offbeat and fantastical world has spellbound audiences since his major breakthrough "Rushmore" in 1998. Since then his career has gone both back and forth in quality, not so much in subject matter. Anderson's films are more or less about the same things, and his "auteur" qualities are admirable and rare in American contemporary filmmakers. "Moonrise Kingdom" tells the story about a young boyscout that runs away with a girl during the last days of summer. Families and authorities soon starts looking for them. The performances by Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward are good, no question about it, but the writing and handling of them makes them come at a distance - they are more alien than sympathetic, more odd than charming. The cast that surrounds these two are played by Edward Norton, Bruce Willis, Frances McDormand, Bill Murray, Tilda Swinton, Bob Balaban and Harvey Keitel - a fantastic ensemble cast.
Anderson's highly stylistic approach is turned to eleven and every camera movement, every shot, every bit of dialog and use of clothing is draped in his vision. It's a good thing, but as well known, when style overrides substance and story, one can be left bemused, as I felt.
Still, the film gels well, and though it lacks some drama and emotional involvement throughout, there's much to enjoy - simply the pure ambition Anderson lays in trying to encompass the joys and sorrows of growing up in a world that isn't perfect for everyone or for that matter, anyone at all. The impact is as of a sleeper, as the viewer goes along the fantasia of a cinematic place that one is happy Anderson creates on screen, because it can never be in the real world - for both better and worse.
The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
Why So Serious Nolan?
I don't get the praise director Nolan gets; does he mix eye candy and brain food that well? No. Does he direct action scenes supremely? Surely not. Does he inject vital finesses of irony and charm? No. Does he pace and edit his films well? No. Does he get the best out of his actors? No. Most importantly, does he tell a good story? Not by a mile. Does he treat his audience with intellectual respect? Not a chance. The story of the entire Batman trilogy started out good enough, got mixed up and messy during the second installment, and as it goes in "The Dark Knight Rises" you're lucky if you understand half the things going on: Characters shift motivations in the blink of an eye, there's loads of shallow and unnecessary ideas, the need to use flashbacks in every other scene both over-explains and confuses, every single scene has something "incredibly" important to say as the plot chameleons through different stages and what happened to the word "COMIC" in comic books film? It's all gone. Nolan paints it black and takes us down to the depths of darkness, here we're given muscleman Bane to incarnate this evil and violence - forgive me, but his character snaps peoples' necks in an indifferent way, he talks too much and too articulate, and he's having a tough time outmaneuvering everyone's favorite villain from "The Dark Knight", The Joker (Heath Ledger). And the way Bane's utter importance disappears in the final third of the movie, as Marion Cotillard's (wow, that's a miscast!) character enters as the true villain, is laughable. Everything we've experienced throughout the 165 minutes with Bane as the numero uno bad-guy goes out the window as Cotillard's Miranda Tate, a member of the Wayne Enterprises and a flirting flick that blinks at Bruce Wayne, shows her true colors with a knife and strained explanations. She might be the worst character Nolan's added to the Batman universe. She enters in the final film with so much history, so much pizazz and trickery, and as a viewer I never felt her presence as neither a business executive, a romance interest for Wayne, or as a new, relevant member of the big Gotham family. Now she makes for one half of the film's female ground - the other is Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle, also she a miscast. Her character is irritating and too important. She never really fails, she never really gets in any real trouble, she never involves herself especially in anything or anyone, she SUDDENLY becomes flirty with Wayne/Batman and co-operates with him, she has some feigned, badly worded jokes, and she's completely stupid looking in that catsuit. Now, in being too important I mean she takes way too much screen time, she's all too important for Batman to defeat the villains at the end, and she's very self-important though does anyone really mind her presence at all? Talking of too much importance, Joseph Gordon-Levitt as John Blake. This guy knows everything that's going on and he never makes a mistake, and he has some of the worst scenes in the film - when he explains to Wayne that "he saw it in his eyes", you really don't forgive Nolan and the screenwriters for getting away with murder as bad writing goes. The importance of this character is so overdone, so out of proportions that he almost outshines Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman) himself during the finale. Why is it Blake that stands on the bridge at the end watching the explosion and not Gordon? That would have had a significance, an emotional impact - but Blake standing there, no way. Or maybe it was a way to push Blake into becoming Batman's successor, a way of understanding the heritage of the hero - during the end we're revealed that Blake's original name is Robin. I really don't want to see Gordon-Levitt playing Robin in a fourth Gotham film, jumping around in Gotham without Batman.
The music by Hans Zimmer is unrelenting and monotone. The cinematography is fine, all dark, drained and grainy. The acting performances by Christian Bale enhances the movie's quality, he is a great actor and he has some very good scenes, including some dialog with Alfred (also a very good Michael Caine), the scenes in the "Hell on Earth" prison, the scenes in which he's crippled and depressed. Sadly his Bruce Wayne character takes a bad turn where he during the despairing emotions concerning Rachel's death and love for Harvey Dent suddenly takes a swing at Miranda. Sure, he's a lonesome wolf, but that doesn't help as he utterly shows no interest for anything or anyone earlier in the film (when Alfred states during the party that there was a pretty woman, he says he doesn't care. Or when Alfred jokes around that he's returning home alone without female company, we know what Wayne's been up to talking law and order with Selina inside the party). Morgan Freeman's character is downplayed some, luckily we get several good bits with Gary Oldman as Jim Gordon, one of the major assets of the entire Batman trilogy.
Much of the atmosphere and spark that was created in "Batman Begins", and that blossomed and spellbound in "The Dark Knight", fades away in "The Dark Knight Rises", and we're left with half the heart, and that half is not very good. Though it still is fairly entertaining and there are several things to mildly enjoy, it doesn't hold a candle against great superhero films as "X2" and "Spider-Man 2". With all this said, the film's biggest failure is it's running time, stretching towards three hours, it becomes an ordeal to sit through towards the end.
Gaute (2009)
Its the end of the world, as he knows it.
Yes. The GAUTE is a short film made by the Walther brothers and it tells a touching story about a young man whose obsession over fish goes over board. The main performance is played out by a young talented Norwegian who clearly adapts the character he's playing with zest and pathos. It is acutely shot in Norwegian landscapes evoking loneliness and sadness. The grey tones in the undercurrents are reliable and sensible, and so one has to trust them to go along for the ride. The musical involvements are small fingerings of piano that makes for an oddity of sensation that starts and stops precisely at the right time. GAUTE gained good critics by its local critics and will remain as one of the signs of promising Norwegian films to come.
Prom Night (2008)
The Killing Prom Night
Straightforward boring remake in the post-Halloween style about a group of friends during their prom night finding themselves on the run from a serial killer. There is no such thing as suspense or 3D characteristics, and it rehashes all of the genre clichés, which makes you feel that you've seen it all a dozen times before. People move around in corridors and rooms, where lights flicker, with the murderer lurking around in the shadows, and so there is suddenly a squeaky sound, and it's a big SOUND OF NOISE supposed to make you jump, but oh (!) it was nothing, but oh, wait, it was something after all, it was... the killer. Sadly the killer is one of the less effective I've seen in a horror film, mostly because you see his face all the time (a handsome face too), and he's a romantic at heart, and he uses a small, jagged knife that would look better on a cheeseboard table, and he wears a cap. When the killer and his chosen one battles throughout the latter parts of the film, they sound more like a married couple arguing. And the prom night dramatics are truly terrible, as we shuffle through kings and queens, slow dances, DJ music, partying and school nostalgia. This is bad American teenage horror.
Trespass (2011)
A Family Terrorized
The minute TRESPASS begins, one can sense that dreadful feeling of a bad movie. It all stumbles along painfully as we're introduced to married couple Nicolas Cage and Nicole Kidman who will alongside their restless teenage daughter, be held ransom throughout the movie. The pacing is totally offbeat, and so is also the weak script following alongside it. The tension built is mostly by Cage's character whining up and down about something be wrong with the money in his safe, as he also tries in numerous ways to lure the bad-guys , and Nicole Kidman's character keeps an odd secret which she shares with one of the bad-guys. As for the daughter, she's a waste. What does she do except add the third member of the family? She's annoyed by her parents, and has low self esteem. She sneaks out of the house to party a friend's house, where she experiments with drugs. Coming home, she's captured immediately and placed beside her parents. And the three of them scream continuously, and they point guns to each other's heads. Director Joel Schumacher has done some bad movies throughout his career, and this one adds to his bucket. (Heads up! Candidate for 2011's worst poster!)
Cars 2 (2011)
Disappointingly Mediocre
Pixar Studios makes the best animation films out there, and they've been showing over and over again their elaborateness when making them. Sadly I saw that CARS 2 seemed more like a machinery for money, than a movie with an actual heart. The plot is thin and sadly uninspired, and the actions herein revolves around fast-paced dialog and fire and explosions. The original CARS had charm and atmosphere, and although it wasn't the best piece of Pixar, it had an all-and-all good standard. CARS 2 doesn't have it, and I found myself missing all the good contents that has become trademarks of Pixar's films. This may be a new low for the company and crew, so one can only hope that they'll bounce back and show us that they've still got it.
Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011)
Apes are the cure with a vengeance.
Making a new "Planet of the Apes"-film is not a bad idea, as the fact goes the only good one is still the 1968 original. Now in 2011 the data technology has raised the bars for special effects, and so the apes look really good in this, the seventh installment in the franchise. There are numerous good scenes, especially the ones involving James Franco and John Lithgow, and off course some of the nifty treatment given to the apes when they're captaining the film. At certain times there seems to be a animal rights movement behind the film, but it does neither add or subtract anything from what is essentially a popcorn flick. The climax on The Golden Gate may not be all that spectacular, but it's good. Sadly I was disappointed throughout the film to see Freida Pinto's character so uninvolved and pointless, and the same goes with Brian Cox' character. But at the end of the day, it scores its highest points on being quite emotional as Franco's relationship with Ceasar (The Ape) evolves in different directions.
Dances with Wolves (1990)
Where the Wild Things Are
Beautiful film that tells a heartfelt resurrection story with Kevin Costner doing magnificent work behind and before the camera. His performance is his career best as it slowly shows his progression from being a Civil War soldier to becoming a Native Indian. Sadly it has become undeservedly bashed throughout latter years, without no particularly good reason, as the film was somewhat revolutionary in its time and tells a simple, square story that holds a fine pace and precision. Great cinematography shows some stunning North American landscape and is brilliantly accompanied by John Barry's soundtrack that undermines the political aspects, the loving relationships and the quest for soul.
Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011)
It's Michael Bay: Explosions, CGI, sexy women, comic relief, explosions sunlight, romantic faith, explosions, CGI, explosions, CGI...
Michael Bay's TRANSFORMERS franchise has become an enormous commercial success, and although the second installment received terrible reviews, it ain't gonna avoid people from rushing to see the third one. Now, it looks and feels exactly the other two films, in reality very little is changed upon so what we're given is a semi-mixed version of the first two, and that's sadly not a good thing. TRANSFORMERS 3 involves some spectacular CGI effects, and the more time director Bay shares with the robots not involved, the better the film is, which is kind of surprising given his experience. Megan Fox has been replaced by a high-heeled beauty which gives the teenage boys an alternate run for their money, and Shia LeBeouf in the leading part does a moderately good job, and as for the rest of the cast, it's not very much to say except that John Malkovich is funny in his scenes. The plot is as always very confusing and badly told, and the climax is long and noisy, which one can say is positive, though again - I felt tired at the end, being the film is very loud and way too long (a huge Michael Bay issue). It's way better than the second one, though not nearly as good as the first, so what we're stuck with is something in between.
Melancholia (2011)
Welcome to his world.
Lars Von Trier's latest film MELANCHOLIA got the media attention it needed when Von Trier, in Cannes doing a press conference, stated that he sympathized with Hitler. Now sure, one can look at this as a smart way of marketing one's own film, or one can start wondering what kind of guy Von Trier has become. As a filmmaker he's certainly interesting, and certainly self-indulging, and as a child of the late Bergman, he loves dwelling upon women in a somewhat sad state of mind. MELANCHOLIA is a dark film that doesn't have the explicitness of his controversial ANTICHRIST, but brings in just the same dark undercurrents of human beings who's lost their touch with love, compassion, faith and hope, and so we find them in the land of Trier where things will become increasingly intense and frightful. The story is told in two parts; in the first we find the deeply depressed Kirsten Dunst on her wedding day, which shot and felt much like Vinterberg's Dogme-film 'Festen', and part two interests Dunst's sister Charlotte Gainsbourg more into the story along with her husband and son, as staying at a beautiful mansion in the countryside sees the enormous planet Melancholia headed for Earth, fearing for all of humanity to end. One can certainly see this film with two different kind of goggles; Melancholia IS a planet that's headed for Earth, and it's doomsday - or, one can see the heavy symbolism of Melancholia as a state of mind, swallowing the family with its meaninglessness. Director Von Trier keeps most questions open, and by using some absolutely mesmerizing camera-work the film beholds a interesting quality and sensibility. Few if any other popular directors anno 2011 creates stuff the way Von Trier does, and the immense climax accompanied by Wagner music is sole alone worth the watch. I guess Von Trier makes personal films, and he claims himself to be the best living director in the world, and he wants a green card into everyone's lives and with MELANCHOLIA he again sows some disturbing and heavy-handed seeds - and if anything, he makes your mind wobble. Must see.
The Tourist (2010)
The Odd Couple
THE TOURIST is the odd couple, the postcard-picture film of the summer days, the who-what-where-why, the snappy dialog film of the year, sort of. It's a weird cocktail right from the start and the film feels totally out of place - there's no rhythm to it, no bounce, no feisty chemistry, it's all just mostly off-putting and badly made. Johnny Depp (looking like a wet hang-dog) and Angelina Jolie (who's obviously according to this film the planet's most beautiful creature) feels like a weird pairing anyhow, and together they are stiff and behaves clumsily around Venice while somebody are out to get them. The plot feels thin, and the twist is so obvious that mostly everyone sees it coming half way through, and this makes the viewer drag his way through something that somehow pops along effortlessly and carelessly. Best treat; the Venice location looks marvelous, and the "See you in another life" scene with music is blistering.
Beverly Hills Cop (1984)
He's Mr. California
BEVERLY HILL COP is quite a funny and enjoyable 80s flick that got Eddie Murphy seated in super-stardom, and quite deservedly so. His performance is simple, yet all so much better for it, he more or less plays himself and has this laughing, pleased and joyous character to work with, which suits him fine. The film isn't especially original or groundbreaking, it's first and firmly a well made action/comedy that pops up with a likable protagonist that investigates bad guys in Beverly Hills while he's surrounded by swell locations and accompanied by some fantastic music by Patti LaBelle, Pointer Sisters, Danny Elfman and off course the memorable theme track. A brilliant vehicle for Murphy, and still a fine one to shoot back to as it shows that it's dated well.
Friday the 13th Part III (1982)
First roundabout with hockey mask and machete.
It takes some time for Friday the 13th Part 3 to leave an impression, but the impression definitely comes when Jason puts on the hockey-mask (for the first time in the franchise) and tumbles down to the seaside carrying a harpoon, aims coolly and fires an arrow through the eye of a victim. Before that, it looks, feels and acts way too much alike the two predecessors, and there's few things to enjoy except three local hoodlums who gets mixed up with farming. The kills are occasionally homaging the first film, but gladly we get a couple of memorable blood-sprouts; the aforementioned harpoon-kill (arguably the finest in the series so far) and country boy getting his head smashed before being thrown through a window. Friday the 13th Part 3 is arguably the best so far, solely because Jason puts on the famous mask and starts fumbling and jumbling through the forest.
Poltergeist (1982)
A family under siege.
Quite the exhilarating film that, as many before has commented, feels like a Steven Spielberg film, although directional credits went to Tobe Hooper, and it's somewhat Spielberg's take on something a la The Exorcist and The Amityville Horror as he typically places family and kids in the front.The great special effects are one of the film's major assets, so is the acting by the family who gets haunted by evil ghosts, they're lovable people who lives in lovely suburbs. Much of the film is delightfully devoted to the excitement and thrill of it all, but the film gets a bit draggy when some experts on the paranormal field enters the house and starts investigating - luckily the film raises it's torch when that rousing and long climax comes upon us.
Rumor Has It... (2005)
Why does Jennifer Aniston keep getting movie deals?
RUMOUR HAS IT is the sort of romantic comedy where everything goes wrong, right from the opening scene in which you can sense the no-chemistry between Aniston and Ruffalo it's a painful experience watching. None of the characters are worth rooting for (except nice guy Ruffalo), they are mostly bad-taste people who're drenched in sense and sensibility belonging in a land far, far away - it's as if Aniston still lives in the world of 'Friends', where anything close to reality are far and few between. I get the fact that romantic films may be living in a semi-fantasy to get you just in that particular mood, but when every little piece is placed so terribly wrong as it is here, you just have to neglect it. Terrible plot played out with bad jokes by bad actors in awful roles - very tasteless stuff.
127 Hours (2010)
One of 2010's best films.
127 HOURS opens with masses of people cut back and forth, and it makes a good point - all of us together make a society and a cooperation, and later as we find Aron (James Franco) stuck alone in the desert we come face to face with a human being's sole survival. Director Danny Boyle challenges himself with this intimate drama based on the true story of Aron Ralston, who while canyoneering in remote Utah fell into a mountain crack and got his hand stuck under a boulder. It's an exhilarating film right from the outset, and as soon as we're stuck with Aron the film starts pushing limits and ideas with incredible pizazz. James Franco makes arguably this year's best performance, his shared thoughts, pleasures and fears goes through a wallop as he dreams about being flooded out of his situation, or reminiscing his former girlfriend or family memories. 127 Hours is a thrilling adventure that becomes a touching story, and as the rousing climax comes it feels beautifully.
Fast & Furious (2009)
They've got fast cars, let's get tickets out of here.
The fourth installment of the franchise gets Vin Diesel, Scott Walker, Michelle Rodriguez (for ten minutes) and Jordana Brewster together and aims to satisfy the slowly fading fans' tastes - disappointingly, it's probably the worst volume yet. First of all, it's not fast - at all, the car chases are confusing, badly shot, few and worst of all, all too animated with CGI, and the plot moves nothing like those supposed cars. Second, it's not furious, Vin Diesel thinks he is, occasionally, but only when he bothers, and the rest looks stupidly blunt and careless. Where's the fierce, fire and flame? Not to be seen miles away. I had to spool through that terrible climax where the plot has taken us up to switching points of cars chasing each other either in the dead desert, or in a dark, tight tunnel - both without any sense of speed. Quite terrible as we find a popped hood empty.
The Fighter (2010)
Made up mind - wasting no more time
THE FIGHTER is another boxing movie that packs a heavy punch, and it easily resembles two of the most famous and beloved boxing movies of all time, ROCKY (1976) and RAGING BULL (1980), which is interestingly two very different pictures; THE FIGHTER combines that ultra realistic, intimate, wore down inner-torments with that charismatic, uplifting one- in-a-million shot chance of your lifetime with the big heart beating louder than ever, and it manages it. It's a difficult task to pull off, but director David O. Russell and the screenwriters keeps a great pace and we're given good time to root for the characters and the scenes, which holds much emotionality firstly by actors working their guts out. Mark Wahlberg plays the main character, Micky Ward, so straight-forward and stale that he actually becomes a stable holding point in a film where everybody else around him is all over the place, especially his mother Alice played by Melissa Leo and his crack-head, ex-boxer, personal trainer half-brother Dicky played by Christian Bale, both very memorable performances. I loved the fact that the film has this bruised and bleeding heart pumping all the way through, but in the same time it's got good humor and everyday sensibility, and it's way of using music (Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones, Whitesnake, Aerosmith and more) is almost ironically powerful. Take this film to the ring, you won't regret it.
The Great Escape (1963)
No great escape.
THE GREAT ESCAPE is another overrated "classic" that somehow seems to stumble along film history on its good reputation. Very little about it is great, as the title suggests, and so one sits through 170+ minutes only partly enjoying the company of POWs in a Nazi camp. A Nazi camp however that's pretty far removed from anything I've imagined, heard or read about German Concentration Camps during WWII, as the film portrays it as quite a relaxed and sunny condition. The characters we're in it for are a bunch of guys that tods along happily enough aiming to escape, and while there are several neat moments among them, one character seems unclear; Steve McQueen's Captain Hilts, if not a weird character, certainly an annoying performance by McQueen. Through the hours of planing the escape, the jovial and cheerful mood of the film helped me get through it, and as we're headed out at the end I felt disappointed, as the supposed great climax is somehow disjointed and lackluster.
The Karate Kid (2010)
Little guy with big trouble in big China.
A remake of such a popular film as the original 'Karate Kid' is risky business, but luckily this 2010 edition actually surpasses the original, and probably the most ingenious thing about it was the casting of Jaden Smith in the leading role. He is a charming, sympathetic, funny and charismatic young guy, and throughout the film he actually shows some good acting chops too. The film is perfect in its approach to the material, as it doesn't take itself too seriously and all of the more mellow scenes are done with a good balance; you'll end up rooting for Dre (Smith) and his mentor (Jackie Chan) as they go head-on against a vicious gang of kung-fu apprentices.
The American (2010)
Not the American way.
While watching THE American I had the constant feeling that I've seen this before; a haunted assassin (played by George Clooney) whose life has been blackened more and more by his job. It's a tale so used and abused that I can't sense much thrill or involvement in it. Director Anton Corbijn takes on a restrained focus into the assassin's head, and he doesn't lack rigor in what he does as the film is reasonably well made from start to finish, but the film becomes a boring exercise into genre where the content doesn't add up. Most of the solemn scenes with Clooney are somewhat plot less and pointless in their struggle for an atmospheric mood in a lush European setting. Like critic Peter Rainer wrote in his review, all actors want to play either Hamlet or a hit-man during their career, and I personally fear that Clooney isn't satisfied with fulfilling only one of those requests. THE American is a dreary film that moves in a deliberate and numbing pace, and feels like a odd-out combination of Jason Bourne, Michael Clayton and some pretentious European art-house picture.