Today is Thursday, 9th September 2010

Centurion

Centurion
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Rating: 6.0/10 (4 votes cast)

Well another first this week, it was Russian SMEx! Oleg invited along a couple of Russian friends, and I was soon at a table full of Russians :)

So this week we went back to the infamous Eldorado! We also ended up with very strange seats due to some glitches Oleg had while trying to buy the tickets, but they turned out ok and we did have exceptional leg room.

To the movie, well we were almost going to skip out this week because it looked like all we had to choose from was another Cage masterpiece, but instead, due to a lucky commercial viewing, we went to see Centurion. The trailer didn’t promise much, except it said it was from the same director and writer as Doomsday which I enjoyed so we thought what the hell! And it’s nice to have a break from the usual Hollywood stuff.

I enjoyed the movie, didn’t have to think to much, the plot wasn’t what I expected, and there was lots of blood. It’s kinda like gladiator but it isn’t. Had some nice scenery shots and I thought the actors were quite good, but I only knew a couple of them. I wouldn’t call this movie a must see but it was entertaining anyway and worth a look.

One nice highlight was at one point one of the female characters does something particularly nasty and some guy in the cinema yelled out “Bitch!” which made everyone laugh. But then that sums up Eldorado! Let’s hope it’s another long break before we visit that cinema again!

Inception

Inception
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Rating: 9.6/10 (8 votes cast)

So, review is late. Again. Seems like that’s the trendy thing to do this summer. In my defense – my Zerg ate my review, so I had to write a new one.

Speaking of trendy things – Inception is a trending topic on Twitter for a second week now. Trusting a community that keeps Justin Bieber as a trending topic for over 6 months is never a good idea, but since they predicted the awesomeness of Kick Ass, I was really expecting a lot from Inception.

On to the chase. The night started rainy and gloomy, while some of us had sunburn from the day before. While upside-down-burgers were being eaten again, we got to discuss “paratrooping” with our newest movie-goer, in his first homeland appearance. Apparently what we talked about was so deep and engaging someone had to try to walk trough a door, which didn’t prove to be successful. A few pats on the back later we were in a packed cinema, watching what the Matrix should have really been.

Dreamworld, in a dreamworld, in a dreamworld. It’s a game with the ultimate creative desire – to play God and shape the world at your whim. The same idea that got you thinking in the Matrix works here, only expanded in a whole different way. Especially fascinating are the moments where you see how recursion and paradoxes can work in a really creative way, one that you’ve never imagined. Call me geeky.

The movie had me interested at minute 5 and didn’t let go until the end. There was 1 moment where they could have messed it up, had they pushed the lame talk a minute longer. Good thing they know their timing right and stopped before this ruined an otherwise 100% immersed experience. It’s a rare thing when a movie gets me like this and given the plot of the movie, it’s quite fitting that you get out of the movie hall, wondering what happened.

The cast is something special. Leo DiCaprio has definitely learned how to act, a long time ago and it shows. Plus he’s not the cute kid from Titanic anymore so he doesn’t make me twitch just by looking at him. The typical Hollywood hotties were also missing, substituted with two slightly strange looking chicks.

Generally speaking, this is a movie with lack of cliché. It gives you a bit of everything that makes a decent movie stick out and tops it with great ideas and splendid execution. One of the movies you know you’ll watch again and mention as a reference a few years down the line.

I really wish they made more of those.

Knight and Day

Knight and Day
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Rating: 6.4/10 (5 votes cast)

Meh.

Yet another movie experience in which my pop corn was my best entertainment for the night.

I know that all Hollywood productions follow the good old money-making formula but somehow I expect the movies for which I move my butt off the couch on Sunday, to be worth it. Or maybe I just like throwing rotten tomatoes.

Then again there were some good points: I liked the actual top-secret object that everyone was after. For once someone came up with an original idea that is not a hair-loss shampoo (duplicity) or evil plans to bring down the USA. And it was nice to see some European destinations and familiar cities, liked the scenes from these places. And the Spanish spoken in the movie finally was authentic!

The actors did not do much for me – not a fan of Diaz, neither of Cruise.  Both fell in their clichéd characters in this movie. Obviously, the motor-riding idea was of Mr. Cruise, read somewhere he is a huge motor fan.

All in all, not the best on big screen but worth the 99 NOK for DVD renting.

P.S. Oh, yes, it was nice to have equal number of boys and girls for the movie. Next target – more girls than boys.


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