B

Blue Valentine

There are movies I admire more than I love them. Blue Valentine is one of them. To be clear, I was blown away by this movie. It's just so emotionally exhausting that it's almost hard to watch. It's one of those movies that I know I will probably not watch again.
The movie tells the story of how the relationship between Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams got started, and switches back and forth to the situation they end up in years later (then married). It's all raw, harsh, gripping, generally speaking not very happy, but very convincing.
The acting is just incredible, both Gosling and Williams deserve some sort of medal for this. The intensity and reality of their performances is breathtaking.
You definitely won't step out of this movie feeling all cheery, buy I do think this is one of those movies you should have seen.

Bridget Jones - The Edge of Reason

Liked the first Bridget Jones film? Then you'll like the second one as well. Mainly because it copies practically all the elements of the first film and does a pretty good job of it. Best parts are the scenes with Hugh Grant and especially the scenes where Grant is confronted with Colin Firth, the otherwise rather boring love interest of Bridget Jones.
There are a few rather embarassing scenes in the second part of the film, that has female prisoners of an existing infamous Thailand prison singing Madonna songs, as if things are really looking up, whereas in fact things are a lot worse than they are portrayed here. But otherwise, this is still a pretty funny romantic comedy. Bring your date to see this one, you can't really go wrong.

The Bourne Identity

This film reminded me of The Long Kiss Goodnight, also about a professional killer who suffers from amnesia. Instead of Geena Davis in Long Kiss (excellent film by the way), it's Matt Damon who's lost his memory this time.
There's plenty of tension and some great car chases here. I found some parts of the scenario rather fuzzy though. For instance, why does the secret agency chase their Bourne, their own man? Just because he didn't complete his mission? And what's with these headaches that the killers often get - are they drugged, brainwashed?
Still, The Bourne Identity is exciting enough, even if there are a few holes in the script. Matt Damon and Franka Potente (who had her international breakthrough in the ingenious Lola Rennt) do a very decent job. Solid entertainment.

Bruce Almighty

Jim Carrey gets to play God for a while, since he seems to think he can do a better job of it. As you might expect, he does a rather poor job of it in fact. The scenes where Carrey's is exercising his new powers are the best bits in this comedy. Carrey is in shape, Jennifer Anniston is very believeable in the part of his girlfriend who doesn't get the attention she deserves, and Morgan Freeman plays a very cool God in his white suit.
The film turns overly sentimental at the end, but apart from that this is a fine comedy, with several very funny jokes (don't forget to watch the bloopers at the end of the film).

My Big Fat Greek Wedding

If you're fond of clichés, this is the film for you. Greek wedding is about a greek woman who wants to marry a non-greek man. Essentially, the whole film revolves around her stereotype greek family members. The jokes are about as funny as in the average sitcom; some are funny, but a lot of them definitely aren't.
Still, this is a reasonably charming film, mainly because of the good acting performances. But why on earth this film collected more than $200 at the US box office is completely beyond me.

A Beautiful Mind

Finally caught A Beautiful Mind on dvd. This film received plenty of Oscars in 2002, amongst others for the direction and Russel Crowe's acting. I admit, it's impressive to see "gladiator" Crowe as a schizofrenic scientist - he's quite convincing.
But honestly, apart from Crowe's acting, this is a rather melodramatic story, simplified and beautified for the big screen (the original story has some nasty twists that are ignored completely in Beautiful Mind). Ron Howard's direction is solid as always, but really not that award-worthy, especially if you compare it to for example Baz Luhrman's achievement for Moulin Rouge (from the same year, but not even nominated for an Oscar!).
But I shouldn't talk about the Oscars: lets judge the film by its own merits. A Beautiful Mind is a pretty good drama, that turns into a feel-good film in the end. Nothing more, nothing less.

Bridget Jones Diary

After being warned by half the world not to go see this, because "it's really a women's film", I finally decided to see it anyway. And guess what... I liked it.
The story is handled very well, the comic and slightly ironic undertone is hit just right. So why would this be a women's film? Because of Jones' eating, drinking and smoking her sorrows away? Please, what do you take us men for? Are we supposed not to do things like that? I admit, maybe a man wouldn't hesitate as long between two pairs of underwear.
Honestly, I thought Bridget Jones was pretty cool, not in the least because of the superb Rene Zellweger, who is completely convincing. Hugh Grant by the way also makes the best of his part.
Very smooth film, just the right length at a little over 90 minutes (you see, not every film has to be over three hours long). Highly recommended.

Billy Elliot

This is not the first film about a poor miner's town in Northern England where people try to live their dream inspite of poverty, unemployment, and so on. Remember the excellent Brassed Off? If not, then maybe you remember The Full Monty - same concept. And there were more like these.
While the story of Billy Elliot might not be very original - it's actually even rather sentimental and "feel-good" - it's still a good film. This is mainly due to the excellent, natural performances by the actors, especially Billy's father (Gary Davis III) and grandma (Jean Heywood). I have to say I wasn't too thrilled about Jamie Bell's (Billy) acting, he seems to have about three facial expressions which he repeats over and over again. But granted, I was very impressed with his dancing in the film, which is astonishing.
The British have a talent for making this kind of sentimental story with just enough subtility to prevent it from becoming a tearjerker. I dread to think what would have become of Billy Elliot had this been an American film.
You'll leave the cinema feeling good after seeing this charming film.

Being John Malkovich

Magnificent! Being John Malkovich, which I saw in a preview-showing in March 2000 (I know; this is what you get with these ridiculously tardy release dates in the Netherlands), is the best film I've seen this year.
The script is pure genious; a portal into Malkovich' brain?! I love it! John Cusack looks like the Big Lebowski himself, Catherine Keener is excellent, Diaz gives a great performance while trying to look less beautiful than usual. And of course Malkovich himself, who is hilarious, as are the many cameo's.
Being John Malkovich is funny, it's intelligent, it's exciting, and it goes straight to my personal Top 50.
And finally, why on earth was this not nominated for best picture at the Oscar's?!

Blast From The Past

The best thing about Blast From The Past is not Brendan Fraser, nor Alicia Silverstone. The funniest bits here concern Brendan´s parents, who raised him in a fall out shelter for 35 years. Christopher Walken plays the paranoid father, Sissy Spacek the mother who really wants nothing more than to get out of that place.
After Fraser leaves the underground shelter and goes out into the "evil" present world, things get very predictable very fast. The boy has got impeccable "fifties-manners", Silverstone is the wild child who falls for his old-fashioned behavior. Yet another cliche is thrown in as her best friend happens to be gay, and starts giving her the advice she needs.
Gets worse after a strong start. Just about good enough to rent on video.

The Bone Collector

Denzel Washington is paralyzed from his neck down. Very conveniently though, he is left with feeling in exactly one finger, so he can still operate a mouse and thereby solve the crimes of a serial killer. His eyes and hands are provided by fellow police-officer Angelina Jolie, who apparently has some special skill in gathering evidence. This special skill doesn't seem to involve much more than her picking up a few things from the ground and taking some pictures.
There are many many more unprobable and unbelieveable elements. The serial killer himself is rather ridiculous, the clues he leaves are so absurd that they do not add to the tension at all.
Considering the ridiculous script, the acting is actually not bad (Washington's especially). Overall though, The Bone Collector is very disappointing.

The Big Blue (Le Grand Bleu)

The Big Blue was the break-through for director Luc Besson. It's about two old friends, both in love more with the sea than with anything else, competing for the free driving world-championship.
The succes of the film is really mainly due to the magnificent underwater footage (many many dolphins here, so I hope you like 'em). Why do I say this? Well, the thing is I can't think of much else that's very good about the film. The actors don't get to do very much but look at the sea very seriously, which is a shame, because they are in fact all talented actors. The jokes (about Italians, Japanese and women) aren't very funny, there's never any real tension, the love interest isn't all that believeable.
Pretty to look at, but still disappointing.

Bicentennial man

Here Robin Williams chose to play a part again that required him to do more than just be funny in his own typical way. In Bicentennial Man, he plays a robot that wants to become human and finds it´s not as easy as it seems. Based upon a story by Isaac Asimov, the film covers a period of more than 50 years, and what it is exactly that makes humans human. That´s rather a lot to chew on, and there also lies the film´s main problem: you can handle such dense matter in one book, but it´s much more difficult in one film. We hardly have time to get used to a person in the film, 10 minutes later they might be 20 years older. The film thus looses it coherency; you could say it gives off the impression of a robot. Robin Williams does a good job, but somehow his performance didn´t really grip me, and that also goes for the film. It´s not a real comedy, not a real drama, not a real love story, and not a real "epic tail"; it´s really not very much of anything.

Bowfinger

A funny film with Steve Martin and Eddy Murphy?! - sound like a contradiction to you? Well, if you've seen Murphy's and Martin's latest few products, you might well think that. But rest assured: this one is different. It's original, and it is actually very funny.
Steve Martin is good, but it's Murphy who steals the show as a famous Hollywood-star and especially as his less succesful brother.
The film is also a parody of Hollywood, with it's references to sudden stardom, to the big gap between those who succeed and those who don't, and to Scientology.
Bowfinger made me laugh out loud, several times. Good comedy.

The Blair Witch Project

Finally I saw Blair Witch, many weeks (eleven, to be precise) after it's release in the Netherlands.
To be blunt about it, I didn't really like it. I appreciate the fact that it shot on a really small budget, but that does really show.
There is really not much of a story, nothing much really happens until the end, and even then we actually don't see anything.
Admittedly, the woods at night might be scary, but Blair Witch keeps repeating the same type of scene: flashlights pointing into the dark woods, without ever seeing a single thing. After an hour or so, this started to bore me, and to think that this is not a very long film..... it's all hardly enough to keep you hanging on for 90 minutes.
On the brighter side, this is a very cleverly made film, with an even cleverer marketing campaign, which took place mainly on the internet. The acting by the three newcomers is actually pretty good; it all looks very natural.
The Blair Witch is eery at times, but I definitely didn't think this was the most scary picture in history - not by far. Still, it has acquired somewhat of a cult-status, so you might want to check it out anyway.

A Bug's life

Their was a big competition going on between this film and another fully computer-animated film, which came to the screen at the same time, ANTZ.
Both were actually very good, but I think A Bug's Life has more to offer.
The story starts out the same as did ANTZ; a single ant goes on a mission. But afterwards, there is more diversity in this here story. What's more, there are more funny characters here.
It's all highly entertaining, the animations are beautiful, and it's truly suitable for all ages.
Highly recommended.

The Big Lebowski

This is a movie by the Coen-brothers. This time, we follow the story of Jeff Lebowski, a.k.a. 'The Dude', played by Jeff Bridges. This is a story of mistaken identity, be it a peculiar one. Bridges, a rather lazy, wilfully unemployed guy from LA, spends his days smoking pot, drinking White Russians, and bowling with his two buddies, excellent parts by John Goodman and Steve Buscemi.
I've updated this review after watching this movie a couple of times. It has gone from an OK movie that I thought was pretty cool, to a brilliant movie that I start loving more each time I see it.
Dozens of unforgettable quotes (I personally really liked "Hey man, can't you see I'm holding a beverage here"), the combination of Goodman and Buscemi, the memorable (but unfortunately short) appearance by John Turturro, and above all Jeff Bridges who's 'The Dude' has grown to become an icon for his own roles and of the Coen brothers movies.
. A milestone. And above all, very, very cool.

Brassed Off

This is a film as only the British can make it. Realism from a small town, a mine is threatened with closure, which would mean that almost all the men in town would be unemployed. We follow the pride of the town: the mineworker's brass band, in their attempt to get to the national championships.
Brassed off keeps you watching every second. It's funny and often moving. The acting is superb, I especially liked Stephen Tompkinson and Pete Postlethwaite.
Don't miss it.