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The Royal Tenenbaums

  

Many stars showed up to play a part in this peculiar film about a family of weird, talented people, the Tenenbaums. There are several storylines, but the main one is that of the father that wasn't really there for his children when they grew up, and who wants to make up for it years after. He sees an opportunity when, purely by coincidence of course, all the children temporarily move back into the house of their youth.
Allthough there are many storylines here, my problem with the Tenenbaums is that I didn't find any of the storylines that interesting. True, everyone in the family has his share of problems, but at the same time they've all done pretty well for themselves - so how big are these problems, really?
The main attraction is the "weirdness" of the characters, played by very big names: Gene Hackman, Anjelica Houston, Ben Stiller, Bil Murray, Danny Glover, and many, many more. They clearly had fun making this and they play their parts well. That's what makes this an entertaining film, but overall, it's just a very strange, rather incoherent film.



Reign of Fire

 

Rambo V - The Dragon Wars would have been a better title for this somewhat silly film. Dragons have apparently taken over the world. Matthew McConaughey plays some sort of Navy Seal who's turned into a dragon slayer. And guess what (watch out, spoiler!)? Out of all the thousands of dragons, there's only one that controls the whole thing - the male (feminist dragons of the world unite!). If they just beat that one, the world will be saved. You can guess the rest.
The special effects are actually not bad at all. The actors make the best of it, McConaughey would probably even have been a credibly Rambo. Too bad the simplistic script is full of holes.
Just about OK to rent at home, but I wouldn't spend the money to go see it in the cinema.



Road to Perdition

   

What's a director to do after making the superb American Beauty? That's a pretty hard standard to follow.
Director Sam Mendes chose to make Road to Perdition, about a gangster with a conscience during the thirties.
Road to Perdition clearly doesn't have as much depth as American Beauty, but we should probably judge this film by its own merits: lots of time and money was spent on making the scenery and clothes credible for a thirties time-piece, and everything does in fact look stunning. Best thing about the film are the acting achievements by Paul Newman and especially Tom Hanks.
My only problem with the film is how Hanks - who's apparently killed many people in the service of Newman - is portrayed as a very noble person. Other than that, I greatly enjoyed this exciting and very stylish film.



Runaway Train

* * * *

In the larger part of all action films, acting doesn't get much attention. It's not that the actors aren't willing to try, but the characters they have to play lack any kind of depth. In Runaway Train however (almost an "oldie" - it's from 1985), this is not the case. The film is about two escaped prisoners, who end up on a runaway train (in a Syberia-like landscape), while being chased by the prison warden. The prisoners are played beautifully by John Voigt and Eric Roberts. Both got nominated for an Oscar, Voigt for Best Actor, Roberts for Best Supporting Actor (both didn't win).
What I found most impressive, was that the level of suspense in this very exciting film didn't suffer at all from the psychological depth in the character's portrayals. On the contrary, it just adds to the tension (like it did in Silence of the Lambs).
Runaway Train is also beautifully shot, you can almost smell the train's diesel-engines and feel the extreme cold coming off the screen. Excellent film, make sure you've seen this.



Raging Bull

* * * *

Raging Bull is captivating, that's for sure. The story is told really well, it's an ingenious and very solid production. 'Problem' is, De Niro has to play someone who's not very likeable (at all), and does a magnificent job of it by the way.
I think it's actually a great film, it just didn't leave me with a very good feeling. But then, not every film has to be a 'feel-good movie' (thank god). Let's all be thankful that there are still films like these being made.
Do no rent this on video if you want to have a 'fun' evening, but do see it, if only for De Niro's and Pesci's performance.



Ronin

* * * ½

Ronin stars Robert DeNiro and Jean Reno, both favorites of mine, so this promised a lot. And I have to say that the film for the most part makes good on it's promise.
The cast gives a good performance, DeNiro especially is very good, as is Stellan Skarsgard, whom you might remember from Breaking the Waves. Unfortunately the characters are generally speaking pretty shallow; there is so much action and violence going on that there is no time left for getting some depth into the personalities - or for a good story, for that matter. Reno, who can definitely act, doesn't really get a chance to do so.
The story is about a team of mercenaries, who are hired to obtain (not in a friendly manner) a suitcase with unknown but obviously important contents. Then everybody starts betraying everybody, and the rest you'll have to go see for yourself.
Also you can see a guest appearance by Katharina Witt as (what a surprise) a Russian ice-skater. The story starts out in Great Britain and developes largely in France. We go from Nice to Arles, and from Arles to Paris.
There is enough to enjoy in the film, and it is probably most memorable for the best car chases I have ever seen on the big screen. So if cars is your thing.....



Ray

   

This bio-pic is great too look at (how ironic): the old jazz clubs, the scenery in which Ray Charles grew up, the clothes, all of which are very believeable.
In my opinion the film dwells too much on the specifics of the musical choices Ray Charles made. This distracts from the main attraction of the film: the development of his character after the hardship in his youth and his drug abuse. Those are among the best scenes of the film, especially because of the superb Jamie Foxx (who deservedy won an Oscar for it).
But even though the pace of the film is irregular, the superb acting (all around, not just by Foxx) and the great music make this a captivating film from start to finish.