Alice

Impressions before seeing it
I think I stumbled on this movie while browsing around blu-ray.com, and then when I checked out the trailer I was delighted to see a lot of stop-motion animation with a slightly creepy edge to it.

How was it?
My problem with Tim Burton's version of Alice in Wonderland is that he didn't care about the original story (I don't think he ever does when doing adaptations/remakes). Not only does Czech director Jan Svankmajer care about Lewis Carroll's book, but judging by his film he understands it. Alice doesn't contain much logic or any moral lessons, and there are creepy, sinister, slightly adult undertones running through it, and that is what the book is. Watching this movie just made me dislike Tim Burton's version more because it did a much better job in 1988 than Burton did in 2010 with a way bigger budget, cast, and special effects.

The reason Svankmajer's adaptation is so brilliant is not just because it maintains the tone and spirit of the book, but because it actually managed to make the story fresh and unique. I've read the book and seen other movie adaptations, but watching this I was never bored and never knew what was coming next. The word "Wonderland" is noticeably absent from the title, and that's because in this version, Alice doesn't visit a strange, magical land. Instead, she is cranking her imagination/dreams up to 11 on a boring afternoon around the house. This is cleverly indicated by the sets, characters, and props, all made from things found around the house, and at certain points in the movie you can tell when Alice has wandered into, say, the garden shed or the pantry. Also omni-present is the same wooden desk with the drawer handle that always pops off; Alice may have an imagination, but it's limited to what she can find in the house. All of the creatures come to life in stop-motion animation, including Alice herself at times: whenever she shrinks, she becomes the doll used at the beginning of the movie to represent herself. I'm a big fan of stop-motion so I loved that aspect. Some of it was funny in a weirdly charming way, and some of it was a tad disturbing, but not alarmingly so - and, again, that's what makes it faithful to the book. And it didn't even have the fan favourite Cheshire cat, but many other characters and scenes are present.

Recommendation
I had more fun watching this than I thought I would (I was a little worried it might be too weird even for me), and can say it is the best adaptation of Alice in Wonderland I've ever seen. Or at least the most unique one. Fans should check it out, because this movie needs to be more well known.

The Good, The Bad, The Weird

Impressions before seeing it
I vaguely heard about it somewhere, and then I saw a trailer on one of my other Blu-rays and it looked like fun. Also the idea of a Western movie made in the East was interesting to me.

How was it?
As the title suggests, this movie follows three characters - one good, one bad, and one who is weird - as the latter comes across a treasure map and a wild adventure begins when the three of them chase each other across the type of desert landscapes we're used to seeing in Westerns. I liked the performances here, each of the three leads bringing little character nuances to their roles. Kang-ho Song (he plays "The Weird"), was especially interesting because I had seen him before in two of Park Chan-wook's "Vengeance" movies as serious, subdued characters, and here he played a goofy, Jackie Chan-like slapstick prone character and still managed to be believable.

As I said of True Grit, the old fashioned Westerns were never meant to be deep or thought-provoking, only pure entertainment, and The Good, The Bad, The Weird follows this rule, too. It is packed with quite a lot of action, gunfights, and explosions, and supported by some good acting and a few laughs. When done right (and it was), these things can make for a great movie without needing anything more. Being from Korea was surely a factor, because this probably would have been forgettable had it been a Hollywood blockbuster.

Recommendation
Fans of Westerns will likely enjoy it, or even just fans of action. If you like more substance, you might be too pretentious for this one anyway.

The Hedgehog

Impressions before seeing it
I stumbled on a brief plot synopsis online and it sounded interesting: an 11 year-old girl decides that she's going to kill herself on her 12th birthday. As dark as that is, I was curious about someone that young making such a heavy decision. Plus I do love French cinema.

How was it?
I felt that Paloma's (the 11 year-old) reason for wanting to die was understandable but not necessarily justifiable. Her family is rich, superficial, and boring, and she doesn't want to grow up to be like them. Okay, fine, but killing yourself is like accepting that fate and then escaping it entirely rather than changing it. But one comes to understand that her view of adulthood is narrow-minded and negative, probably because she doesn't get out much and the only adults she knows are her insufferable relatives.

That is, until she starts spending time with two particular adults in her building: Renee the housekeeper, who is the title character (Paloma likens her to a hedgehog because she can be ugly and abrasive on the outside but soft and intellectual on the inside); and Mr. Ozu, the wise, classy Japanese gentleman who has just moved into the building and bonds with Renee over their love of literature. These two are little Paloma's first real friends and as we watch her smile and admit that she enjoys their company, we wonder if she'll still go through with that which she is still adamant about. I enjoyed the characters and their interactions, and the minor commentaries on class and age. Paloma spends a lot of the movie sneaking around and filming everyone like a documentary filmmaker, narrating with biting sarcasm and condescension, collecting evidence of why she wants to escape these self-obsessed fools (perhaps it's more to convince herself), but as she films Renee and Mr. Ozu I think it starts to become reasons not to. Maybe life itself is a hedgehog, and there's always something cuddly under the needles.

Recommendation
It's not really as dark and depressing a movie as it might sound, but it's an interesting one. Foreign films are harder to recommend because they're so different from American movies, so I will just say that I liked it.

Martyrs

Impressions before seeing it
An old friend mentioned this French flick on Facebook (thanks, Aaron!) a little while ago. I looked it up and it sounded interesting, but he warned me about blood, gore, and violence.

How was it?
Yeah, if you can't handle a lot of violence then this definitely isn't your thing. Martyrs is one of those brutal torture movies with a bit of horror thrown in, but it's not really that bad if you've seen violent movies before. I actually found it fascinating in the way that Saw is fascinating; I wanted to see what twisted things would happen next and why. And there isn't really a "why" until maybe the last 20-30 minutes, so for most of the movie it just seems exploitative and needless, but I was okay with that because I've always liked those movies that give you no answers up front.

The acting was solid, though due to the torturous nature it was mostly a lot of crying and screaming. The ending was not what I would have guessed, and I'm not sure I really found the conclusion meaningful or likable, but it was interesting, anyway.

Recommendation
If you can stomach the violence - you'll probably be fine if you could handle the Saw movies - then it's a dark and interesting trip of a film that I suppose is worth watching at least once, though I can't promise you'll find it profound.

Y tu mama tambien

Impressions before seeing it
Heard it was good but knew nothing about it.

How was it?
I think I would describe this movie as a teen sex road trip dramedy...for adults. The protagonists are a couple of horny young guys (whom I had trouble warming up to at times because of their immaturity) who like to have fun, taking a slightly older woman they are both attracted to on a road trip to a beach they made up, with several sex scenes along the way. Definitely the formula for an American Pie or a Road Trip, but I added "for adults" to the description because it's much more dramatic than that type of film and contains that whimsical voiceover that foreign cinema is often fond of doing.

The title, which means "and your mother too", is kind of cool because the part of that sentence that isn't said is the more interesting and relevant part, as secrets and adultery are prominent themes. This is one of those movies where the plot doesn't need to be complicated and we just spend a lot of time hanging with the characters and observing their relationships with each other. I love that type of movie...if I feel like I could be friends with the characters. In this case I don't think I could be. The guys were too giggly and immature for me (not to mention a little morally ambiguous); the woman, more likely, but she did ask a lot of very personal questions that would probably make me uncomfortable. Still, I liked Y tu mama tambien more than I disliked it, but I probably would've liked it more with different characters and less sex.

Recommendation
I know a lot of people generally like this movie, and I'm not knocking it, but the characters didn't quite match my personal taste. As far as "hanging out" movies go, I prefer something like Dazed and Confused or Lost in Translation. But it's not a bad piece of work, so take a look if you're into road trip movies.

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

Impressions before seeing it
I haven't read the books and actually had no clue what this was about, but from the hype and praise surrounding the series I gathered that there would be mystery and excitement, and perhaps some action.

How was it?
I have to admit that the first few minutes bored me, and that's not a good way to start a movie - especially knowing it was going to be two and a half hours long - so I spent the first bit hoping for it to pick up. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, being a Swedish film and not a Hollywood movie, takes its time and doesn't rush anything. But for those as much in the dark as I was, let me be clear about what kind of movie it is: a murder mystery story that, in my humble opinion, would have been dull if not for the execution and the characters. The murder under investigation is over 40 years old, and the investigators are a man who is soon going to jail for libel and a pierced and tattooed computer hacker. The suspect list is an entire family tree dating back to that time period. So there's a few interesting elements that make it unique.

But as I said, it tends to be slow in spots and the running time almost seems excessive. The second half of the film did improve and it held my interest because I kept wanting to see where things were going, although when the killer was revealed I can't say I was truly shocked or excited by it. Not that I saw it coming or anything, I just kind of went "Oh. Okay." And then it started to feel like the third Lord of the Rings movie, where it seems like it should be over but they just keep tacking on more and more endings, though in hindsight I think each of them was necessary and appropriate.

Recommendation
It only fulfilled one of my three expectations (plenty of mystery but somewhat low on excitement and action), but it was generally well written, directed, and acted. Given its length and how slow it is, it seems like it's probably faithful to the book, but I'm just guessing. I don't know if I liked it enough to watch it again, but I did end up liking it. Probably will not see the upcoming American remake. Come on, guys, there's no need to remake a good foreign movie just because some people don't like subtitles.

The Shoe Fairy

Impressions before seeing it
Here's a new one: I saw the first few minutes of this on TV a while back and I thought it looked interesting, but I never got to see the rest of it. And then I never heard about it again, because it's obscure over here and there is no Region 1 DVD. Then I finally found a region free version. Yay!

How was it?
To be honest, when I popped in the DVD and saw those first few minutes again, I couldn't remember why I had found it interesting. Not that the opening was boring, but back then I remember thinking this was going to be one of those cool, charming foreign movies, and this time it didn't feel like the beginning stood out at all.

Anyway, in The Shoe Fairy, our main character Dodo is addicted to buying shoes. This is about to sound sexist, but as a male I couldn't care less about shoes. However, I do love to buy DVDs and Blu-rays so I was able to identify with the concept of obsessive collecting. Nice save, Shoe Fairy. Then it kind of turns into a love story when Dodo hooks up with her dentist (at whom I giggled immaturely when it was revealed that his name was Smiley Wang). The movie tried to make their relationship endearing by creating cute little moments between them but it didn't have the same kind of charm as, say, the relationship in Life is Beautiful. For example, when Dodo sleeps in the morning, Smiley Wang (hehehe) blocks out the sun for her by sitting in front of the window and placing numerous hats on his head (their curtains shrunk in the laundry), which is kind of cute but the same effect could be achieved if he would simply stand up, or put something else in front of the windows. And finally, this movie just has way more background muzak (that's what it is, it sounds like the generic background muzak of an instructional video) than is necessary for a movie. It's like the opposite of No Country for Old Men, there is music in almost every scene.

Recommendation
A little lengthy for its simple - and slightly weird - story, but it does have a bit of charm to it. Maybe check it out if you ever find it on TV, but I can't really say it's worth hunting down the region free DVD. Thought it would stand out more, but it's kind of average.

JCVD

Impressions before seeing it
I am not a fan of Jean-Claude Van Damme. The only other movie of his that I've seen was the atrocious (and occasionally funny) Street Fighter: The Movie, and I am under the impression that his entire career is basically a cheesefest (though good for a laugh, I'm sure.) I wanted to watch this movie because I knew it would be something completely different from the rest of his work.

How was it?
Okay, I have to give credit where credit is due: Van Damme was excellent in this. Even with his English lines, and a lot of English-as-a-second-language actors aren't very good in English (again, see his previous work). But if you had never heard of Van Damme at all and watched this movie, you might think he was a renowned and well respected actor. Maybe part of the reason his performance works so well is because it's so surprising, like part of a master plan to build up a false sense of mediocrity with years of hokey action flicks and then suddenly bust out an Oscar caliber performance.

Anyway, in JCVD our title actor plays himself as he goes into a bank for money for his child custody battle and is soon taken hostage by bank robbers, who then place him in front so that everyone outside thinks he is the crook taking hostages. That part reminded me of Amos and Andrew, but in this case it is revealed through some non-linear editing and multiple viewpoints so I didn't mind. On the other hand, the whole hostage situation wasn't many notches above average, but the movie turned out to have other redeeming qualities.

There is a scene during Van Damme's court case where his daughter, on the witness stand, says "Every time my dad is on a TV show, my friends make fun of me." My first reaction to that was to laugh, but it was also a very sad moment for his character, both personally and professionally, and most of all there is probably some truth to it. Later, Van Damme takes a little break to float up out of the movie (literally) and directly address the camera with a single-take monologue that is honest, personal, emotional, beautiful, and exceptionally delivered. Although I was enjoying the movie up to that point (I love me some French cinema!), the honesty of the monologue and his daughter's quote are what single-handedly saved it. You hear of actors poking fun at themselves in comedies all the time, but here Van Damme is simply poking.

Recommendation
I imagine some people would need an open mind to even want to watch this movie, or at least think they need one, but here Van Damme is not an action star, but an actor, and that makes all the difference. I would at least recommend looking up the monologue scene on Youtube.

A Prophet

Impressions before seeing it
Recommended to me by a Flixster friend (Thanks, Jackie!) and it sounded interesting.

How was it?
Actually it wasn't what I was expecting from the description I'd read, but that's okay. Maybe the title threw me off, I thought there might be some "magical" charm to it, a la Life is Beautiful, and instead it was more like a version of The Godfather set in prison. I wasn't that big on The Godfather, but I liked this one a lot.

A Prophet is one of those movies that is an all-around well made effort. The acting is so seamless that it almost felt like a documentary, and the same goes for the story (with the exception of El Djebena's visions of a dead man). It's something that you can get right into without being pulled out of the experience, and that is always a plus in any movie. But I guess the real reason to watch is to follow El Djebena's character progression. When he first enters prison he seems almost innocent and moral (although prone to anger), but as he is forced into this world of prison gang wars he becomes more and more violent, arrogant, tyrannical, and sneaky, and most of it is hidden beneath a subservient performance as he works under his Corsican boss. Solid stuff.

Recommendation
Since A Prophet has a lot of mafia movie elements, you may love it if you're a fan of that genre, but then I am not and loved it anyway for being such a well made film. It's also a good one for those who are fascinated by prison life.

Micmacs

Impressions before seeing it
Very, very high expectations. Jean-Pierre Jeunet (or "JPJ" as I call him inside my head, where we are best friends) is one of my favourite directors. It had been a while since A Very Long Engagement, his last movie, and I was looking forward to that classic greenish tint and more Dominique Pinon, who is always in JPJ's films.

How was it?
I think I can say I'm a bit biased because I was already loving it about 10 minutes in thanks to JPJ's charming and creative storytelling style. To give the short version, Micmacs is basically about a gang of misfits who use their quirky abilities to take down these big weapons manufacturers/dealers. Except more interesting than that because JPJ is such a creative filmmaker. He's really good at putting all of these little nuances in his movies. It's the littler things that make his work great and not the big things.

That being said, I'm not really sure what to say about it other than "it was really good" and "it looks amazing on Blu-ray". Oh, one thing: watch for a very cool shout-out to an earlier JPJ movie, Delicatessen. That part delighted me the most.

Recommendation
If you're like me and get a boner every time you see the greenish tint of a JPJ joint, you'll most likely appreciate this one. If you're new to the style, it depends on your taste. There is a certain element of cartoonishness that not everyone might enjoy, although personally I think it's part of the charm.

Monday

Impressions before seeing it
Found it on TV and it sounded cool - one of those "guy wakes up and doesn't know how he got where he is" type movies, which I always find interesting. Plus it's Japanese.

How was it?
Monday started out just fine: our main character wakes up in a hotel room, confused and disoriented, and then he remembers being at a funeral where the guests are informed that the deceased's pacemaker is still on, so somebody (him) needs to cut him open and snip a wire to turn it off before the cremation makes the corpse explode. Wrong wire is cut, corpse explodes. That is a cool opening to a movie, and by that point I was ready to enjoy this mother.

Unfortunately that was about the only part I did enjoy. Throughout the rest of the movie, our hero has more flashbacks about what he's done and why he's in a hotel room, but that story was kind of bland rather than something a little more interesting like other movies in that style such as Saw or Unknown. And apart from that, a lot of the scenes seemed to drag on too long, which isn't always a problem in some movies and it wasn't a problem in the opening funeral scene of this one, but in the scenes following it there wasn't a reason for it because nothing new was happening that wasn't already happening five minutes ago when the scene started.
And finally, the ending left me unimpressed because it made the movie feel like one long public service announcement against guns and alcohol.

Recommendation
I think this movie is sort of like a Japanese Taxi Driver or Falling Down (which I still have yet to see, but I assume it's similar), but it didn't need to be. I really would not have guessed after seeing that cool opening that it would go in the direction it did, because it had greater potential than that. So, yeah, I was disappointed.

Zhou Yu's Train

Impressions before seeing it
I found this movie on TV and decided to watch it because it starred Tony Leung and Gong Li. However, I forgot that there are two Tony Leungs in Hong Kong cinema, and this dude wasn't the Tony I was thinking of from all the Wong Kar Wai films. Damn, now I'm stuck with the less cool Tony for two hours.

How was it?
Sometimes Zhou Yu's Train does feel like it's trying to be a Wong Kar Wai film, with it's unconventional romance story and occasional voiceovers, but it lacks the charm, and the proper Tony Leung (okay, I'll stop mentioning that now). But maybe it's not fair for me to compare film styles just because they're both Chinese.

What I want to say about this movie is that at first I had some trouble following what was going on (there was unexplained symbolism for the first half), then they offered an explanation and I understood what they were going for, then they offered some more explanations and I just got confused again. I don't have a problem with things being open to interpretation, but there's a difference between that and not making sense.

Recommendation
I think this movie had potential to be interesting and cute, but they tried too hard to be artistic and I didn't care much for the characters or the love triangle, which I'm not entirely sure actually existed due to the lack of clarity. I wanted to like it, and I didn't hate it, but I was underwhelmed.

Volver

Impressions before seeing it
I had seen a couple of Almodovar films before and found his work interesting, and I knew Penelope Cruz got an Oscar nomination for this performance, so I was looking forward to it.

How was it?
The first thing to notice about Volver (and probably all of Almodovar's works) is the colours. Everything looks vibrant and pleasant, even when the movie turns unpleasant. The second thing to notice is the loud kissing noises whenever the actresses kissed each other on the cheeks. I just found it funny and even a little bit annoying that they seemed to make a point of doing these exaggerated face kisses every time they greeted each other. I mean I don't really come from a culture where cheek kissing is custom, but I have never seen anyone do it that way except when a parent or relative is being affectionate with their kid.

Anyway, Volver is another classic murder cover-up movie, with some feminism and family relationships thrown in. I kind of like those movies because the characters have to struggle to hide their crime, and usually it snowballs and gets worse and worse. In this case Almodovar took it in a different direction. There was one accidental murder, they covered it up and moved on, and no one felt the consequences. The police didn't even come looking for Paco, the victim. It's unrealistic, sure, but I think that perhaps it represents an ideal situation, because Paco was a douche who tried to rape his own stepdaughter, and it wouldn't be fair to bring punishment on a girl who was almost raped.

Recommendation
There is a kind of soap opera feel sometimes, especially toward the end. Penelope does turn in some great work (although no one else in the movie was that good so maybe they just made her look better), and the film feels like an Almodovar film for anyone who is a fan, so overall I really enjoyed it.

Let the Right One In

Impressions before seeing it
I'd only heard it was a vampire romance that is better than Twilight. I'm up for anything labeled "better than Twilight"!

How was it?
The first thing that struck me was how European it is. You know how, even if you ignore the language, you can tell when a movie is European by the costumes, hair, sets, and violence that somehow always seems crueler than North American cinema? This movie has that. I'm not saying it's a good thing or a bad thing, just that it's noticeable. But it is Swedish, so why wouldn't it be? But that being said, I believe all of the stunts and visual effects were done in camera, no CG, and they looked good except for a slightly absurd cat attack scene. If not for this fact it would almost look like it could have been made in the 70's or 80's.

I thought making the protagonists 12 years old was an interesting idea though - it allows for Oskar's childish naivete to keep him ignorant about his crush being a vampire for most of the movie, and it is kind of the backbone for the bully plotline, which reminded me of Bridge to Terabithia. The best part was probably the pool scene at the end, which I won't spoil, but I will say it was awfully satisfying. I think the kids held the movie up fairly well for child actors, although acting is harder to judge in other languages, but maybe that's a bonus for us English speaking audiences because most child actors ultimately make me cringe.

Recommendation
If you like vampires it's worth checking out, but if you think Twilight is the best movie ever, this one is probably above you.