Author: broderic

The International (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0963178/) shows us how
evil banks are. We don't need a movie for that just look at the
headlines of newspapers. They want their cake and they want to eat it,
too. They also want your cake, and they'll eat it off your fork, too.
They feed off of us making use of our money for their own nefarious
ways. It's no wonder that in today's troubling economic times bankers
and financiers make for the perfect Dr. Evils. They are just that: pure
evil.The Interanational is a Tom Tykwer film. It has none of the pulse
pounding drive of his famous, Run, Lola, Run. It's as if he
deliberately meant to throttle down his style and make a mellow film.
Almost too mellow at times. The film's style follows the need to make
a thriller that harkens back to thrillers and intrigues from the 70s.
Those films were more focused in telling a gripping tale. The
International tries to be gripping, but in this day and age of flash and
movement, the thrills don't come across as much. You have to expect a slow boil until the plot is exposed. The film
takes too long to get the plot anywhere and, once exposed, the plot is
rather flimsy of a caper. I didn't understand what it was about. Just
go to the governments and get your bailout money. Forget about being
found out as plainly evil. Just pretend you're incompetent and you'll
get as much money as humanly possible thrown your way.The shootout in the Guggenhiem though blows this whole notion up. Slow
boil? BANG! BANG! BANG! I dug this too. Lately, most movies when
set in Europe have a look to them that screams Bourne Identity. Wasn't
Clive Owen in the Bourne Identity? Didn't he save the world in Children
of Men? Then let's make the film look Euro — modern archtecture,
cities, glass and steel. And the Gug is modern. One ramp up and down.
BANG! BANG! BANG! It was shot like a shootout from the Bourne films.
Loved it. Also, I love how Naomi Watts looked in this. All lawyerly. And those
sexy boots. And that grey scarf mixing in with her blonde hair. Mmmm.
She can be my international anyday.3 of 5 stars.

Coraline is a girl who finds out that life in a fantasy world where everything is better than her reality isn’t better at all. The pitfalls in the fantasy world are just as deadly, and the love isn’t love but smothering. So she grows up and accepts her reality, and that is just how things go.

I dug this animated film. I’m a little bit sick and tired of CG animation, because that’s what the animation industry for feature films will become. Coraline is stop-motion animation. It gave a tactile feel to the works — a little bit of 3D. The herky-jerky motion also was fun as it was a reminder that we’re watching a film. I wish for more diverse forms of animation from Hollywood, but know that I won’t get it the way I like it.

3 of 5 stars.