Rescue Dawn - A Movie Review by Andrew Lawrence

"Empty what is full. Fill what is empty. Scratch what itches."Rescue Dawn is an adventure/war/drama movie, and it's based on the experiences of a real life pilot whose plane was shot down near Laos during the early days of the Vietnam war. Christian Bale plays the lead role in this movie, and he does a great job of portraying how being lost in the jungle would wear a man down, both physically and mentally. The survival part is cool, although it's when he eventually gets caught by the vietnamese militia and ends up in a hostage camp where he meets other captives, both american and vietnamese, that the movie really starts to unfold and becomes something more than a "Tarzan has to survive in the jungle" kinda movie.

The first thing you notice about Rescue Dawn, is the fact that it's not filmed like a lot of other movies. You can tell that the director and the cinematographer made en effort of making the scenes where Dieter (Bale) is lost in the jungle and those where he is being held captive look like they were being shot with a handheld camera, and this really works to the films advantage. It gives these scenes a raw and intense touch, as if nothing is under control, and it gives the whole thing a strong, authentic feel. The fact that I felt as though someone was filming these events taking place in real life greatly increased my experience of watching this movie, and i got really invested in the story very early on. You did a good job cinematography guy, very good job.

One of the things that never ceases to amaze me, is how much effort and heart Christian Bale puts into his roles. He did 99 % of his stunts in this movie by himself, and I'm not gonna spoil any of them, but some of the shit that he does in this movie, I'm telling you, it's awe-inspiring. It's incredible how much this guy is willing to put his body through in order to make his characters seem more legitimate. For an example, he lost 55 pounds, about 25 KG, in order to sell the whole "being lost in the jungle for a long time"-element better, and that's not even the biggest weight change he has undergone in preparation for a movie role. Christian Bale is one of our time's most dedicated and talented method actors, and his performance in Rescue Dawn is just one the many that you can't help but admire. 

When creating a movie that is based on a real historical event, it's important that you make your movie feel as realistic as possible, in order to convince the audience that what you're presenting them is fact-fiction, and not just regular fiction. The director did of cause take some autistic license in a few cases, but over all it did feel like I was watching a real event unfold int eh screen. Apart from the great way the movie was filmed, something i talked about earlier, the way the different characters react to certain events and become more and more affected by being held hostage works fine as well, but there were also times where i raised my eyebrows a tad. Some of the these were when the supposedly top trained military guys do something stupid and irrational while trying to survive in the jungle. At times it felt like they hadn't watched as much Extreme Survival with Bear Grylls as you'd expect marines to have seen. 

All in all i can honestly say that Rescue Dawn was one of those movies that impressed me to the point where i would recommend other people to watch it, mainly because of Bale's acting and the realism that the movie displays. It does a great job of depicting how men in that situation would behave, but do keep in mind that it's based on a real story, and that there as a result of this won't be too many extravagant Hollywood special effects and fireworks present. The only real action scene is the one where Dieter's plane is shot down in the beginning of the movie, a scene that's featured in the trailer, a trailer that by the way spoils the best segment of the entire movie, so stay away from it of you don't like spoilers (!). This scene, and the other scenes that got my heart beating the fastest, actually had very little explosions and other "normally associated with action"-elements to them, something i appreciated immensely. 

In conclusion, Rescue Dawn is a muddy and believable tale of a man who wouldn't give up hope of making it home alive, with a few scenes so intense that you'll find yourself sitting on the edge of your seat, heart a'beating, forehead a'sweating, and fists a'clenching. The movie has definitely earned my seal of approval, and who knows, if I were to stumble upon a bargain, I'll maybe even pick it up on BluRay as well. (4/6)

Rescue Dawn IMDb page here

Rescue Dawn trailer here

Fargo - A Movie Review by Andrew Lawrence

"There's more to life than a little money, you know. Don'tcha know that? And here ya are, and it's a beautiful day. Well. I just don't understand it." 

I recently watched and review No Country For Old Men, a movie directed by The Coen Brothers. It was the first movie of theirs I had ever watched, and even though I was disappointed by that particular movie, I did notice the amazing directing and cinematography behind it. Based on this, I decided to watch some more of their movies, the first one being Fargo, and oh man. Oh man. Fargo takes place in the winter of 1987, in a couple of small towns in northern Minneapolis. It centers around a spineless, greedy and slow witted man called Jerry Lundegaard, played by William H. Macy, a benign, goodhearted and willfull police detective called Marge Gunderson, played by Frances McDormand, and a couple of ruthless and murderous criminals, played by Steve Buscemi and Peter Stormare. I wont go into too much depth concerning the actual plot of the movie in fear of spoiling too much for those who have not seen Fargo yet, which is something I very strongly suggest you go ahead and do right away, but it also isn't what i want to talk about concerning this movie.

Just like No Country For Old Men, this Coen movie has a message. In the case of No Country, the message was that you cannot outrun death and evil, but that you instead should come to terms with your faith and admit that you're not in control of everything that happens around you. Many people, myself included, will probably consider this a very cynical and nihilistic way of approaching life, but after watching Fargo, I've realised that the Coens do not applaud a such sad and indifferent view of life. The way this comes to show in Fargo is through the main character Marge Gunderson. This police detective is probably the most goodhearted and forgivefull character I've seen in cinema, and even though she seems a little distracted, she is just such a good person. So much so that the most cynical and psychotic of the two criminals actually end up being "saved" by her. 

As such, I'm 100 % convinced that she was intended to symbolise some sort of salvation, maybe even a savior. I say this because even though the movie is very violent and bloody, it leaves the audience with a feeling like there's still hope, as long as people like Marge still exists, as if good is still better than evil. This is very much the polar opposite of what No Country For Old Men taught us, which is fascinating, because is shows just how much perspectives and outlooks on life can vary. The fact that the Coens have managed to create two such similar yet different movies is also a testimony to their amazing ability to tell stories and make the audience go though different kinds of emotional states. It's also worth noting that Javier Bardem won an oscar for his portrayal of "the devil" in No Country For Old Men, and that Frances McDormand won one for best actress in Fargo as "the savior". 

One my favourite things about Fargo, is the fact that it's incredibly funny, and at the same time filled with drama and intensity. As mentioned before, this movie is very violent and graphic, and when you combine that with a really dry, yet brilliant humoristic touch and do it well, the result is absolutely amazing. Many of Jerry Lundegaard's lines made me laugh out loud, he's just such an awkward and goofy character that i simply couldn't help it. Another indescribably funny thing about Fargo is the accent and vocabulary that the characters make use of throughout the movie. You can't imagine how incredibly entertaining it is to listen to someone use the phrase "a'tootelin" in a serious manner. 

When it comes down to it, Fargo is well acted, well written, has a great script and is very well directed. It's funny, it's violent, intense and dramatic, a movie that every movie enthusiast should watch. You can just feel how much effort the directors and the crew behind the movie put into creating this picture, and it's no wonder that Fargo is considered a classic already. I realise that this review hasn't been as in depth and furrow as some of my earlier ones, but i really just wanted to write about the art of creating symbolic and meaningful cinema in itself, hence the many references to No Country For Old men. In the end I have to say Fargo is one of the most well written and solidly created movies I've ever seen, and not giving it my highest rating would be a dishonour. In my opinion, Fargo is story telling at it's finest and character development at it's best. Put simply; it's movie magic. (6/6)

Fargo IMDb page here

Fargo trailer here

Moon - A Movie Review by Andrew Lawrence

"You've been up here too long, man. You've lost your marbles."

Moon is movie director/writer Duncan Jones' first stand alone movie. It takes place in what I assume to be the near future where Sam Bell, an astronaut played by Sam Rockwell, works alone on a space station on the moon. He has signed a three year contract with a company that extracts a powerful energy source from the dark side of the moon called Helium3, and his job is basically to go out to some harvesting machines and collect a canister of Helium3 every day, and then ship it back to earth. Sam's only company is a robot voiced by Kevin Spacey called GERTY, so needless to day, he's very, very lonely. The movie takes place near the end of his three year trip to the moon, and Sam is beginning to wear out from being completely isolated for so long. He misses his wife and daughter and he's sick of eating prepared meals from small plastic bag, so when something strange happens on the space station, the lonely astronaut begins to question his mental stability. 

This indie sci-fi/drama surprised me. I bought it on Blu-Ray because it was cheap, and no way had i expected to like it as much as I did. First of all I have a hard time believing how a movie that is made with a budget of 5 million dollars can look as a beautiful as Moon does. The atmospheric shots of whats going on outside the space station looks gorgeous in particular, but everything else, from the actual station to the astronaut suits and the technology in and around the base looks totally authentic and realistic. Watching Sam drive across the lunar surface in a moon jeep wearing sunglasses while a beautiful score blurs in the background was strangely fascinating, and looking at the earth and the stars in the distance while absorbing the loneliness and isolation that the character is subject to got me emotionally invested in the plot. Moon is very well directed, and I can't wait to see what Duncan Jones comes up with next. 

Being one of those movies that completely centers around a single person, the actor that plays that person obviously has to be good. Luckily for Moon, Sam Rockwell knocks it out of the park. His performance is solid and trustable, and he does a great job of displaying what being completely isolated for more than a thousands days does to a human being. When his character experiences difficult situations and has to make even more difficult decisions, Rockwell manages to display the emotions someone would experience in such a situation nicely. Moon feels really realistic, and you truly believe that something similar to what Sam Bell is put through could happen in real life. 

Being the only real supporting character, I honestly would have liked GERTY to be voiced by someone else than Kevin Spacey. Because he's a well known actor and therefore is easily recognizable, i kept thinking of Kevin Spacey talking into a microphone every time GERTY was speaking. This resulted in me never really believing that that GERTY was a real robot with intentions of his own. An unknown or less known person would have worked better for me. Over all I did like the robot as a character though, the best part being a small screen displaying a smiley face that changes according to GERTY's mood, even though I found it creepy at times as well. Something about the way the face would look completely indifferent when GERTY is seen alone kinda freaked me out. Whether or not this was intentional I can't say, maybe I'm just easily freakoutable. 

The most compelling element of this sci-fi movie is sadly the thing that many people will dislike the most about it as well. What I'm talking about is the haunting atmosphere, which is what i loved the most about Moon. You have to let yourself plunge into the isolated and hopeless reality of Sam Bell to truly enjoy this movie, but if you do, I promise that Moon will take you on a beautiful, haunting, indulging and immersing journey into space and the human psyche. It's a subtle movie without action and explosions, yet it's still rich on suspense and drama if you have the ability to put yourself into the the situation of Sam Bell. After the movie had ended I couldn't stop thinking about what I would do if i was in main characters shoes, and I have a feeling that this is exactly what the director aimed to do. Moon is beautiful, well acted, thought provoking and definitely worth buying on BluRay. (5/6)

Moon IMDb page here

Moon trailer here

No Country For Old Men - A Movie Review by Andrew Lawrence

"Here last week they found this couple out in California. They rent out rooms for old people, kill'em, bury'em in the yard, cash their social security checks. Well, they'd tortur'em first, I don't know why. Maybe the television set was broke."

Now I was really looking forward to watching this movie. I mean, the Coen Brothers directing a movie about drugs and violence starring Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin and Tommy Lee Jones sounds almost too good to be true, right? Well, to me, No Country has elements that are absolutely breathtaking, but it sadly has elements that fall flat as well. 

The movie takes place in 1980's southern USA, where Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin), a hillbilly'ish welter/hunter stumbles upon a drug deal gone sour. He finds a suitcase containing 2 million dollars which he decides to keep, and thus becomes the the target of a psychotic assassin portrayed masterfully by Javier Bardem. A double manhunt ensues, and Llewelyn Moss finds himself in the center of a bloody tornado of violence and ruthlessness. I call it a double manhunt because not only is Anton Chigurn (Bardem) trying to catch and kill Llewelyn, but and old sherif called Ed Tom Bell (Jones) is trying to find and arrest Bardem's character as well. The movie can be described as a chain, with the three main characters each symbolizing a link, one being a little ahead of the one behind it. 

The mass murdering Anton Chigurn is the strongest link in this movie by far. I had head that Javier Bardem was amazing in this role before i watched No Country, but what i saw completely blew me away. There is no way you can prepare for what Bardem brings to the table, just no way in hell. The character is evil, menacing, cold hearted, psychotic, everything a mother in law would be afraid of. He's such an important part of this movie though, and i would actually go as far as to calling him the main character, because he simply is so vital to the over all message of the film. He has very little dialogue, a horrendous haircut and two infinitely cool weapons that he uses very frequently, and i totally ended up rooting for the guy. The fact that the big baddie of the movie in some kind of weird way ends up being the hero, or anti-hero if you will, is very telling, and it ties in perfectly to the message this film tries to get across. 

Another great thing this movie has going for it is the way it's directed. Theres something about the way No Country For Old Men is put together that instantly got me fascinated, and though it's hard to explain to someone who's not seen it, i believe those who have will agree when i say that is has a haunting coldness to it, and I believe this is mainly due to the lack of music or background noise in almost all of the scenes. I only remember hearing anything in the background of like two or three scenes, which is not a lot in a two hour movie, and this serves to create a very toned down and lonely, yet suspenseful and enthralling tone. In this case less definitely is more. The movie looks gorgeous, everything from the wast desert areas of Texas to the bleeding corpses left behind by Anton Chigurn kinda pops out in a non 3D-kinda way, and at first i was happy to find out that the Coen Brothers were awarded the best director academy award for their work on this movie (more on this later). This is largely due to the lasting impression that this movie leaves the audience with. Theres no pat on the head, no reassuring that everything is gonna be fine. It's hard to explain this in too much detail without spoiling the ending and the message of the movie, but it's actually quite haunting. 

Sadly, there were times during this movie that i would have wished the Coens would have sticked to their less is more approach, and by this i mean the Tomme Lee Jones parts. Granted, Jones did a great job of displaying a struggling elderly sherif full of regrets, and i do acknowledge that his character is vital to the main theme of the movie, but honestly, theres just too much of him. I'we read that when writing the script for this movie, the amount of dialogue in the book that it's based on, was drastically reduced by Coens in an effort to create a more eery and ruthless atmosphere. This worked great with Bardem's and Brolin's characters, bur for some reason, it seems as though they forgot to reduce the amount of dialogue from Tom Bell. Some may think that this would diminish the message the movie was trying to get across, but honestly, it worked with the other characters, why not this one?

Many occurrences in this movie aren't explained in detail, something i don't mind at all. I love having to think things through and sort of come up with my own explanation to certain parts of movies, something no country for old men does as well, kinda. Most parts of the film follows this principle nicely, but its almost as if the directors tried too hard force-feed the meaning of Tommy Lee Jones' character. As a result, the movie feels like it's way longer than it actually is, and i found myself getting annoyed every time Tommy Lee Jones got on screen. The last ten minutes are nothing but him talking, talking and talking, and by then i just wanted the movie to end. The plot was finished, the message had been delivered, but it just kept on going, which is a damn shame. All in all, the elements of this movie that were awesome were really awesome, and the elements that annoyed me really annoyed me. 

The Coen Brothers won three oscars for this movie, one for best director(s), one for best adapted screenplay, and one for best picture. I don't agree with theses decisions. When i got to think about it, There Will Be Blood was superior both in terms of directing and dialogue, and i over all thought it was a great deal better than No Country For Old Men, and therefore don't believe it was worthy of best picture. Maybe this is just because I'm a huge Paul Thomas Anderson fanboy, who knows, but this is my blog God damn it, I'll write whatever I want! (this last sentence should be read aloud with the accent of a middle aged black woman). When it comes down to it, No Country For Old Men is worth the watch because of Javier Bardem, the acting in general and the amazing atmosphere that is present in 80 % of the scenes, but the irritating part was just way too irritating for me to give it my seal of approval. Look up Javier's scenes on youtube and you will have watched the best parts of this movie. Sorry Tommy. (3/6)

No Country For Old Men IMDb page here

No Country For Old Men trailer here