Reviews

The movie is OK and rather beautiful, but that final confrontation between the romantic leads is one of the weirdest things I've ever seen. And not even good weird or cute weird, just really really weird and unbelievable.

I loved this and I (apparently) love Melissa McCarthy, but my favourite was Kathy Bates. For me this movie classifies as a "stupid comedy" (my favourite is Dodgeball) and within this "genre" I found it to be very enjoyable. The film's a mess, everyone in it is a mess, but somehow the whole thing works. It's crazy, it's ridiculous, it's predictable and sloppy, but I love it! I also think that McCarthy and Sarandon have great chemistry - unlike basically everyone else who watched this movie it would seem - and I really enjoyed how this comedy focused on interesting women for once. Granted it's not perfect, but it's definitely one for the re-watch folder for me.

I read on the forum that the reviews for this film are suspiciously alike and might even come from the same source close to the production. So, I'm here to tell you that doesn't really matter, because the movie is good and it is very much worth watching.

I went into it completely unarmed. The only thing I knew was the title and the fact that they spoke Spanish. The genre hit me on the head pretty much off the bat and I was happy with it. (Films from Spanish spoken countries have a good tradition in that respect.) I strapped in for the ride and boy was it a thrilling one! I found the movie to be refreshingly good. Not wanting to give away anything (I wish everyone the experience I had), I'll just say that for me it was the engrossing story and the flawless direction that did it. I was completely sucked into the narrative, but as usual I thought I had it all figured out pretty early on. And then I was forced to piece together a new explanation basically every 10 minutes. Which was in itself awesome. Looking back I now see they had me right where they wanted me all the way through the film and right until the very end, hit every cue, killed every mark.

As mentioned, the directing is perfection. (Which means I am now very eager to see more from this Mr. Alejandro Hidalgo!) It's hard to avoid the cliché moves, once within the confines of the specific genre and we've all got pretty much desensitized to those ever-repeating scenes. Well, prepare to change your mind! This will make you see that, if done by a skilled hand, they have not lost their power at all. In fact they work better than ever...

The acting was good too. I especially liked the mother (Ruddy Rodríguez) and the children. There were some scenes where I found it to be a bit telenovela-ish (over the top) - mostly scenes involving the Priest -, but, to be fair, I am very prejudice in that respect.

So, to sum up - and not say anything at all - I enjoyed this movie very much and I highly recommend it. I also strongly recommend finding out why on your own - you'll be grateful for the gift!

This movie carries an important message that deserves a better delivery. I mean the very idea that you can fail so badly having Van Sant, Damon and McDormand on your team is astounding.

Message-wise it is the kind of movie I'd wish everyone in the world to see. Realization-wise I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. The story is weak, the characters are unrelatable and in some places this reminds me of those duck and cover instruction videos from the 50's. It is an insult to intelligent people and appreciators of aesthetics all around the world.

The only way I can explain the cast&crew they got for this thing is, that the questions it raises are of such grave importance. I just wish they'd have taken into consideration that the way to attract a wider audience is by offering a higher quality product. This is just dribble. And a great shame. Go watch The East instead! ;-)

I most certainly am not an apt movie critic, yet I do feel I need to express my disappointment in this feature, since it does have a relatively high mark on IMDb.

The story is intriguing and has a nice dramatic structure with its delightful twists, turns, turmoils and the eventual catharsis, the actual realization, though, was far from satisfying to me. And since we are rating films here, that presents a problem.

I'd like to stress I am a big fan of both Spacey and Winslet, primarily for their ability to portray characters that drive the story, however I just don't see those talents shinning through in this one. Whether that is the fault of the screenplay, the film director or the performers themselves is something I would not dare to guess. Spacey is borderline satisfactory, though he seems to fail terribly in scenes that are meant to give you a broader feel for the character, whilst on the contrary Winslet nails major key points in the development of Bitsey, yet for me completely plummets on the general scale of believability. To top that, Gabriel Mann manages to do an even worse job as Winslet's assistant.

As this is a character driven story, the seemingly mediocre performances by three of the key actors are a major set back. I did love Laura Linney and Leon Rippy and I thought Laura's cowboy Matt Craven did one hell of a job also.

All in all a film with a message everyone should listen too, but I do think the point gets muffled to a certain degree by the unfortunate realization. I'd give it a 10 for the idea, but due to afore mentioned reasons and the ridiculously high current rating, 5 is as high as I'll go. No hard feelings.

I most certainly have! This movie is definitely one of 10 most beneficial films for Slovenian cinematography. And it along with the series of films about the young errand-boy/shepherd Kekec are also the only film pieces of Slovene origin that in fact have a story.

Set during WWII, it depicts a tale of two experienced soldiers (miners in fact) that are sent on a very important mission (which they definitely do not perceive as such) - they have to take three children (including a very young Peter) to liberated grounds. The mission they (in want of bigger, more sounding action) first face with frustration and contempt gradually evolves and so does their relationship with their young wards.

A truly remarkable film (in Slovene terms) with interesting and well-crafted characters (I must mention the outstanding and hilarious performance of otherwise esteemed actor Zlatko Šugman here), a good plot, very nice fluency and most importantly none of those long lasting silent frames lacking significance that otherwise spoil yet sadly determine Slovenian films.