Malte006

Alexander

Directed by Oliver Stone (2004)

Oliver Stone always enjoyed making movies, that are either critical about their story it shows, or controversial in the matter of subjects, dealt with in the movie. Usually these criteria's has given him success and acknowledgement, but everything has its end. Alexander was in long look upon as the movie of the year. But the audience and reviewers gave it thumbs down, very fast. But is the movie really a thumb down movie? I say no. I can see why some might not like this movie. Its gives a quite gay view on some of the leading characters, and has some very long, maybe to long passages, the movie through out. And the acting, from some persons, really isn't that great. Alexander has its flaws and is controversial, due to its relaxed vision on gay relationships. But the real Alexander was like this. History has shown it. The director wished to make this movie as real as possible, even though it meant bringing this controversial vision of his main character. Actually a really known Scandinavian History magazine gave it 6 out of 6 stars, comparing the movie to the real actual Historical events.

The story deals with Alexander's war expedition through the whole known world. It begins with a narrator, and is told in flashback, from one of the involved characters. We first meat Alexander at a very young age, and thereafter he grows, and his intrigues with mother, father and other involved parties are introduced. From that point on, we follow Alexander the Great – and his conquest of the world.

The best acting performance in the movie comes from Val Kilmer, who under at lot of make up, gives a great performance as Alexander's father. Colin Farrell gives an almost likewise great performance, in this very difficult role. Jared Leto is good, but a bit too anonymous in the supporting role of Alexander's best friend, Hephaistion. Anthony Hopkins delivers another good piece of craftsmanship as the narrator, but otherwise nobody stands out of the crowd.

Technically the movie is stunning. An almost perfect atmosphere is given of the world with the excellent costumes, great art-set decoration, and a beautifully rough cinematography makes it look even better. Vangelis delivers another excellent score, of the best of 2004, and both the visual- and sound effects are great!

Oliver Stone has made a daring, mature and brave historical epic! Thumbs Up!

8/10

Pride & Prejudice

Directed by Joe Wright (2005)

Pride & Prejudice is another adaptation of Jane Austen's beloved novel. It has its focus on the main character Elizabeth, and her family, when their life is turned upside down, due to the new presence of two wealthy bachelors. We get comedy, tragic, and some exciting moments throughout the movie.

Actually this is the 7th version of the original novel, if you include mini-series and TV-movies. I have not seen any of these before. I have not read the novel either, or in fact - seen the two other successful and Oscar winning Austen adaptations: Sense and Sensibility and Emma. Jane Austen adaptations are actually a quite new area for me. And therefore I really did not know what I should expect from this movie, before I saw its ratings. When it came, they were, unlike to my suspicions, quite good! And the reviews followed, and suddenly Keira got some buzz, and then suddenly a Golden Globe nomination.

I have actually always liked Keira Knightley. I first noticed her as the soccer-hotty in Bend It Like Beckham, and from there she went on to a sudden Hollywood success in Pirates and the Caribbean, and a supporting role in the ambitious medieval movie King Arthur. The last movie a saw her in, before this one, was the "Butterfly Effect"-like twisted movie The Jacket, in which I thought she gave her best acting performance. All these characters really did not have anything in common with a young and inexperienced girl from the end of the 1700th century. How would she do this role? She did a great job! She used her naive looks and beauty and mixed it with the really sharp personality of her role, and delivered a complete character. Keira was defiantly the star of the movie, but that does not mean that she was the only actor shining through in this movie. Matthew MacFadyen delivered a good and solid performance in the role of her equal, Mr. Darcy. The rest of the crew, lead by Donald Sutherland, Rosamund Pike & Judi Dench helped making the overall cast performance have its high acting level. The only one who actually annoyed me a bit was Brenda Blethyn, who I thought, overacted a bit too much. But hey! Maybe her character really is so hysterical..?

The movie was beautiful filmed, and uses long camera shots, mixed with a discreet editing. The art-set decoration captures the spirit of the time well, and especially the costumes fit the characters very good. The score is nice, but not over-used.

A pleasant surprise and a wonderful motion picture debut for the newcomer Joe Wright. Keira shows that she is to be taken serious!

8/10

The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada

Directed by Tommy Lee Jones (2005)

I have always liked Tommy Lee Jones as an actor. He has made some really great performances in the movies JFK, Heaven & Earth, and The Fugitive. And otherwise he has always been good, although he got some typecast in some stereotype roles. In 1995 he debuted as a director on TV, with the movie The Good Old Boys, which I sadly haven't seen. Now, he has joined some of his famous and acknowledged colleges like Clint Eastwood, Mel Gibson, Denzel Washington, and made the step from actor, to actor & director in his own very first motion picture - The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada.

In this movie, Tommy plays the lead as Pete Perkins, who under some mysterious circumstances, finds out that his best friend has got killed. As a consequence of this, he reacts strong and dramatically, wanting to fulfil his old promise to his, now gone, friend.

The script is written by Guillermo Arriaga, and he mixes the characters and the beautiful landscape into an original story, dealing with many subjects. As said before, the movie is beautifully filmed and good edited. Aside from the director, the shooting star – Barry Pepper – delivers another very good and solid performance! He is a very good actor, which I hope to see a lot from in the future…

All in all a solid, and good piece of movie craft from Tommy Lee Jones, which I know respect more than ever!

8/10