Dorrito79

I saw this movie about 10 years ago when it came out in the cinema. None of my friends wanted to see it so I went on my own and I remember sitting there when it ended, and thinking about what just happened. And it lasted for days. This movie is one of the very few that changed the way I think of cinema, cinematography and the role of music. Ed Norton plays Derek, the right hand of a nazi leader and Ed Furlong is his little brother, who follows him whatever he does. When Derek kills a black guy trying to steal his car, he goes to prison for 3 years and there he faces the fact that everything he believed in was built on lies and deception, and belief can be twisted for the sake of convenience. He comes out as a changed man and the movie is the story of the next 24 hours, what Derek does next, as well as flashbacks to the reasons why he became a racist. Edward Norton is as brilliant as it gets. This is one of his major roles in his career. He leaves a deep impression and his change for the role, putting on 30 pounds of muscle and shaving his head, is jaw-droppingly convincing, considering his slim build and intellectual aura. Furlong is as memorable as in Terminator 2 - even though he is a sidekick, he plays the disturbed and dependent little bro perfectly well. Thinking he is a rebel, he is eating every misplaced ideology that he is given, without ever freely making choices for himself. Some of the shots stay with the viewer a long time after standing up from the chair, and the music is dripping with emotion. This is a gorgeous movie, a must see for anyone who appreciates quality cinema. Only criticism is about the ending of the movie that did not convince me, however, I do not feel strongly enough about it to take points off the perfect 10.

I saw this movie a few years ago and revisited it last week. The one thing I remembered about it was Ralph Fiennes and after watching it again, it is still only Ralph Fiennes standing out about it. First of all, the choice of Edward Norton as the empathyically supercharged cop was a complete nonsense. As much as I love Ed Norton, it was like using a Ferrari to nip out for a pint of milk to the corner shop. He is way too good for a minor role like this. The story revolved around him, but the script was just too strict for him to build any kind of connection with the viewers; we never get to care about him too much, neutral is the most I feel about his character. Except for the scene where he finally meets his arch enemy, he had no opportunity to expand his role and show off his considerable acting skills. What a waste of talent... Fiennes, on the other hand, shines as the unsociable, delusional serial killer. He steals every frame, and oozes masculinity and craziness. We get to know him so deeply that we even root for him to have a little romance with Emily Watson. Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal is fab as always. I love the fact that this is the second movie that Ed Norton and Philip Seymour Hoffman do together; it made me smile. Hoffman made even a small role like his so clear-cut and individual that looking it, no one could have made such a good job with it. The cinematography is really spot on, dark, recognisable and memorable. The story, along with the director's work, is very good, although I would not put this on my all time favourite's list.

I'm not into French cinema because I don't usually understand the jokes in them, but I went to see Heartbreaker last night for a special preview. I was completely surprised because it charmed me in the first five minutes and from then on it was an almost non-stop laughing, chuckling, cackling audience around me. I loved the storyline and the characters. Alex Lippi is a guy hired to seduce women and break up couples. When he is hired to sort out Juliette (Vanessa Paradis) 10 days before her wedding, he pulls out all the tricks from the hat but she doesn't fall for anything. Interestingly, the thing that it was in French made this movie work much better than a Hollywood version. I thoroughly enjoyed it because it was funny, witty, fresh, minus the clichés and cheap jokes.