http://neptunestars.wordpress.com A passion for film Sun, 04 Jan 2009 23:40:33 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ http://s2.wp.com/i/buttonw-com.png http://neptunestars.wordpress.com http://neptunestars.wordpress.com/2008/12/26/lemmerdeur/ http://neptunestars.wordpress.com/2008/12/26/lemmerdeur/#comments Fri, 26 Dec 2008 18:14:31 +0000 neptunestars http://neptunestars.wordpress.com/?p=67 ]]> L’EMMERDEUR * vo French
Berry/Timsit just can’t hold a candle to the Brel/Ventura original from 1973. When it’s a super classic, why redo it?!

© 2008 Neptune Ingwersen

Posted in 1 Star, 12 Dec 08, 2008, Avoid, French ]]> http://neptunestars.wordpress.com/2008/12/26/lemmerdeur/feed/ 0 neptunestars http://neptunestars.wordpress.com/2008/12/26/stella/ http://neptunestars.wordpress.com/2008/12/26/stella/#comments Fri, 26 Dec 2008 18:12:14 +0000 neptunestars http://neptunestars.wordpress.com/?p=65 ]]> STELLA **1/2 vo French
A touching portrait of a little girl who is raised in a family that owns a rowdy bar. Her adjustments in a new school are not easy. There’s a touching cameo by the late, great Guillaume Depardieu.

© 2008 Neptune Ingwersen

Posted in 12 Dec 08, 2 1/2 Stars, 2008, French ]]> http://neptunestars.wordpress.com/2008/12/26/stella/feed/ 0 neptunestars http://neptunestars.wordpress.com/2008/12/26/happy-new-year/ http://neptunestars.wordpress.com/2008/12/26/happy-new-year/#comments Fri, 26 Dec 2008 18:09:53 +0000 neptunestars http://neptunestars.wordpress.com/?p=63 ]]> HAPPY NEW YEAR **1/2 vo SwissGerman
It’s New Year’s Eve and various couples and characters around Zurich are struggling with their relationships. Clichéd but sweet, and finally all’s well that ends well…

© 2008 Neptune Ingwersen

Posted in 12 Dec 08, 2 1/2 Stars, 2008, German ]]> http://neptunestars.wordpress.com/2008/12/26/happy-new-year/feed/ 0 neptunestars http://neptunestars.wordpress.com/2008/12/26/tricks/ http://neptunestars.wordpress.com/2008/12/26/tricks/#comments Fri, 26 Dec 2008 18:08:05 +0000 neptunestars http://neptunestars.wordpress.com/?p=61 ]]> TRICKS (Sztuczki) *** vo Polish
Directed by Andrzej Jakimowski, here’s a sweet and curious Polish film about an adorable little boy’s observance of people and life in his small town. From disconnected episodes adorned with haunting music, this languid tale slowly turns into a search for a lost father. His sister has an uncanny resemblance to Scarlett Johansson.

© 2008 Neptune Ingwersen

Posted in 12 Dec 08, 2008, 3 Stars ]]> http://neptunestars.wordpress.com/2008/12/26/tricks/feed/ 0 neptunestars http://neptunestars.wordpress.com/2008/12/26/largo-winch/ http://neptunestars.wordpress.com/2008/12/26/largo-winch/#comments Fri, 26 Dec 2008 18:06:38 +0000 neptunestars http://neptunestars.wordpress.com/?p=59 ]]> LARGO WINCH ***
Here’s a film that the James Bond franchise could emulate. It has a compelling storyline, great pacing and action, and characters that one can care for. Based on a comic book series, it’s centered in exciting Hong Kong and concerns a huge conglomerate run by a secretive tycoon who is murdered at the outset of the film. From there, we follow his possible young heir, Largo Winch (Tomer Sisley), and all the intrigues in this lucrative powerplay. Having all the class and excitement that Quantum of Solace lacked, let’s hope this French-made action-thriller by Jérôme Salle can break through the American and international markets, for it certainly deserves great success.

© 2008 Neptune Ingwersen

Posted in 12 Dec 08, 2008, 3 Stars ]]> http://neptunestars.wordpress.com/2008/12/26/largo-winch/feed/ 0 neptunestars http://neptunestars.wordpress.com/2008/12/26/crimson-wings/ http://neptunestars.wordpress.com/2008/12/26/crimson-wings/#comments Fri, 26 Dec 2008 18:05:11 +0000 neptunestars http://neptunestars.wordpress.com/?p=57 ]]> CRIMSON WINGS (Ailes Pourpres) ***
Natron is a remote and curious lake in northern Tanzania that each year during the rainy season becomes the breeding ground for more than a million flamingos. This poetic and enlightening documentary by the British team of Matthew Aeberhard and Leander Ward opens up the amazing secrets of the lake and its flamingos, as did The March of the Emperors for the penguins. Made with huge difficulty and patience, this is a wondrous tale of birth and survival.

© 2008 Neptune Ingwersen

Posted in 12 Dec 08, 2008, 3 Stars ]]> http://neptunestars.wordpress.com/2008/12/26/crimson-wings/feed/ 0 neptunestars http://neptunestars.wordpress.com/2008/12/26/body-of-lies/ http://neptunestars.wordpress.com/2008/12/26/body-of-lies/#comments Fri, 26 Dec 2008 18:03:40 +0000 neptunestars http://neptunestars.wordpress.com/?p=55 ]]> BODY OF LIES (Mensonges d’Etat) ***
Ridley Scott (of Blade Runner, Thelma and Louise and Gladiator fame) directing Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe in a CIA thriller has to be a bombastic equation.
DiCaprio plays a top-notch Arab-speaking field agent, while Crowe is his puppeteer back at headquarters in cozy, suburban U.S.A. Based in Amman, Jordan, but moving around the Near and Middle East with great agility, DiCaprio’s character ends up caring too much for the people he feels his government is exploiting and manipulating with arrogance. His collaboration with the debonair Jordanian security chief, played by the up-and-coming Mark Strong (last in Rock’n Rolla), is especially intriguing. There’s even a romantic interlude with a nurse, portrayed by the lovely Iranian actress, Golshifteh Farahani, that’s handled with charm and great chemistry. Despite all the right ingredients the film has not received the reviews and box-office it deserves, possibly due to terrorism-fatigue of the general public, similar to the ostrich syndrome. This is crafty and exciting entertainment, with a sly Crowe, and DiCaprio shining throughout.

© 2008 Neptune Ingwersen

Posted in 12 Dec 08, 2008, 3 Stars ]]> http://neptunestars.wordpress.com/2008/12/26/body-of-lies/feed/ 0 neptunestars http://neptunestars.wordpress.com/2008/12/26/slumdog-millionaire/ http://neptunestars.wordpress.com/2008/12/26/slumdog-millionaire/#comments Fri, 26 Dec 2008 18:02:07 +0000 neptunestars http://neptunestars.wordpress.com/?p=53 ]]> SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE ***1/2
Using the TV game show, Who Wants to be a Millionaire? as the centerpiece of a puzzle, this tale of the destiny of two little brothers in Bombay/Mumbai also becomes a gripping kaleidoscope of the churnings of life in modern India. Spanning from the famous game show to their miserable existence in the slums and little Jamal’s unending love for an orphan girl, director Danny Boyle (Shallow Grave, Trainspotting) cuts from scene to scene with a surgeon’s precision, depicting their lives with the colors and rhythms of Bollywood, yet with a certain Western restraint. The boys as youngsters are heartbreakingly charming and the film feels more vital at that point than their more melodramatic older years, but it’s nevertheless an intense panorama of this multifaceted country full of contradictions. This film will stay with you.

© 2008 Neptune Ingwersen

Posted in 12 Dec 08, 2008, 3 1/2 Stars, Sundance ]]> http://neptunestars.wordpress.com/2008/12/26/slumdog-millionaire/feed/ 0 neptunestars http://neptunestars.wordpress.com/2008/12/26/die-welle/ http://neptunestars.wordpress.com/2008/12/26/die-welle/#comments Fri, 26 Dec 2008 17:59:18 +0000 neptunestars http://neptunestars.wordpress.com/?p=51 ]]> DIE WELLE (La Vague/The Wave) vo German ****
Somewhat like Entre les Murs – in the realm of students, except this time in Germany – this film delves even further and deeper. A teacher (Jürgen Vogel) decides to experiment with an idea: whether a form of totalitarianism could still cast a spell in the present day. His theory of group dynamics quickly takes hold of his students and becomes Die Welle or the Wave. Building up to a powerful climax, the film raises many questions on the fascination of leadership and discipline. Using an experiment that took place in California in 1967 and became a famous book by Todd Stasser, director Dennis Gansel has made a film that shakes up comfortable, politically correct notions. You end up wondering, are such mass reactions possible anywhere or mainly in Germany? Is the attraction of power an innate human trait? Here’s an outstanding film with alarming reflections.

© 2008 Neptune Ingwersen

Posted in 12 Dec 08, 2008, 4 Stars, German, Run To ]]> http://neptunestars.wordpress.com/2008/12/26/die-welle/feed/ 0 neptunestars http://neptunestars.wordpress.com/2008/12/26/lars-and-the-real-girl/ http://neptunestars.wordpress.com/2008/12/26/lars-and-the-real-girl/#comments Fri, 26 Dec 2008 17:55:59 +0000 neptunestars http://neptunestars.wordpress.com/?p=49 ]]> LARS AND THE REAL GIRL (Une Fiancée pas Comme les Autres) ****
This is the ultimate non-judgmental movie. With sweetness and generosity, a small town reacts with surprising patience to the ultra-strange shyness of a favorite son. Ryan Gosling is superb as the loner who retreats into a fantasy world as his family and neighbors look on. Director Craig Gillespie, originally from Australia, is a talent to watch. Run to this gentle film.

© 2008 Neptune Ingwersen

Posted in 12 Dec 08, 2008, 4 Stars, Run To ]]> http://neptunestars.wordpress.com/2008/12/26/lars-and-the-real-girl/feed/ 0 neptunestars