Låt den rätte komma in (Let The Right One In) (Norway 2008)

Oskar, a bullied 12-year old, dreams of revenge. He falls in love with Eli, a peculiar girl. She can’t stand the sun or food and to come into a room she needs to be invited. Eli gives Oskar the strength to hit back but when he realizes that Eli needs to drink other peoples blood to live he’s faced with a choice. How much can love forgive? Let The Right One In is a story both violent and highly romantic, set in the Stockholm suburb of Blackeberg in 1982.

RT 98% (88 reviews) IMDb 8.4/10 (over 5300 votes)

The Rape of Europa (2006)

Synopsis (possible Spoiler): The story of Nazi Germany’s plundering of Europe’s great works of art during World War II and Allied efforts to minimize the damage.

Another surprise as I didn’t expect much. But I have to admit I was glued to the screen the moment it started. In a sense having the Nazis steal the artwork was at the end the only way for these pieces to survive the war.

RT 79% (38 reviews) IMDb 8.2/10 (over 190 votes)

The Fall (2006)

Synopsis (possible Spoiler): In a hospital on the outskirts of 1920s Los Angeles, an injured stuntman (Pace) begins to tell a fellow patient, a little girl with a broken arm (Untaru), a fantastical story about 5 mythical heroes. Thanks to his fractured state of mind and her vivid imagination, the line between fiction and reality starts to blur as the tale advances.

Better late than never! What an experience. The visuals are unmatched. The child actress is amazing – and kudos to the director for letting her play out her scenes. A wonderful experience, but it might not be for everybody as you can see in the discrepancy between Rotten Tomatoes and IMDb’s reviews.

RT 55% (75 reviews) IMDb 8.1/10 (over 6000 votes)

War Made Easy (USA 2008)

Synopsis (possible Spoiler): War Made Easy reaches into the Orwellian memory hole to expose a 50-year pattern of government deception…

Once again I’m shocked and angered over what I just saw in this documentary. Have a look, and decide for yourself if the U.S. is in a state of propaganda.

RT 88% (17 reviews) IMDb 8.5/10 (over 100 votes)

In Bruges (USA 2008)

Synopsis (possible Spoiler): Holed up in Bruges, Belgium after a difficult job, two hit men begin to differ on their views of life and death as they become used to local customs.

This one was a lot of fun! I didn’t expect much. Basically a glorified B-movie. Well, that’s what it is, really. But I liked the acting, as over-the top it was in some scenes. A nice surprise to see John Hansley in anything other than Nip/Tuck. After being almost done with assimilation into the American way of thinking about Sex (instead of teaching our youngster on how to have safe sex, we teach them how to not have any sex at all, yeah, right) the movie was even more effective. In Europe it would probably be seen as a fairytale. It has some gory scenes, and, for me, strikes a good balance between being funny and disturbing.

RT 80% (54 reviews) IMDb 6.0/10 (over 3000 votes)

Watch out for the U.S. Remake: Chugyeogja (South Korea 2008)

Chugyeogja (2008) (The Chaser)

Joong-ho is a dirty detective turned pimp in financial trouble as several of his girls have recently disappeared without clearing their debts…

You can set your watch that this will have a US remake soon. It’s a really gripping thrilling. The dialogue is OK, the story interesting, and the fight scenes completely non-hollywood. They are long, gritty real and brutal. Amazing work.

The Future Of Food (2004)

Synopsis (possible Spoiler): THE FUTURE OF FOOD offers an in-depth investigation into the disturbing truth behind the unlabeled, patented, genetically engineered foods that have quietly filled grocery store shelves for the past decade.

Admittedly, this is a one-sided documentary on our food sources and the food we eat. It still shows the disturbing reality of the foot markets in the world. Watch it, even if you don’t believe it all.

RT 84% (25 reviews) IMDb 7.9/10 (over 300 votes) Domestic Gross: $81,280

Bella (2006)

Synopsis (possible Spoiler): Still a stranger to her own body, a high school student discovers she has a physical advantage when she becomes the object of male violence. |

This one was a lot of fun! I didn’t expect much. Basically a glorified B-movie. Well, that’s what it is, really. But I liked the acting, as over-the top it was in some scenes. A nice surprise to see John Hansley in anything other than Nip/Tuck. After being almost done with assimilation into the American way of thinking about Sex (instead of teaching our youngster on how to have safe sex, we teach them how to not have any sex at all, yeah, right) the movie was even more effective. In Europe it would probably be seen as a fairytale. It has some gory scenes, and, for me, strikes a good balance between being funny and disturbing.

RT 80% (54 reviews) IMDb 6.0/10 (over 3000 votes)

The Forbidden Kingdom (USA 2008)

It was nice. Not really engaging in either the story line, the fighting or towards the characters. I was not disappointed expecting a certain amount of overacting from Jackie Chan and the Hong-Kong movie genre in general (and bad wigs too).

There sure were a lot of people hanging on wires! I just got bored after the first half of the movie, and the fact almost all scenes are spoken in English doesn’t necessarily help (what’s Gong Fu?).

There must be a love story in there somewhere, or a buddy story, or a teacher/student story. None of them worked for me – it was a bit of everything, and not enough of anything. Well, except for the fighting. Great ideas and excellent choreography made that part of the movie fun (hence the 3 and not 2 out of 5).

Oh, and in places the Soundtrack sounded like an old Western classic. (Job well done, if it was intentional).

Anyways, it’s just about perfect for a Saturday afternoon, but not a keeper, at least not for me.

Fair rating at RT 62%, way too high on IMDb 7.3/10

(3 out of 5)

Don’t bother: Black Water (AUS 2007)

I was intrigued by the premise of the film. Stuck in the Australian outback with only crocks around. I was hoping for some interesting ideas (as there really is no story to build upon). Granted, it is based on real events, but still, as a movie it’s just not that interesting. There were some scenes I enjoyed, simply for the fact that the movie is all about ‘things jumping into camera’ from all kind of directions. Almost all of the movie happens with people sitting in trees. Once again, my taste seems off: RT 79% IMDb 6.1/10