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| THE
MACHINIST
(Brad Anderson, 2004, USA, Spain) |
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Maybe
the script is not as intelligent or important
as it thinks it is. But, overall, The
Machinist has everything a horror movie
should have: tension, ugliness, suspense,
paranoia and anxiety. |
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| THE
MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE (Jonathan
Demme, 2004, USA) |
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| MARIA
FULL OF GRACE
(Joshua Marston, 2004, USA, Colombia) |
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Maria
Full of Grace may be the most human film
about drug traffic because, instead of using
the clichéd characters every films
uses, Joshua Marston focuses on a more realistic
and dramatic situation. It’s an honest
film that explains and shows why someone would
do such things and, thankfully enough, it
doesn’t focus on shallow and one-dimensional
mafias but on its victims. |
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| MEAN
CREEK
(Jacob Aaron Estes, 2004, USA) |
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Instead
of watching the shallow Bully, do
yourself a favor and watch this honest and
gripping movie where the characters are remarkably
constructed (and performed) and their reactions
and decisions feel real. |
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| MILLION
DOLLAR BABY
(Clint Eastwood, 2004, USA) |
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Spoilers.
With or without the ending, the movie was
not doing any good for me from the beginning.
The dark cinematography and the relationship
between Frankie and Maggie lifted a story
filled with common places and irrelevance.
Comparing this film to The Sea Inside,
the Spanish one is better, and that’s
not saying much. |
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| THE
MOTHER (Richard Curtis,
2003, UK) |
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| THE
MOTORCYCLE DIARIES
(Walter Salles, 2004, USA, UK, Argentina,
Chile, Peru) |
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A
beautiful ode to Latin America. Inspiring.
Gael Garcia Bernal and Rodrigo de la Serna
give two emotive (and subtle) performances,
making the two characters sympathetic and
compelling. |
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| OCEAN'S
TWELVE
(Steven Soderbergh, 2004, USA) |
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They
did it; you thought they wouldn’t, but
they did it much dumber than the first one!
And the expensive look-how-cool-we-are cast
didn’t notice that either. I never thought
they could but they wrote a resolution as
childish as concluding it was all a dream. |
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| THE
PASSION OF THE CHRIST
(Mel Gibson, 2004, USA) |
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It's
not as sadist as they say, it's not as anti-semitic
as they claim and it's not as religious as
Mel Gibson states it is. It's just a forgettable
movie with nothing special that got famous
thanks to its hype and excellent promotion. |
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| PRIMER
(Shane Carruth, 2004, USA) |
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If
you though Memento and Mulholland
Dr. were complicated then you obviously
haven’t seen this. Shane Carruth’s
first film is very hard to follow and you
won’t understand half of the film (and
you won’t be the only one), but who
cares when the suspense is so tensioning and
everything become intriguing? |
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THE
RECKONING (Paul McGuigan,
2003, UK)
No, the movie’s
not awful but it’s so… insignificant.
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| RECONSTRUCTION
(Christoffer Boe, 2003, Denmark) |
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Behind its complications and enigmas, there’s
a movie that doesn’t have anything remarkable
or deep to say. And even though Boe may have
an interesting career, it’s not easy
to become Bergman and Lynch in your first
feature. |
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| THE
RETURN
(Andrei Zvyagintsev, 2003, Russia) |
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The professional direction, the beautiful
cinematography, the haunting music and the
absorbing sound (that give a perfect feeling
of coldness, confusion, loneliness, repressed
anger, mystery and a changing weather) make
you forgive some of the flaws the movie has. |
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| ROBOT
STORIES
(Greg Pak, 2003, USA) |
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It’s not that I’m a mean capitalist
because I’m fond with independent films,
but sometimes the lack of money makes your
movie less believable. Still, the second short
(The Robot Fixer) and the fourth
one (Clay) elevate the material. |
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