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Batman Begins, a review by Tom

Title: Batman Begins
Year: 2005
Director: Christopher Nolan
Rating: FSK-12
Length: 134 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.40
Audio: English: Dolby Digital 5.1, German: Dolby Digital 5.1
Subtitles: Arabic, English, German, Hebrew, Icelandic

Stars:
Christian Bale
Michael Caine
Liam Neeson
Katie Holmes
Gary Oldman

Plot:
In 'BATMAN BEGINS', acclaimed director Christopher Nolan explores the origins of the legendary DARK KNIGHT. In the wake of his parents' murders, disillusioned heir BRUCE WAYNE (CHRISTIAN BALE) travels the world seeking the means to fight injustice and turn fear against those who prey on the fearful. With the help of his trusted butler ALFRED (MICHAEL CAINE), detective JIM GORDON (GARY OLDMAN) and his ally LUCIUS FOX (MORGAN FREEMAN), Wayne returns to GOTHAM CITY and unleashes his alter ego: BATMAN, a masked crusader who uses strength, intellect and an array of high-tech weaponry to fight the sinister forces that threaten the city.

Awards:

Academy Award	2005	Nominated	Best Cinematography	Wally Pfister
American Society of Cinematographers Awards	2006	Nominated	Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography in Theatrical Releases	Wally Pfister
Art Directors Guild Production Design Awards	2006	Nominated
ASCAP Awards	2006	Won	Top Box Office Films	James Newton-Howard, Hans Zimmer, Ramin Djawadi (additional music)
BAFTA	2005	Nominated	Achievement In Special Visual Effects	Janek Sirrs, Dan Glass, Chris Corbould, Paul Franklin
BAFTA	2005	Nominated	Production Design	Nathan Crowley
BAFTA	2005	Nominated	Sound	David Evans, Stefan Henrix, Peter Lindsay
British Society of Cinematographers Awards	2005	Nominated	Best Cinematography Award	Wally Pfister
Costume Designers Guild Awards	2006	Nominated		Lindy Hemming
Empire Magazine Awards	2006	Nominated	Best Actor	Christian Bale
Empire Magazine Awards	2006	Nominated	Best Director	Christopher Nolan
Empire Magazine Awards	2006	Nominated	Best Thriller
Golden Raspberry Awards	2005	Nominated	Worst Supporting Actress	Katie Holmes
Hugo Award	2006	Nominated	Dramatic Presentation, Long Form
MTV Movie Awards	2006	Won	Best Hero	Christian Bale
MTV Movie Awards	2006	Nominated	Best Movie
MTV Movie Awards	2006	Nominated	Best Villain	Cillian Murphy
Online Film Critics Society Awards	2006	Nominated	Best Original Score	James Newton-Howard, Hans Zimmer
Saturn	2005	Won	Best Actor	Christian Bale
Saturn	2005	Nominated	Best Costume	Lindy Hemming
Saturn	2005	Nominated	Best Director	Christopher Nolan
Saturn	2005	Won	Best Fantasy Film
Saturn	2005	Nominated	Best Music	James Newton-Howard, Hans Zimmer
Saturn	2005	Nominated	Best Special Effects	Janek Sirrs, Dan Glass, Chris Corbould, Paul J. Franklin
Saturn	2005	Nominated	Best Supporting Actor	Liam Neeson
Saturn	2005	Nominated	Best Supporting Actress	Katie Holmes
Saturn	2005	Won	Best Writing	Christopher Nolan, David Goyer
Scream Awards	2006	Nominated	Best Comic-to-Screen Adaption
Scream Awards	2006	Won	Best Director	Christopher Nolan
Scream Awards	2006	Nominated	Best Fantasy Movie
Scream Awards	2006	Won	Best Scream-Play	David S. Goyer, Christopher Nolan
Scream Awards	2006	Nominated	Best Sequel
Scream Awards	2006	Nominated	Best Superhero	Christian Bale
Scream Awards	2006	Nominated	Most Heroic Performance	Christian Bale
Scream Awards	2006	Nominated	Most Vile Villian	Cillian Murphy
Scream Awards	2006	Nominated	The "Holy Sh%t!" / "Jump-from-your-Seat" Award	"The Train Sequence"-Scene
Scream Awards	2006	Won	The Ultimate Scream
Teen Choice Awards	2005	Nominated	Choice Summer Movie
Teen Choice Awards	2006	Nominated	Movies - Choice Sleazebag	Cillian Murphy
Visual Effects Society Awards	2006	Nominated	Outstanding Created Environment in a Live Action Motion Picture	Alex Wuttke, Pete Bebb, Dayne Cowan, Imery Watson (For the Gotham City monorail chase)
World Soundtrack Awards	2005	Nominated	Best Original Soundtrack of the Year	James Newton-Howard, Hans Zimmer

Extras:
DVD-ROM Content
Featurettes
Photo Gallery
Production Notes
Scene Access
Trailers
US-Comic-Buch mit 3 Batman-Stories

This movie moved the franchise in the right direction. I like the "realistic" approach this movie takes with Batman. Though I never warmed up to the villains in this movie. I don't like Scaregrow, and I really didn't like Liam Neeson's character. He is the cause that the movie slowed down too much in some places. Especially in the beginning. Also his masterplan to destroy Gotham City is ridiculous.
High points in this movie are for me all scenes with Morgan Freeman's Fox or Gary Oldman's Gordon.

Rating:

(From Tom's Random Reviews on April 25th, 2010)

Eastern Promises, a review by Jon

Eastern Promises
3 out of 5

David Cronenberg used to be a bit too surreal for my tastes, but then he teamed up with Viggo Mortensen and adapted John Wagner's graphic novel, A History of Violence. It was quite brilliant. The story suited Cronenberg's regular plot themes of family, as well as his visceral style that make all his movies so memorable. The result was as sharp as it was grimy. And so I've been looking forward to Eastern Promises for a very long time. It's wrong to expect Another History of Violence, but still, this was a crashing disappointment.

The story concerns the Russian Mafia in London and their sex trafficking activities resulting in an raped girl dying as she gives birth. A nurse (Naomi Watts) wishing to protect this child, crosses paths with the imposing Russian gangsters and in particular, a driver (Mortensen).

It's a very noble story and a neglected element in movies (aside from Boris the Blade in Snatch!), but writer Steven Knight seems to treat it a little too noble and it comes off like a TV movie, or even a Newsnight investigation. There's plenty of intrigue, but it all comes to nothing. It's predictable and worst of all, there's no peril. Watts is great as the nurse, but there's little for her to do other than grimace bravely and I never felt like anything was going to happen to her. Going into it, I had the impression that Viggo may provide the threat, but sadly, he like everything else in the movie is full of hot air.
Not to take anything away from him. He is incredible; a commanding presence covered in tattoos and attitude. I also can't blame Cronenberg, because he simply had nothing to work with, apart from one saving grace: a naked Mortensen in a viscous bloody sauna fight. It's a fantastic scene, bravely played by the actor and vintage Cronenberg. It's amongst the best scenes of the year and earned the film a whole extra star for my money. So sad most of the audience will be asleep by the time it comes around.

But for that scene, this movie belonged on TV. Sunday night, probably. Thinking about it, Kinight's previous film (Dirty Pretty Things) is very similar, but it at least had a sense of surrealism to lift it out of the doldrums.

Big missed opportunity. Cronenberg and those characters could have had something to match A History of Violence. Instead we got a Crimewatch reconstruction; very real, but in the movies, you need a bit of exaggeration to keep the attention.

The DVD is light on extras, but Viggo's interview is interesting as he talks about his intricate tattoos and the explicit meanings in the Russian crime world and prisons.

 

(From Eastern Promises on June 25th, 2008)

Smallville Marathon #2, a review by DJ Doena

Synopsis: Accidentally Chloe has been transported to the Arctic where the united stones have just built the "Fortress of Solitude" for Clark. Clark is allowed to rescue her and to fight a new enemy that has arrived with the meteor shower but he has to return until sunset. Meanwhile Lana and Lex meet these newcomers.

My Opinion: Sure, they were lazy, but I still thought that it was too easy for Clark to get rid of those two(!) Kryptonians. I really would have liked a scenario where Lana wouldn't have been knocked out and would have witnessed the entire scene (with or without Clark's knowlegde). But maybe the writers thought it to be too soon to let yet another person in on Clark's secret.
I wonder - if this were for real - whether Chloe and Clark have recapitulated their past, unfolding all the events where only Clark knew the whole truth, or if he told her that she already knew his secret (Rush).

Synopsis: Three patients can escape from Belle Reve and they take Lana, Martha and Jonathan hostage. They force Clark - who has lost his powers because he disobeyed his father - to break into LuthorCorp and steal an experimental Kryptonite-based drug. In the past this wouldn't have been much of a problem, but this time it turns out to be a good thing that he doesn't have his powers.

My Opinion: It's always funny to hear Clark saying, that he's not to keen with heights. I also liked the comparison of Pete and Chloe in their role as "sidekick".
But I also think, that the concept of "Belle Reve" and Lex's influence there is a bit of a plot hole. Lex may not believe one particular loony in there but if he really has spoken with a few of them and promised them something and they would have told him all the same story about Clark Kent's abilities (and there are quite a few in there that could tell such a story) then he wouldn't need to resort to such crude investigation methods - especially when he adds his own experiences with Clark.

Synopsis: Clark is still human and he and Lana have slept together and are very happy. Can it get any better?
In 60 minutes Smallville gets nuked and Clark lies in the hospital, dying from a gunshot wound. Can it get any worse?

My Opinion: Lionel takes up the role of Jor-El. In a weird way, Lex and Clark are now actually brothers. This episode marks the climax (pun intended) of Clark's and Lana's relationship. From now on it will go downhill.
What's even more interesting about this episode, are the discussions on the internet about it. For example, people were seriously offended that he didn't tell her about his true nature before they were sleeping together, because he is an alien. There were sentences like "If Lana were my child I would want to know that she's sleeping with an alien.".

Synopsis: Lois is back in Smallville and she moves back to the farm. On a warm sunny day she, Chloe, Lana and Clark go swimming in the Crater Lake. Suddenly Lois nearly drowns and gets rescued - by Arthur "AC" Curry. AC can swim fast, even faster than Clark. But his motive to be in Smallville is not to rescue drowning girls but to save the oceans from a terrible weapon, created by LuthorCorp.

My Opinion: After the events in Arrival Lex has gone into full defense mode. It's pretty ironic that he who wants to defend this planet from aliens will become the planet's greatest threat by the end of the season.
I really liked the appearance of "Aquaman" and the hints they implanted in the script, especially when AC proposes the foundation of a "Junior Lifeguard Association" and Clark replies that he isn't ready for the JLA yet.
And Tom seriously has to reshape his washboard abs, he looked pale in comparison to Alan Ritchson (AC) and he is supposed to be Superman.

(From Smallville Marathon #2 on June 8th, 2008)