Books read recently 4

Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer: Jonathan Safran Foer's first book is not as good as his second, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close but it's a very good book. The story is elaborated but easy to follow, covering a lot of themes and styles equally well. He shows mastery of English in the segments narrated by Alex, which are quite funny though make him sound idiotic in the beginning. The history of Jonathan's family is very colorful and well-written. The pace is not very good, with big differences in intensity.Some of the characters aren't very well-developed, but others are amazing. The ending is just perfect and heartbreaking. Overall, I enjoyed this and recommend it: it's honest, funny and original.

To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf: This contemplative story is extremely well-written and it has some very good characters, though it repeats itself sometimes, getting lost in beautiful writing. You can relate to the characters and there are some interesting themes about women and 20th century society. The stream of consciousness technique gets you into the characters' minds and allows you to see the same scene by various points of view, but it has a problem: the thoughts seem to repeat themselves over and over, which gets boring. This is an effort to read, but it's ultimately rewarding.

Movies watched recently 10

The Big Sleep: This movie has an unique cool sultry mood, witty dialogs and chemistry between the two leads, but the plot is contrived and impossible to understand. The screenplay is very bad: the plot is too complicated and the pace is all wrong. The dialogs are witty and full of innuedo, though not some of the best I've seen.The direction and cinematography are very good, giving this film a uniqe mood. The acting is fine by the two leads, who play their usual roles without much brilliance. I don't understand why this has become a classic.

Girl, Interrupted: This is a decent adaptation and a very good movie. The screenplay keeps close to the book during the first half, and then differs from it (that's the weakest part, because it feels a bit forced). The narration is flawed, but the dialogs are excellent, the characters are human and beautiful and some scenes are incredibly touching.. The acting is really impressive. Winona Ryder is unforgettable, with her expressive eyes capturing her character and a perfect delivery of the dialog getting you to understand Susanna. The supporting actresses are also excellent: Angelina Jolie shows her acting chops keeping her character believable and having some really standout scenes and Brittany Murphy lets the wounds of her character be seen using subtle, effective acting. The music and grim cinematography work her. This is a good movie with really great acting.

Good Bye Lenin!: This is a sophisticated comedy/ touching drama. The screenplay is very good: it's an original story with interesting themes, honest emotions, witty dialogs and full-fleshed characters. The acting is very good: Daniel Bruhl gives a strong performance, capturing is character's mixed feelings and utopia, and Katrin Sass uses her expressive eyes to show her character's difficult emotions. All the supporting cas is also good. The direction is simple but it has some very good shots that are able to capture the whole scene unforgettably. The piano soundtrack is fitting and remarkable and the cinematography is also beautiful. One of the flaws of this movie is the narration, which is redundant and over-done. Even so, this is a very enjoyable film with a thought-provoking subject.


Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind: I LOVED this movie. It's an honest, thought-provoking portrayal of love, human relationships, feelings and memory. The screenplay is amazing: realistic feelings are involved in a wild story that explores the leading character's mind perfectly. The characters are fascinating and human and the dialog is witty and believable. The acting is inspiring: Kate Winslet delivers a unique performance that has become one of my favorites: her character could have become ridiculously over the top, but she's able to make her charismatic and extroverted while expressing emotions rawly and delivering her lines unforgettably. Jim Carrey plays a very different role from his usual greatly and the two leads have pure chemistry. Kirsten Dunst also delivers a very convincing performance. The direction and editing are very inventive and creative, making the movie dizzy, romantic and intelligent. The music is brilliant: Jon Brion's soundtrack is a knock-out and Beck's theme is nostalgically fitting. In the end, it's "just" a beautiful love story, extremely well-told and original.

Girl, Interrupted
The Big Sleep

Movies watched recently 9

The Outsiders: This is one of Coppola's worst, though it's still a good movie. The screenplay tells an interesting, though simplistic and very flawed story, using developed leading characters and some good dialog to make this touching. The acting is very good, specially by C. Thomas Howell, Matt Dillon, Diane Lane and Ralph Maccio, who are natural and affecting. It's well-directed, with some beautiful shots of nature relating to human feeling. The soundtrack and editing are quite good, but unremarkable. The problem is the cinematography, that looks amateurish, not any epic (this reduces the emotion of the movie a lot) and just doesn't fit here. This is a decent movie, but by no means unmissable.
Uptown Girls: This is a common mainstream comedy. The screenplay has an interesting, potentially funny basic story, which should have been more explored; instead, there are too many clichéd subplots. Although the physical humor is just useless, the two leading characters are well-written enough and the dialogs between them are funny. The acting is quite good by Dakota Fanning, who shows precocious understanding of her character's behavior and precise comic timing. Brittany Murphy is not too annoying and can make her character vaguely understandable. Technically, this is just unremarkable and mediocre. This is light fluff.

An American Rhapsody: This is a purely beautiful drama with a powerful screenplay and brilliant acting. It's an honest tear-jerker with a poignant story that covers a lot of themes seriously. It's an absorbing story that's very well-told. The pace is perfect, the characters are all full-fleshed and flawed, but still likable. The acting is amazing: Scarlett Johansson captures her character's emotions using her eyes admirably, Kelly Endresz-Banlaki has intuitive talent and she's very realistic, Nastassja Kinski has perfect body language and Tony Goldwin delivers an effective interpretation of a character that could've been a cliché. These last two master the accent and can speak in hungarian. All the supporting actors are also mind-blowing. The direction visibly comes from the heart, and the shots are all beautiful. The cinematography, sets, music, capture the very different feelings of the countryside and the american suburbs. The use of hungarian, and black and white color in some sequences made this more realistic. It's not a masterpiece of film-making, but it's an honest, well-told story.

The Royal Tenenbaums: This is a very original, extremely well-done dark comedy. It's the subtly told story of a troubled family of have-beens: all the characters are quirky and interesting and the relationships between them are slowly, though beautifully developed. The fairytale-like narration makes this by turns touching and darkly humorous. The dialogs are great, and all that's left unsaid makes them more realistic. The acting is impressive: I adored the entire cast and the chemistry between them. Gwyneth Paltrow, Luke Wislon, Gene Hackman and Ben Stiller were standouts for me. The direction is simply gorgeous: the shots are (physically and emotionally) distant from the characters, allowing the plot to develop and humor to flourish. The rock'n'roll music, antiseptic cinematography and clean editing work perfectly. This is not a very funny comedy, but it's a great character study.

Les Choristes: This is a pleasant story about a teacher who's successfully able to make his student's lives better. It's unpretentious and simple, with touching, believable characters, even if clearly divided in goodies and baddies. It works here, giving the movie a dreamy feeling. The acting is good: the adult actors are fitting and perfect parts and the kids are charismatic. The direction is beautiful even if common, holding a particular charm that's similar to Chocolat.The cinematography and editing are neat.
Almost Famous: This is an excellent movie that feels like a labor of love. The story is fascinating and it captures rock'n'roll spirit perfectly. The characters are very well-built: they are simply human and they feel raw emotions. The subplots are all developed. The dialogs feel real. The acting is brilliant: Kate Hudson is perfect, capturing confusion, angst, love and beauty, creating one of the most beautiful characters I've seen. Patrick Fugit and Frances McDormand realistically capture their characters feelings and get you to actually feel them. The direction is pitch-perfect: the shots feel edgy, create a great ambiance that reminds you of the 70's and allow you to feel and understand this movie on many levels. The soundtrack is great, using some of the best rock'n'roll songs, that highlight the characters and their feelings. The 70's look cinematography and the fluid, natural, unobtrusive editing elevate this movie to a classic status. This is unique for you can truly feel this movie.

Casablanca: This is a great, truly romantic classic. It has a wonderful nostalgic feeling about it, it's technically perfect, well-acted and directed. The story is widely-known and extremely well-told. It equilibrates romance with politics perfectly and it's intelligently nuanced. The dialogs include fabulous lines and poignant moments. The acting is very good: Ingrid Bergman is intense and realistically torn, Humphrey Bogart portrays is typical character, Paul Henreid is believable and Claude Rains portrays his unique character admirably. Michael Curtiz gets the perfect shots and he's able to make this authentically romantic. The score is beautiful, the cinematography is gorgeous andthe editing is unobrtusive but effective. This is a masterpiece.

Movies watched recently 8

Blue In The Face: This follow-up to Smoke is very different and it's not as good, in my opinion. This hasn't got a storyline, it's basically a group of sketches stuck together. That's not too bad, since they're actually funny and the acting is good. The characters are well-developed for such a short period of time. The direction is simple but appropriate. The problem is that it often seems vague and pointless, like this is just a group of people improvising, so even if it's entertaining, it's forgettable. This is also related to the very bad editing, that just seemed random.

The Simpsons Movie: This is simply hilarious. It feels like an extended Simpsons episode, and it is able to keep the good pace of those and it's permanently funny. There isn't a minute in which you don't laugh. The story is entertaining and it satirizes America greatly. The animation, voices and characters are as good as in the TV series. It's hugely entertaining and it has some of the most brilliant touches in an animated comedy I can remember.

Ratatouille: This is a very good family movie. The animation is simply excellent: it captures the textures and movement perfectly and it creates a gorgeous animated Paris. The story is the characteristic Disney tale of the underdog, so it's predictable, but the characters are original, the jokes are fresh and the subplots are interesting. The direction is very stylish and the action is fluid and very enjoyable. The editing and soundtrack work very well. I recommend it.
A River Runs Through It: This is a beautiful movie in every aspect, even if it is predictable. Technically, it is just perfect: the direction is precise, with traditional, but breathtaking shots, the cinematography highlights the natural colors making them gorgeous, the editing is simple and effective, the soundtrack is fitting, the sets are amazing and the costumes are realistic. All this gives the movie a nostalgic, lovable feeling. The screenplay tells a solid story using a simple progression and few characters, that are mostly fleshed-out. There are several amusing scenes, the dialog is good and the narration is compelling. The acting is excellent: all the actors do a good job, portraying believable characters with charm, specially Craig Sheffer, Emily Lloyd, Tom Skerritt and Brad Pitt. Overall, this is a bit forgettable and it has already been seen many times before, but it's entertaining and visually breathtaking.

Point Break: This is the typical bad action movie : it uses all the clichés it possibly could and, in my opinion, it's badly done. The screenplay is the typical story about FBI guy chasing the baddies, though it could have had a philosophical edge, that's just not developed. The dialog and story progress are just laughable. The direction and editing are terrible: they are way too fast and never thrilling or exciting. The acting is mostly really bad: Keanu Reeves holds the same expression through the entire movie and Patrick Swayze is laughably unrealistic. This could work if it was a comedy or a satire.

Books read recently 3

The History of Love by Nicola Krauss: I enjoyed this book, it's good and worth-reading but not a masterpiece. Nicola Krauss has a beuatiful, sensible writing style and the voices she creates are touching and believable. The narrative is skillfully built to a pitch-perfect, simple, affecting ending. It has humor, drama and raw emotions. All that stops it from being truly great is its shortness (the story could and should have been more deveploped) and the not engaging, barely existent supporting characters. Even so, it's a good read and I recommend it

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky: This is an odd, quirky book that doesn't fulfill its potential. Charlie's voice is somewhat forced, though sometimes very poetic and also the letter format doesn't fit. The supporting characters are much more interesting and their struggles are often touching, but some are lame clichés. Itt also doesn't semm real that Charlie would be accepted and have a group of older, cooler friends. Besides, all the issues he faces-basically, everything that could happen-are just too much. The development of the story is mostly compelling, but the ending is forced. So, this is a n author that shows potential but this book just lacks balance and realism. By the way, Charlie is not a normal teenager- he seem to have some disorder such as autism.

His Dark Materials trilogy (The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass) by Philip Pullman: This is a compelling fantasy story with thought-provoking themes. It's well-written and all the philosophy is fascinating, though I think it's too long and, sometimes, frustrating. The characters arere strong and humane, and Mrs Coulter is actually a brilliant character. The writing style is fitting and very good. The descriptions are well-done but the action is dull and the emotions never really came across except in the ending.It's original and worth-reading if you like fantasy, but it's not an essential.

Movies watched recently 7

Saved!: This is a very intelligent religious satire. It has an inventive screenplay, that uses the typical teen comedy story but creates believable characters and some serious subjects. The dialogs are also very funny and, sometimes, thought-provoking. The storyline develops at the right pace and has a positive message. The actors are talented, specially Jena Malone who is pitch-prefect and Eva Amurri, who's really hilarious. Macaulay Cullkin is also unexpectedly good. The direction is interesting: the director gets the most out of his actors and shoots this movie by turns sensibly and destructive. The soundtrack fits beautifully and the cinematography gives the movie a clean, fluffy, american look. This is a thoughtful, uplifting, original comedy.

Smoke: This film works just like a good Paul Auster novel- believable characters, entertaining situations, touching relationships, interesting subplots and life-stories, some humor and a positive message. I really enjoyed it. Not just the screenplay was good, the actors also did a fine job. It's a terrific ensemble cast, with realistic, beautiful performances by Harvey Keitel, William Hurt, Harold Perrineau (though he looks too old for his character), Stockard Channing and Forest Withaker. The technicals are average, but this is just delightful and it has a beautiful ending.
All About Eve: This is a brilliant classic. It's an unique character study that shows the world of show-biz perfectly. The characters are fascinating and the relationships between them are realistic and the dialog is highly quotable, witty and nuanced. The performances are hauntingly perfect: Bette Davis gives one of the best performances you're likely to watch. She captures her character's emotions and fears, has amazing chemistry with the other actors, delivers the dialog memorably and you simply can't take your eyes off her. Anne Baxter plays bitchy while being humane and the supporting cast is very well-chosen. The chemistry between the two leads is just palpably real. The direction is simple and effective, focusing on the facial expressions and letting the screenplay breathe, while having some brilliant shots. The cinematography and costumes are also good. This is a true classic and it's inspiring.