July Movies

So, as promised, let me give you an outlook on some of the movies I have recently had the pleasure to watch.

It´s a disaster.

8 people meet in a house of one of the couples for their weekly "couple brunch". One is a couple of free spirits, another the stuck ups shortly before their divorce, the next is "the unmarried ones" and finally "the single with a new boyfriend" showing up in the hopes of finally finding someone to marry like all her friends did. Into this enters the typical relationship dramas and the sudden announcement of a terrorist attack on major cities of the US of which the couples is one and the order from the goverment to stay indoors to avoid contanimation. As the situation deteriorates and the people clash with their beliefs about end-times we come to see the breakdown of relationships in the onset of fatalism and the realization of unstoppable death. 

Acceptable performances from all the actors and actresses around and some very funny scenes ahoy make this quite the nice to watch dark comedy that I can only advise others to take a look at, it was at times witty, funny and tragic and the ending is just short of great. Also the topic, while a bit lackluster nowadays with all those disaster movies, still manages to evoke empathy with those locked in their home and how all barriers of people start to break away once they realize the inevitability of their demise.

Odd Thomas

A young man has the ability to see dead people as well as ghostly apparitions called "bodaks" who are not mummy like undead clerics but immaterial entities haunting those causing great death. With an ability as such, the young Odd Thomas, yes that is really his name, makes it his job to hunt those whom the ghosts point out to him and to stop those trying to disturb the peace in the community in Pico Mundo (Yes, I know, little world..). Now the story starts up when he one day sees someones in town with an amount of these bodaks around hime indicating a massacre coming and he sets everything to stop it.

A suprise sleeper starrring Anton Yelchin, I was pleasantly suprised to see such a clearyl DirectToDVD movie get into my hands and be still this good, considering some of the other ...lets say...worse examples I could think of. With a lot of heart and a nice performance from all those involved like Willem Dafoe and others, it was a nice little piece of movie you can without much remorse rent and watch for an evening. I was even sad during one part. It´s definitely not the greates of movies you´ll ever watch and if we are to talk about impact on the movie scene and viewers, it´s not a cult hit either, but frankly, you could pick worse. Much worse.

And finally... 

Stoker

India Stokers father is dead. Shortly before the young girl turns 18, her father dies in an accident and her mother invites a stranger, told to be her uncle, into their home. And from there, the events begin to roll...

Stoker was one of those movies I found to be rather strange to watch. Visually strong and with great music, it requires a definitive mindset to enjoy it as one might do. Make no mistake, this is a crime thriller, but not necessarily the usual sort I would rather enjoy. Still, Nicole Kidman was more of a cameo and Mia Wasikowska gave a very strong performance as India Stoker during every scene, even those who assure us why this movie is best for adults instead of young´uns.

Definitely worth a watch but also not for everyone, as it has a very strong and very dark undercurrent of desire, the pain of growth and the break of isolation as well the question of identity in growing up. Damn that movie was creepy at times. That uncle!