ponyo (hayao miyazaki)

i will never forgive myself for not having seen this on the big screen, the underwater landscapes are some of the most beautiful scenes i've ever seen. full of jellyfish! and the story is good, too, of course. miyazaki hardly ever disappoints. by the way, the reviewers who say that this is the story of a goldfish princess and her quest to become human haven't really been paying attention or have been watching too many disney movies. it's not a choice. she licked human blood and now she's turning into a human. she's quite happy to do it, and doesn't want her dad to try and stop it (maybe because she's already too human), but that's not the point. just don't turn this into the little mermaid. anyway, this is so beautiful to watch that this hardly matters. or the fact that ponyo is rather irritating as a little girl (i much preferred her as a fish). but yes, i really hope i get to see this sometime in the cinema.

Rating: 8/10

ali: fear eats the soul (rainer werner fassbinder)

very enjoyable film, especially for the two main characters, they are so sweet. still, i found the racism a bit cartoonish, both at its prime and when they choose to accept ali (actually, for a moment i thought the acceptance scenes where a fantasy world). but i liked the film as a whole. and i love how at the end she starts to objectify him and he's not having any of it, and the cous-cous as a metaphor for something he lacks. oh, and fassbinder as a her son in law is brilliant! as i said, a very enjoyable film.

Rating: 7/10

buried (rodrigo cortés)

i never expected this to be so good! let's start saying it's not a horror movie, but an action-drama in a box. once you accept this, the film works really well. i have to admit that, after the first 20 minutes, i thought: 'how the hell are they going to maintain this for another hour?' but bloody hell they did! i'd never have thought this would be so action packed! actually, the snake scene might be a bet too much, but i forgive them. and the actual final scene? the best ending the story could have. i was thinking they might ruin it at the end, but no, they did what they had to do. i never knew about the 'spanish link' with the funding and crew, but,actually, as mr thoumire said: "once you think about it, they will never get the americans to fund something like this!".

Rating 9/10

paranoid park (gus van sant)

i rather enjoyed this, but not as much as 'elephant'. it duplicates the same mood, the dreamy atmospheric scenes, the slow pace... i absolutely loved that. i love watching the main character walk the school corridors ever so slowly, as well as all his silences. and the story is good, too, my favourite bit being how he redeems himself through writing, just beautiful. i was put off by the really bad acting of some of the secondary characters, though. i mean, i usually don't mind amateur actors, but the 'second girlfriend' was just appalling, her poor acting actually distracted me from what she was saying. and that's not good. not at all. fortunately, it didn't spoil the film as a whole for me.

Rating: 7.5/10

lift to the scaffold (louis malle)

i loved the mood, especially all the scenes inside the lift, and how the storyline gets more and more complicated. i also love how it's told without much tension, everything is kind of calm and beautifully cool, even though some of the characters seem to be desperate. however, i expected something more, the actual ending is a bit too daft, i wanted to be left in awe. and i wasn't.

Rating: 6.5/10

hierro (gabe ibánez)

i felt rather disappointed, to be honest. i loved the photography and the direction, beautiful and atmospheric, but the actual story was way too predictable. there was almost no room for doubt, everything was so obvious. things would have been different if, when she first thinks she sees her son on that beach, the kid hadn't looked back and not recognised his mom. but, after that, it was obvious it wasn't him. and i found the final shots reconstructing all the previous scenes but with the different kid really obnoxious, treating the viewers as if they are stupid and need everything to be spelt out for them. i would have left some room for ambiguity. i'm giving it more than a 5 just because of how beautiful it looks.

Rating: 5.5/10

cambridge spies (tim fywell)

well, i was bound to like this, wasn't i? at least the first episode: 1930s britain + cambridge college + some boy on boy action: perfect combination. i had loved it when it was first aired, and i loved rewatching it again. i have to admit the second episode is rather weak, especially when kilby goes to spain, but 3 and 4 manage to get back on track. i know it's incredibly glamourised, everything's shiny and dramatic and nice, but i think it succeeds at making the viewers want to know more about these guys. or, well, at least that's how i feel. apparently anthony blunt's version of the story (after he was exposed by thatcher in 1979) is going to be disembargoed in 2013. now, that's going to be an interesting read...

Rating: 7.5/10

black swan (darren aronofsky)

i don't even know where to begin. i loved this movie: it's beautiful and poetic and disturbing and... a total joy to watch. i don't know how he does it, but aronofsky always manages to let the emotion grow and evolve little by little, reaching incredible climaxes. the last scenes of this movie are quite simply perfect, like nina's performance. i had never thought of natalie portman as an amazing actress, i always thought she was ok, but that's it, but in here she excels in a way i never imagined she could do. simply brilliant. and i loved her actual gradual transformation (the goosebumps! the goosebumps were amazing!!). nina's evil mom, keeping her in an pink infantile world full of soft toys, is really scary, maybe the most fairy-talesque character of them all. the film might be a bit too over the top for some viewers, but for me it just worked wonderfully. oh, was it me or the tapping of the ballet shoes mimicked the flapping of wings? awesome, simply awesome.

Rating: 10/10

them (david moreau, xavier palud)

i love how it incorporates all the classic features: lovely couple in an isolated house, a first scene that sets the mood and makes you realise 'they' mean business... and the pace is brilliant, no nonesense here. however, i couldn't help but feeling a bit disappointed by the nature of those 'them'. i don't mind the fact they are humans, and the fact they are ruthless kids, but i'm not so sure of the supernatural feeling the whole film oozes. they want to play this kind of sadistic game, fine, but then why does it have to feel as if it was something out of (the rather brilliant) 'the haunting'? i'd have prefered them to be ghosts, to be honest. i find living people incredibly more boring. still, i enjoyed it.

Rating: 7/10

the secret of kells (tom moore)

to be honest, i thought it was going to be a bit too hippie for me. however, i was proved wrong. yes, the actual last 30 secs of the film, when they show you the real book of kells, is horrible, both the images and the horrendous folk music, but i found i actually really enjoyed the rest of the film. i loved the animation, especially the 2d layered scenes, and all the geometrical design work, as well as the shadow play. just mesmerising. and the story itself is a fantastic classic adventure. with books. great! i found the white fairy girl rather irritating at the beginning, but i then i kind of got used to her (only kind of). but, all in all, a joy to watch.

Rating: 7/10

top ten (alan moore & gene ha)

i really enjoyed reading this. it's like x-men does hill street blues. i liked all the characters, even the ones who are dicks. such a brilliant idea. i found i liked the first and last numbers better, wasn't so keen on the ones dedicated to the murder in the god's bar, and some other bits, but i liked the whole series as a whole. i love how it deals with really serious issues like racism, illness, parenthood, friendship, homosexuality, grief... all really sensibly! so, on top of being fun, it's educational! this should be compulsory reading in highschools. it'd inspire very interesting debates, i tells ya! my only concern is the actual way it deals with all this issues, it seems a little bit too rushed, i would have liked them to explore those feelings a bit more. i know, i know, i shouldn't forget the target audience, i know, but still... i wanted it to be perfect!

Rating: 8/10

the remains of the day (james ivory)

very faithful adaptation of a wondrous book. i wasn't 100% convinced at the beginning, i thought it kind of lacked the magic, but i guess my expectations were just too high and i was wanting it to be like i had imagined. nonetheless, after 15 min or so, i came to my senses and just started enjoying the film. i loved it. i really did. really beautiful story, beautifully performed. hopkins manages to make his mr stevens seem even more cold and  annoying than his book counterpart. i still think they overdid mr stevens's dad's make up, it looked a bit too adams family, but that's just nitpicking.

Rating: 8.5/10

evangelion 1.0 you are (not) alone (hideaki anno)

this really looks amazing, especially all the angels. just the fact that they are actually called 'angels' is awesome. and i loved all the christian imagery, of course, the laser beams in the shape of crosses and the crucified angel #2... simply brillliant.
however, it's also more like a videogame than a film: all the details about hitting the red core to defeat the enemy, the fact that the (amazing) angel #4 only shows its 'heart' when it's attacking... not very imaginative, to be honest. also, by the episodic nature of the plot, you can really tell it's based on a tv series. so, yeah, it was ok, i guess, but i'll forget about it in no time.

Rating: 5/10

star trek iii: the search for spock (leonard nimoy)

watch this only if you've watched the far better 'star trek ii: the wrath of khan' and wonder how are they going to manage to bring spock back . the effects are rather poor, and so is the direction (by the very own spock, by the way), and the whole story is a bit 'whatever' (also very christian, with the themes of sacrifice and resurrection and the like). ok for a sunday afternoon if you don't have anything else to do. on the plus side, though, vulcans are still some of the better dressed people in the galaxy.

Rating: 4/10

hocus pocus (kenny ortega)

i loved this! it's so daft and fun! and not a single thing that irritated me, which is a lot to say. not even the songs. it's definitely a child of its time, its so incredibly 90s, but that's ok, it has a kind of 'eerie indiana' feeling to it. i fell in love with the cat (of course), to such extent that i couldn't help feeling disappointed about the end. who wants the spirit of that annoying kid back? give me the talking cat! i loved the band's outfits, too. oh, and i'd never thought i'd say this, but sarah jessica parker was amazing!! as in 'really amazing'!

Rating: 8/10

caballeros de fortuna / knights of fortune (luis landero)

i really enjoyed reading this, it's really well written, although i have to admit i couldn't help but feeling disappointed when the story followed some characters and left some others behind for a while. i know that's always the case in choral stories, but i just wanted to follow the lives of the two kids, especially the 'holy' one. he was, by far, my favourite character. i loved everything about him: his conception (fathered by a 'saint'), his childhood (brought up destined to be saint, like his father), his love story with the teacher, almost mistaking her for a madonna... just my cup of tea. and the confession! that bit was really funny. i liked the other characters, too, but i just wanted the story to follow the holy kid and forget about the rest.

Rating: 7/10

maurice (james ivory)

i admit my opinion is very biased as i'm a sucker for stories set in oxbridge colleges during the first half of the 20th century (yes, my kinks are very precise). i had loved the book when i read it in my late teens, but had never bothered with the film. not sure why. well, i finally watched it and it blew me away. again, such a beautiful story, and so beautifully filmed and performed. i felt in some ways incredibly identified with the main character, i could perfectly see aspects of me in my early 20s. i still can't understand why ivory is considered a 'lesser' filmmaker. the story is quite simply impeccably told. i love how the characters develop, all the tensions and passions and the struggle to keep appearances. this story (both book and film) will always stay with me.

Rating: 10/10

the fall (tarsem singh)

i have to admit i loved some bits. the puppet-operation scene really is awesome. i also liked how the tree people came out from the ground and held the mystic when he was poisoned by the map. and all the architecture. and the white sheet in the funeral turning red.... and the actual red  mask. and wallace the monkey!! he was great. but that was it. i kind of liked the story in the hospital (or 'tolerated' it, rather), but wasn't convinced about the fantasy world at all. it looked all too slick and shiny and annoying. from the moment i saw alexander the great i thought 'oh no, this is going to be horrible'. and it was. i know it kind of makes sense because it's the little girl's imagination and she's picturing it like that, like a kind of weird fairy tale that incorporates real elements... and in theory i like the idea, but that doesn't mean i have to like the actual visual outcome. it's a perfume ad. i felt the opposite of an 'aesthetic ecstasy'. and, what's worse, i was incredibly bored.

Rating: 4/10

dog soldiers (neil marshall)

i simply can't understand the bad reviews. yes, it's not flawless, but i found it incredibly enjoyable. i was gripped from minute one. i liked how they used their low budget, basically avoiding to show any transformation and keeping the major action scenes in the dark, and i even liked the cheap gory effects ("sausages!"). AND, it has a hot ginger man as a main character. always a plus.

Rating: 7/10