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Eu vou. Logo. Mas não resisti a colocar já o post, para brincar com novo sistema de microformatos do blog.com. Agora para escrever sobre cinema, basta dizer que quero uma entrada sobre cinema, pesquisar o titulo, e zás. Sai, com hReview lá dentro, este post pré-formatado:

Bah, todos os anos me acontece isto no Fantas. Ao menos normalmente só me acontece num filme. O Lady Joker é uma seca monumental. Duas horas de filme que parecem quatro...

Ainda não foi desta que saí a meio de um filme do Fantas, mas esteve lá perto. Um filme japonês, policial, com uma história que nunca "agarra" o espectador. Claro que não ajuda confundir as caras dos chinocas[1] todos e os nomes serem todos parecidos. Tem alguma piada por revelar traços da forma como o cidadão japonês se integra na sociedade (obrigado à MJ por servir de guia), mas juntando a lentidão do enredo com o desconforto das cadeiras do Rivoli, pfff. Fujam deste!

[1] Ia fazer uma piada com o Duarte & Cia, mas já deve estar gasta...

Fui ontem ver o primeiro filme Fantas deste ano: The Other Half. A história de um inglês, fanático por futebol (Roo-nah, Roo-nah) que vem passar a lua de mel a Portugal durante o Euro 2004. O problema é que ele tem bilhetes para os jogos da selecção inglesa, e a mulher dele detesta futebol e não sabe de nada. Está dado o pontapé para peripécias sem fim.

O filme tem muitos momentos hilariantes, a história é divertida e, acima de tudo, traz saudades da festa que foi o Euro 2004. Protestem o que quiserem com o dinheiro que se gastou, mas valeu mesmo a pena.

Pena não ter dado outra vez o resumo alargado deste jogo.

Made it to Charlie and The Chocolate Factory yesterday. What a great movie! My expectations were already high, but I really can't get tired of this Tim Burton style. This is a kid movie, definitely, but with lots of interesting tidbits for grownups.

Think of the movie as a cross between Mars Attacks, for the colourful scenarios, Nightmare Before Christmas for the music and Edward Scissorhands for the strange story -- with lots of the same type of social critic.

Oh, and be prepared to come out of the movie singing and running to grab some fudge (the opening scene is literally delicious!).

Excellent, truly excellent movie. Don't miss on this one. Der Untergang tells a part of Europe's recent history from a different perspective. More than the perspective, it is very pleasant to watch -- in the sense that it lasts over two hours and time flies; the movie is rather heavy otherwise. Expect violent scenes, and war portrayed as the awful event it is.

Der Untergang translates as The Downfall or The Decline. The movie exposes Hitler's and its inner group's last days in Berlin, as the Soviet takeover became unavoidable. It is based off reports from Hitler's secretary, so should be somewhat accurate. You even get a short interview clip with her remembering that period of her life, by the end of the movie, which, to me, reinforced how recent WW2 is.

You get the idea that Hitler is mad or maddening, which was, to me, unexpected. From what the press is writing, I went to the theater expecting a human view of the dictator. It is not. Hitler is clearly a madman.

I was not disappointed, however. In that period, it is natural he was in an extreme, and losing his edge. On the contrary, I came out wishing there was another movie telling the story of his rise to power from such a intimate angle.

I'm still surprised how a modern democracy was able to give its power to a madman. Hitler must have had a perfect public image back then, and studying how democracy failed with him is a most interesting topic, certainily interesting for a movie.

Don't ... Watch ... Rottweiler. Amazing how bad a movie can get. Rottweiler is the story of a robotic dog chasing Dante. Dante is an American who is caught in a balsa, illegally immigrating into Spain (huh?), who then  escapes the detention camp. The movie hints at a game being played -- oh, no, not the game theme again -- as the reason for an American trying to illegally enter Spain, which then develops into a sadistic game between an immigration cop and Dante.

The idea is good enough for a gore movie, if well executed. But it was not. Picture this: Most actors are Spanish, but the movie is spoken in English ... with no subtitles. Gibberish. The only character who spoke a decent English, Dante, seemed so artificial that you can't really 'connect' and understand the characters feelings. General acting is as good as in Portuguese soap operas.

And I thought no movie could be worse than Elektra... It's true: "I can't manage a whole Fantasporto without one of these movies.".

Même si je risque de renforcer mon renom come un vendu, qui n'écrit en Portugais, je vais essaier d'écrire cette critique en Français. J'ai vu cette pélicule si prés de l'écran que j'ait évité de lire les sous-titres. Alors, ça m'a fait reactiver les neuronnes long dormants qui savent la langue d'Asterix. Mon Français, n'est plus ce qu'il était une fois.  S'il vous plaît, avertissez moi  des erreurs que j'ai certainment écrit.

Merveilleux. C'est a cause des flics come ce lui lá, q'on va ao cine. Malhereusement, qualité comme la de "Un long dimanche de fiançailles" n'est pas trés fréquente. L'histoire est complexe, trés complexe, avec beaucoup de personages profondes et importantes pour le développement du flic. La photographie est sublime, créant une atmosphère fantastique, qui change en accord avec les emotions du film. Les acteurs sont de premiére qualité, et transmettent les emotions parfaitement au spectateur, en un film qui vive des émotions. Cinque étoilles pour Audrey Tautou, parfaite dans son rôle.

Si vous n'avez pas peur des histoires d'amour et des films ammoureux, perdez pas ce grand film.

Pretty fun to watch. Even if  the story doesn't have any special twists,  all plot elements are there. It's just enough to spark interest in following the execution of the heist that will save the crew.

The greates gap in the script is that, unlike in Ocean's Eleven, there is no way you can predict how the heist is performed. During the first pass, things happen without being shown, spoiling one of the points I like in Ocean's Eleven. This iteration doesn't have that Agatha Christie can-you-spot-it challenge.

So, if the plot is average, not great, how can it be fun to watch? The little details... The movie is jam-packed with great actors, and it works. It's not very usual, but it works. There are lots of small jokes between them, lots of acting fun showing on screen. It's a bit of an acting jam-session.

Well, not really a frenzy. Just two movies on two consecutive nights. Nothing like a Fantas prize sunday.

Melinda and Melinda

Woody Allen's latest, Melinda and Melinda is an exercise on perspectives. The excuse is a caffe philosophy session about wether life is a comedy or a tragedy. The story revolves around Melinda, an uninvited guest, old friend of a couple, dropping on their home right in the middle of a business dinner.

The story does have enough juice to be explored either as a tragedy or as a comedy. The comedy version is really great, because this is a Woody Allen movie. Hobie in particular is a fantastic Woody Allen impersonator. A larger and not so freaky-looking Woody Allen, but allthemore hilarious to watch. The tragedy version is ok-ish and adds the inteligent touch to the movie.

Don't lose this one if you like Woody Allen movies.

Finding Neverland

A true  gem of a movie. This is the fictional (true-life based, though) story of Sir James Matthew Barrie, author of "Peter Pan", during "Peter Pan" creation. James Barrie is portrayed as a creative genius, resisted by the society of his time. Add to the mix a beatiful widow with four kids traumatized by the death of their father, and all the ingredients for a romantic story are there.

For me, what really makes the movie notable is the acting performance of the four kids. Fred Highmore (Peter Davies), in particular, is an excellent actor. One can only imagine what he can become if he invests correctly in his career.

Don't lose this one.