Dancer in the Dark

This is a 2000 musical drama directed by Lars von Trier and starring singer Björk as Selma and Catherine Deneuve as "Cvalda". It is set in the 60's and talks about a woman with a hereditary eye disease which will make her go blind. Her 10-year-old son also has the disease and will suffer the same fate of going blind unless he can get an operation to save his sight. Selma and her son moved to the United States from Czechoslovakia where this operation is possible.

In order to get the money together for her son's eye operation, Selma works, rather clumsily, at a factory. There, she daydreams about musical scenes that begin with sounds of the factory machines. She does this in other places, as well. After Selma breaks a machine, she is let go from the job.

Selma's landlords, Bill and Linda, have financial difficulties. Bill decides to steal the money Selma had been saving up. Selma discovers this and goes to get the money back. In an extremely gut-wrenching scene, Bill asks Selma to take his life. This is the only way for her to get her money back. It can be very uneasy to watch Selma kill Bill.

I do not want to give everything away, but I can say that unfortunately, this movie does not have a happy ending, apart from some hope about Selma's son's sight.

This is one of the most captivating movies I have ever watched. It has a definite depressing quality, but you cannot help but feel for Selma. The musical sequences are absolutely fantastic. Björk herself wrote the music of the soundtrack, but not the lyrics.

Love it or hate it, this movie will be extremely hard to forget.

Mattias

Se7en

Despite earlier problems with Youtube maintenance video is now up.

My Review of Se7en.

-Dane

Lolita (1997 version)

This is a novel-based drama directed by Adrian Lyne and starring Jeremy Irons and Dominique Swain.

The movie tells the story of a man who becomes obsessed with a teenage girl who he sees in a house in which he rents a room. He marries the girl's mother so he can see the girl, who he nicknames Lolita. The lady dies and the girl blames the man for her death ('murder me like you murdered my mother!'), because she died shortly after she found out about the guy's attraction to the girl.

The two develop a relationship, but does it last?

I really enjoyed the way this movie was shot. Also, there is quite a lot of intensity and romance in it, which made it captivating.

Mattias

LEON

Léon (also known as The Professional and Léon: The Professional) is a French English -language 1994 action film written and directed by French director Luc Besson. It stars Jean Reno, Gary Oldman, and a young Natalie Portman in her feature film debut.

"Professional assassin Leon reluctantly takes care of 12-year-old Mathilda, a neighbor whose parents are killed, and teaches her his trade."

I love this movie. I had seen it a while back and had forgot about it and happened to see it again on TV recently.

Reno is a brilliant actor and plays the role perfectly. I had fogotten Portman was in this too. This movie launched her career, and rightfully so. For such a young age she pulls off an amazing, believable performance.

Adding to the powerful perfomance is the always good Gary Oldman.

That is the strength of this movie. On paper the plot seems a bit far fetched but it's the actors who make this movie great. I would credit the director for a lot of that and visually everything flows very well.

As a rental choice this is great for anybody who enjoys good acting. You won't be bored and you'll see a great movie.

By Gerry.

The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button

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- It took me 3 nights to watch this film -

so yeah, it's very long...

BUT also very good.

- Although it felt like I was watching 3 films in 1 film I must say the makers did a great job in
portaying the life of a man that ages backwards.

The film flashes back and forth from an old lady in a hospital in New Orleans, during the tragic
time of hurricane Katrina, to the life of Benjamin Button.
The link being that the old lady is the woman Benjamin Button spent a great part of his life in
love with. She (Daisy) is spending her last days in hospital with her daughter by her side.
Determined to tell her story, Daisy gives her daughter Benjamin's diary which explains
everything.

The story in itself is quite fascinating. Something I've never seen done before, a man ageing
backwards. The make up for Benjamin's face is extraordinary and the acting by Brad Pitt (BB)
and Cate Blanchett (Daisy) can't be faulted. I would definitely recommend this film for anyone
who wants a good night in and has a lot of time!

Vinny

The Hole

This week I watched The Hole (2001)

Directed by Nick Hamm

Starring Keira Knightly (Frankie) and Thora Birch (Liz) - the little girl in Hocus Pocus all grown up! Desmond Harrington (Mike) and Laurence Fox (Geoff).

Another gorey horror / thriller which by now from previous reviews you know what my favorite film genre is! The film opens with the image of a bloodied girl staggering along a country lane.The lane is covered in bouquets of flowers and missing posters with some of the girls face on them.We quickly find out that she and three other teenagers have been missing for weeks. Liz is in a private English school with an infatuation with Mike the school jock from America. Liz tells her friend a geeky boy called Martin and the two come up with a plan so that Mike will notice Liz. There is an upcoming field trip that no one wants to go on including Mike , Frankie ( the cool girl) and Geoff Frankie's boyfriend who is also Mikes best friend. Martin proposes a plan to Liz that she and the other three stay in an underground bunker until the field trip is over. Stocked with booze , food and bedding Liz , Frankie , Geoff and Mike go in the bunker and Martin locks them in. The three days pass and there is no sign of Martin to let them out. Leaving you think that Martin is spying on them.

Until he is found by the Police and brought in for questioning.This is when the cracks begin to show in Liz's story as there is a twist to the whole plot we have seen so far. Turning it that Liz was also a 'Cool Girl' was best friend with Frankie but like the previous storey had a crush on Mike. With the crush so uncontrollable she locks them into the bunker as each teen dies one by one due to Liz's infatuation.

With superb acting from the four main characters especially Thora Birch which is hard to believe she all grown up since the last time I seen her as a little girl in Hocus Pocus. The film really makes you question the sanity of both main characters and with so many twists even your own! The horror stems from human emotion with each teenager apart from Liz meeting a very nasty bloodied end. The sound is fantastic and very atmospheric especially when one of the bodies in covered in swarming flies.
Watch it , Watch it , Watch it!!!!!!
Until next time Dawn:)

Cabin Fever

This week I have watched Cabin Fever (2002) which I shamefully admit for the 10th time.Its is yet another so bad but yet so good horror film. Directed by Eli Roth who also produced and wrote Cabin Fever.

Starring Jeff (Joey Kern) ,Marcy (Cerina Vincent) , Paul (Rider Strong) and Karen (Jordan Ladd).

Again five unsuspecting teens take of for a weekend in a cabin in the forest unbeknown to them that there is a rotting corpse in the water. Jeff and Marcy are lovers with Paul pining after Marcy it leaves their old friend Bert alone to shoot squirrels. On his shooting trip he meets a tramp who is covered in a rash and appears to have some thing like the Ebola virus instead of helping the tramp Bert shoots at him.Later in the night the tramp appears at the door asking for help and the teens set him on fire sending him into the water reservoir and to his death.

Creepy visitors materialize out of the woods. Another camper, Justin accompanied by a vicious dog he calls Dr. Mambo, offers them marijuana. The dog later returns to the group, who fend him off with gunshots. Then there is Winston , a leering young sheriff's deputy obsessed with partying.

The first teenager to fall ill is Karen, whom the others immediately quarantine by locking her in a shack. The disease eats its victims rapidly from inside out. Lesions are quickly followed by massive hemorrhaging. As one camper after another develops symptoms, the five friends panic and turn on each other.

TRUE horror fans, get this tasty,bloody bit and enjoy!You get gore,guts,a bad dog,a nasty flesh-eating bacteria,hysteria,and even.. pancakes! Don't drink the water people! Although it looks like most of the budget went on the blood it is a very entertaining and enjoyable 90 minutes .

And the good news is there is a part 2 out this summer!!!!!

Until next time

Dawn:)