Review: Let the right one in

I tend to catch any horror type movie that comes my way, and it is rare to say that one was really different and special. This movie was. It shatters its genre and goes its own way creating a very individual and moving film.
This Swedish produced film was based off a novel sharing its name. The acting in it is extremely good especially considering that the stars of this film are under the age of 15. It is beautifully shot and scored, and has intensity that feels very much like the other movies within its genre. There are so many elements to this movie and yet they pull it off with such fluid movement it is great to watch.
(SPOILER WARNING) The plot is the story of a young boy who is picked on at school, and basically isolated from the people his age. He is living very solitary when one day he meets a girl about his age. They then begin their awkward teenage love story, but there are more complexities than he originally would have thought. He spends time with the girl and after a while he finally determines the girl he has become so close with isn't quite normal. He discovers that she is in fact hundreds of years old, but because she was 12 when she was affected she stayed that age.
That is only the surface of this movie. Throughout it you witness numerous intense moments as Eli (the girl) attempts to satisfy her cravings, but at the same time you witness tender but basically non sexual moments between the two young stars. It is a touching movie throughout despite what would seem like gruesome content.
One of the main things I truly enjoyed about this movie was its ability to leave some mystery in this thriller. It doesn't lay out in typical brainless fashion exactly whats happening all the time. Eli's past is essentially unexplored allowing the viewer to just watch and learn as they go. There also isn't a cleanly wrapped up ending. Ambiguous endings might seem like commonplace at times, but this one does it very smoothly.
Overall this is a great movie. The score is great. The script is great and so are the actors. If you are at all interested in horror this is definitely a good one within its category.
z

The Goods

I havent really had any comedies up yet, but most of them by this group are really funny. The Goods is produced by Will Ferrel and Adam Mckay who have put out quite a few really funny movies such as Step Brothers and Anchorman. This one looks a little slow from the trailer, but with this cast and crew I have hope for it. It is about expert salesman Don Ready (played by Jeremy Piven) who helps people sell even the most outrageous things.

500 Days of Summer

After seeing the mindless romantic comedies of the last few years, I began to ignore them completely. This one I nearly missed, but it has tremendous promise from what I have read about it. It is a romantic comedy staring Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt and has captured quite a bit of attention. The movie is a story of a couple and their journey through their relationship with a different spin. A lot of the movie is done in flashbacks, and the characters from what I have read are extremely normal and easy to root for. The reviews I have read also say that the movie has a great soundtrack and an original story that keeps people excited throughout its duration. It looks to be a great summer movie.

Shutter Island

With Scorsese being so famous for his mob movies which undoubtedly are some of the best in their genre, any time he comes out with something new I'm immediately interested. His newest project is a thriller looking more like a slasher movie than his typical script. It has a great cast with Ben Kingsley, Mark Ruffalo, and Leonardo DiCaprio. The combination of Scorsese with this group of highly skilled actors makes the movie definitely something to check out. Hope you enjoy.

The Road

First of all Viggo Mortensen is truly a joy to watch in his past films. He is extremely good and has faced one of the most diverse groups of characters in his acting career. That being said I pretty much see anything he comes out with now. This movie is written by the person who wrote the story for the Oscar winning No Country for Old Men, and it looks equally as interesting. This movie is what appears to be post apocalyptic with small bands of hostile enemies to escape throughout it. It looks as if there arent a lot of people left and he must deal with numerous hardships in the life he currently lives.

The Book of Eli

With the extreme popularity of Fallout 3 and other similar post apocalyptic games this movie is sure to attract a following. Then once you add in the acting potential that comes with Denzel Washington there is great promise for this film. It looks intense and the style looks very cool.

Ninja Assassin

Who doesn't love a good ninja movie? This one looks pretty stylized and action driven and to me looks like a good one to check out.

Inglorious Basterds

Nothing really needs to be said about this movie except it is Quentin Tarantino's remake of a group of WW2 men who are unfit for about anything except killing. Throw in Brad Pitt in the lead and its looking good for a quality movie.

District 9

I feel like there are a couple movies coming out that some people aren't really aware of. The first one is called District 9. It is produced by Peter Jackson so there is no telling what caliber of film this will be. It looks really intriguing and the visual design of the film looks beautiful. It is about an alien prison camp basically. They are kept in seclusion from the rest of the humans, but once humans push them to far then it becomes violent. This movie looks well thought out well acted and designed in a really interesting way. I love movies out of New Zealand for the most part as well.

Ps - If you are interested in political parallels that could affect the movie. I have heard some speculation on whether this is about Apartheid.

Dead Snow

As I was searching Youtube the other day I discovered something that immediately caught my eye. I enjoy zombie movies, new, old, corny it doesnt matter to me. I found a movie called Dead Snow and it lived up to all of my expectations and I ended up really enjoying it.

This movie essentially is the unsuspecting college students who go into the mountains in Norway and stay in a desolate area in a cabin with no one around. Feeling suspicious yet? They are only in the cabin for a short time before things begin to turn for the worst. The remainder of the film is trying to survive wave after wave of Nazi zombie hordes (of course its the Nazi zombies).

The movie starts off by paying respects to its heritage making references to both the Evil Dead trilogy (directed by Sam Raimi of the Spiderman trilogy) as well as Braindead (directed by Peter Jackson of the Lord of the Rings trilogy). Once you add some humor, some carnage, some European metal and hardcore music, and some battling this movie becomes as good as I expected.

I hope you all enjoy it

Zee

Hi, my name is Zach and I'm a bit of a movie fan. I hope that with this blog I can share with you some great movies I have seen or hope to see soon. All comments are great.