Gattaca (1997)

Review Gattaca

In the world of Gattaca who you are is defined by your genes. Designer babies whose DNA has been altered have become a reality and genetic imperfections have been removed as much as possible. Still there are some parents who decide that they won’t let science alter their child and have nature take its course. Unfortunately in the society of Gattaca that immediately means a disadvantage. After they have been born a test is done to see how old a child will be and which diseases it will have in its life. Although it is forbidden by law to deny someone a job based on their genes this type of discrimination has become commonplace. A hair, some saliva or a glass someone touched are all that is needed to extract DNA and check the records of an applicant. It means that “natural babies” don’t get hired for the best jobs.

Vincent Freeman (Ethan Hawke) has experienced this and can only work as a janitor at Gattaca. The company is not unlike the NASA, but here thousand of people are at work to make sure their can be a launch each day. Vincent has been dreaming of going into space since he was a child and he is prepared to do anything to get there. To get the job he really wants he has to make some big changes in his life in order to make that a reality. Continue reading

Getaway (2013)

Review Getaway

On paper some movies sound better than the final product. Getaway is a great example of that. When brainstorming about the movie the team behind it had some great ideas. They must have thought about how much audiences love car chases and that a whole movie almost completely consisting of them is a lot better than only having a couple. Then they remembered how cool the car was that Nicolas Cage used in Gone in Sixty Seconds, so they decided that would be the ride to star in this movie.

Since you can’t have a movie about a car being chased some people and an actual story is also needed, so they looked in the big book of Hollywood cliches and found some amazing ideas there. Just like in Taken someone is being kidnapped (in this case a wife) and a former racedriver (because they know how to drive cars really fast) should be the husband doing everything to save her. Of course this can not be all because only worrying about his wife is not enough. There also needs to be some drama in the car, so adding a teenager in the car is a great idea since teenagers can be dramatic about anything. String it all together and that’s the concept of your movie done. Continue reading

Before Midnight (2013)

Review of Before Midnight

The “Before…” trilogy to me is like a box that is opened every 9 years. You look into it and just for about a short while you are allowed to look into the lives of two people, Jesse and Celine. The first time you met them (Before Sunrise) they did too and when the box closed you thought about what might have happened afterwards. 9 years it opened again (Before Sunset) and you found out what ended up happening, where both of them were in their lives. Also at the end of that movie you start wondering if Jesse went to the airport, if the two kept in contact. Now that the third movie has been released you finally get to see the answers to those questions and know if the theories you might have thought up are right. Continue reading

Before Sunset (2004)

Before Sunset review in anticipation of Before Midnight

Today Before Midnight is released in the Netherlands and I’m extremely excited to see it (my ticket is already booked), so I thought it was a good moment to revisit its predecessor, just to remind myself what had happened in the previous film (although my memory was quite clear on it). Although i can’t say yet that the “Before trilogy” is possibly one of the strongest trilogies out there, I have the feeling that based on the quality of the previous two movies it is a safe statement. But first my thoughts on the second movie, set in Paris, Before Sunset. Continue reading

The Many Faces of… Ethan Hawke

Ethan Hawke was born on November 6, 1970 in Austin, Texas. He moved a lot together with his mother and ended up in New York. He attended several schools and aspired to be a writer when he was in high school. He also started acting and did his first play when he was 13. He decided to follow acting classes and eventually studied actign at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburg.

He dropped out when he got a role in 1989 in Dead Poets Society. His first movie was Explorers in 1985 (which also starred River Phoenix). Dead Poets Society however meant his breakthrough. He had the leading role in White Fang and also acted in A Midnight Clear and Alive. He has since starred in many films including Reality Bites, Before Sunrise, Gattaca, Waking Life, Training Day, Before Sunset and Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead. Continue reading