The Chaser (2008)

An agent that has become a pimp, Women that disappear and a serial killer are the ingredients for The Chaser, a South Korean crime thriller. Joong-ho (Yun-seok Kim) runs an escort company and notices that a couple of the women he is using are not coming back. When he sends one of his girls, Mi-jin (Yeong-hie Seo), to a customer he finds out that he has sent her to the same customer the other girls went after they disappeared. He decides to track him down as he’s worried about Mi-jin. He managed to find him (a role excellently played by Jung-woo Ha), but there is no trace of the woman. When both of them are arrested it’s the start of an exciting search for the missing woman in a race against the clock. Continue reading

Mother (2009)

The original title of this Korean movie is Madeo, which can be translated into two meanings, both mother and murder are possible as the characters in the language are the same. Hye-ja Kim stars in this movie, in which her son Yoon Do-joon (Bin Won) is being suspected of a crime. As Yoon Do-joon has some mental issues, it’s hard for her to find out if he really has committed the crime. As a mother she’s willing to do anything to find out the truth and get her son out of jail. Continue reading

Ondine (2009)

Most of you will know the classic fairy tales. When you were a kids you heard the stories about Hansel and Gretel, little red riding hood and Snow White. These stories have been told for centuries, but despite their age they are still being told as they have some magical qualities and a deeper truth which will teach something to kids. The lessons learned are usually about the fear of something evil, which has to be defeated.
According to Wikipedia an ondine is a mythological water nymph and as it usually goes with people telling stories, they get changed and local elements are added to it. In the Irish version of the story the nymph is called a Selkies which you will see after a seal sheds of its skin to change into a human.

This movie has based its story on this fairy tale. Syracuse (Colin Farrell) is a fisherman who finds a woman in his net, Ondine (Alicja Bachleda). The woman is still alive and tells him that she wants no one to see her. Syracuse takes her to a deserted house where she’s able to stay. She joins him on some fishing trips and every time she sings a song he catches more fish than he ever does.
Syracuse is divorced and has a young daughter, Annie (Alison Barry), who’s in a wheelchair and regularly has to go to the hospital for dialysis. When she finally receives an electric wheelchair she gains a lot more freedom and go out on her own. She discovers the secret her father is keeping from her. Continue reading

Mr. Nobody (2009) – Movie of the year?

What are the consequences of the choices you make? That’s the big question that’s asked in Mr. Nobody. It’s 2092 and Nemo Nobody is the last mortal man on earth. The rest of humanity has found a possibility to live forever (it’s not made clear why Nemo is not using it). At age 118 he’s big news as everyone is waiting for his death. A journalist manages to get into his room and ask him to tell about the life he has lived. Nemo starts his story and it seems like he’s not telling about his life, but about several different lives. Continue reading

Mystery team (2009)

The Mystery Team has been solving mysteries around their neighborhood ever since they were little. They are only small mysteries, like who drove over a frog and things like that. The team consists of Jason (expert in disguises), Duncan (the boy genius) and Charlie (supposedly the strong one). The boys grow up but still take on new cases. When a little girl ask them to solve a big crime they can not turn her down. Continue reading

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009)

Terry Gilliam has already proved that he knows how to create believable worlds (for example Brazil or 12 Monkeys). In the Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus he proves this again. The story is about Dr. Parnassus who has made a bet with the devil and to do win it he’s travelling through Great Britain with a show. With an old-fashioned play he tries people to step into his imaginarium. When a person steps in he will be able to see all the things he is imagining. So dream worlds are created for that person Continue reading

Shutter Island (2010)

Shutter island is the next collaboration between Scorsese en DiCaprio, after previous films like the Aviator, the Departed and Gangs of New York.  I watched the movie in the cinema, but because of a game of squash (which I hadn’t played in months) I was so exhausted that I didn’t manage to stay awake the whole movie. I saw most of it, but dozed off a couple of times. Because of this  I can’t write my review the way I would like to as I have not seen it all in the state I should have seen it. It’s a shame, but sometimes the power of sleep if stronger than the will to watch a movie. Despite this I do want to write down my opinion of the movie.

DiCaprio plays a marshall who tries to solve a case on Shutter Island. It seems that not too many people are willing to cooperate. Despite me being so tired i already had an idea what the result would be of the investigation. The story didn’t  move along quickly, which actually wasn’t a bad thing. Nice to see that De Niro (with whom Scorsese has made many movies before). I would like to see the movie again to pay attention to all the clues. I expected more of this movie though, so I left the theatre slightly disappointed (and very tired).

Provisional score: 7 (whenever I watch it again I will see if I can change the score)