Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale

This movie is one reason why I am beginning to like foreign films more than Americans films. Foreign films seems to always offer something new and different and they seem to be more original then American films. This film is a prime example of that. Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale is a Christmas horror tale that has children as the main leads and Santa as a weird monster. Not only is it one of the most original films I have seen in a while, it is very creepy and has a very cool twisted ending. I think it works real well in a weird way for a  Christmas story.

This tale is about two kids at Christmas time who hear about weird stuff that is happening at a mountain area near were they live. Things get  bizarre when children and objects start to disappear. Along with parents and some of the children that are still around, they all team up to figure out just what is going on around the mountain.

One thing that works in this film is the main characters. It can be risky putting children in the lead in a horror film and then have them be able to do much but here it is something different and interesting and I liked the idea. They all do well with their acting being very realistic. This is the good example of how to work with young kids in the lead.

Another cool and original thing about the film is how much Christmas is used as a theme. It is not used  through greeting cards, snow or like Gremlins where Christmas is just a background product. Here, the film wouldn't be the same without the Christmas theme which supports the entire movie.

The ending is also very interesting. It is an ending that really wraps up the film well. This movie does have it's flaws. The flaws range from bad CGI to adults letting their kids do whatever they want by letting them hang from a helicopter and letting them get into life-threatening situations. After an hour and half, it the film seemed to fall apart a little but the ending is what makes this film so good. The ending is weird and very strange but in a good way. It is a really cool way to end this the film.

Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale is really neat foreign film that has a lot of elements that you would probably never see in a domestic film. It also is an example of how strange a horror film can be. It can also put you in the Christmas spirit even in the summer time which is when I watched it. Overall it is nice foreign film that is great in so many ways.

4/5

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Men in Black 3

The Men in Black series is one that I grew up with. It is a series that I watched numerous time as kid and usually loved it even though the second one wasn't very good. I was pretty excited for Part 3. Going into to it, I thought that maybe it was just a money grab with a useless idea but I had still hope for it due to the cast and the interesting time travel idea. After watching it, I was pretty much was right on the money with this. The movie is pretty useless to the series and a way to cash in but it does has some good moments and is decent all the way around. I would call it an "ok" movie that hopefully will be the last one in the series.

To back up, Men in Black 3 is a confusing story of an escaped prisoner named Boris who wants to go back in time and kill Agent K due to something that happened in the past. Agent J must go back in time to stop Boris and also meet the old Agent K. It is very hard to follow this and I wished it was simpler and different but it is what it is.

What helps the film the most is the acting. Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones are back and good as usual but what is good here is the new supporting cast. Josh Brolin does a pretty good job as young Agent K, Emma Thompson does well and even Jemaine Clement puts together a wired but fun performance as Boris. Because of them, the film is somewhat interesting and this gets the film going in the right direction. The ending is also pretty interesting. It is an ending that I hated in one way and also kind of enjoyed. It is an ending that is short and could have been developed more but it does offers closure to something in a nice touching way.

Looking back at this series, all the other movies had some nice action. With Men in Black 3, there is some action but there are too many character set-up moments and not enough action. Instead of action, we have have to deal with the plot which is not that great. The plot does have some interesting elements including some very cool 1960's nostalgia scenes, an interesting ending and a couple of funny scenes but for the most part it is just not very interesting. There are also some bad characters which add nothing to the movie or the series. The best thing about the plot is that there are some new weapons and some transporting of objects but all of this is really in just one scene and doesn't add enough to the plot.

In the end, I don't believe that this movie adds much to the Men in Black series. It lacks action and the plot could have a lot been better but on the other hand it does have some new actors, a couple of cool 1960's scene and a nice ending. Men in Black 3 is not great and there is not much here it does anchor the first two films and is kind of interesting but I think it is time for an end to this series.

3/5

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The Avengers

The Avengers is one those films that I have been waiting to see for years. I was familiar with the comic book for years and even when I was little, I always thought that an Avengers film could be pretty special. After seeing "Thor" and "Captain America" last summer, this made me even more excited for this movie. After finally getting around to seeing it, I can say that this movie did not disappoint me at all. It offers action, fun, comedy and it might turn out to be one of the best films of the year.

The film is about an object called Tesseract which is taken over by Loki who is planning to destroy the world with it. In response, Nick Fury gets the Avengers together with the Hulk, Captain America, Thor, Black Widow, Iron Man and Hawkeye.

I wondered how they were going to fit all the characters in the movie and give them enough time. It is an issue that could be a problem and maybe even ruin the film but I think it is handled pretty well. All the characters work well with each other and all have the about the right amount of time and because of this, it makes you root for all of them every step of the way. The character development works well with the comedy and action and it all works great. It mixes all into one enjoyable piece.

Going back to the action scenes, they are some of best I have ever seen. They are visually outstanding. Again the characters are set up very nicely and in detail. For the most part, I could not take my eyes off of the screen and in most movies that I watch, I do get a little bored sometimes. Not here. The story and plot are very good and the acting is good all the way around especially Mark Ruffalo as the Hulk.

I think the only flaw of this film is the final action scene and battle and that the film does not show any casualties even though their is a massive amount of physical destruction in Manhattan. I know that it is not that big deal of a deal but you do see people running around the streets during the battle but there are no casualties.

The Avengers is a film that people will remember for years and probably decades.It is a film that has enough mix of fun, comedy, character development and amazing action to make one of the best superhero movies of all time. Even if you are not a superhero fan, I think you would still like it. It is really fun.

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The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

The first time I heard of the The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was when the American remake came out last year. I must say that I was not interested in the American remake due to the bad trailer for it and I knew very little about the Swedish version. Well I finally decided to watch the original and I was amazed by it.

The film is a crime drama about a journalist named Mikael Blomkvist (Micheal Nyqvist) who gets sent to prison due to being set up by a billionaire named Hans-Erik Wennerstrom. Before he is sent away, he is asked by a famous family to search for women named Harriet who disappeared in the 1960's. The search turns into more then it was going to be with twists all around and a very cool computer hacker named Lisbeth (Noomi Rapace) who comes in to help.

The best thing about the film is the originality of the film. The plot is really interesting in many ways and it makes you think in all sorts of ways. Adding to it, the characters are all pretty cool. Noomi Rapace as Libson is great all around and adding Micheal Nyqvist as Mikael, makes a good team. Both of them do some very good things in this film. Going more in depth with these leads, they are flawless characters who are also interesting and they have good chemistry together. The characters move the film in the right direction and make the movie worthwhile and interesting. The film also has an ending like "The Silence of the Lambs" that does more then it needs to do but that is ok because everything else is great. It is an ending that leaves everything on a good note and makes you think more about the film and also makes you want even more of the film. Once again, I thought the material was flawless and that this was a great film.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is one series that is going to be hard to look at because this original was so great. Sure, it has some questionable scenes that are not very realistic but for the most part it is great in so many ways due to great characters, great plot, the attention to detail and a flawless ending. No matter how the remakes is, the original is will be one of my favorite foreign films of all-time.

See it.

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Chronicle

4/5

Chronicle is one of those films that I have been waiting to see since the trailer rolled around late last year. It seemed like something new and looked like a fun film. It also is a "found footage" film which is one of my favorite genres which made me even more excited.

Chronicle really impressed me. It is fun, has some really good characters and feels like an old 70's or 80's film and is something you never see now a days.

The film is about a group of teenagers who all got superpowers after going underground through a tunnel and finding a big ball of something filled with color and ice. I really do think this is one of the most interesting ideas I have seen in a film in a while. I think it really works well.

The one thing I was worried about was how the found footage was going to work here. Found footage only works for certain types of films. Here I don't think it had to be found footage for it to work but overall I thinks it works pretty well. The camera used for the found footage here is ridiculously big and no way would it be allowed at a high school like they it but that is just a minor flaw. By adding found footage, it makes the film feel more realistic and more real.

Another thing I was skeptical about was the superpowers of the teenagers and how that would work. From the trailers, not much is shown but in the end I was quite impressed how it was used. It is quite fun, original and actually can be pretty funny in some places. One of the main reasons why it works is because the teenagers in the film they are portrayed as kind of superheroes and at the same time they are not. They are typical teenagers who just have these powers and I really like the idea that they are superheroes even though they are just regular high school kids doing regular kid things. Another way it works is because the powers are quite original and something different.

The last reason why this film works is the actors and the characters. As a teenager and knowing of course a lot of things about them, I think the film really captures teenagers really well. The characters feel very realistic and it is very well acted. The characters really do feel as outcast and popular as they are portrayed.

The ending is also very effective. It keeps your head spinning and I think it sets itself up for an interesting sequel.

I can see how some could criticize some of the bad and cheesy special effects. There are also some unrealistic parts but that is just a minor criticism. In the end, Chronicle is a fun sc-fi film that is original and feels kind of vintage in a way. It is definitely a film you should see just to see something different and it is no doubt going to be visited by me in the near future.

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I Saw the Devil

I would say that over the past year, I really have goten into foreign horror films. I still enjoy American horror films but with so many bad ones coming out,I thought I would take a look at a foreign film. I Saw the Devil is a South Korean film. It is very raw and original with some very good gore. It is no doubt one of my favorite horror films of the past year.

The film is about a serial killer who kills a woman in her car. The woman's husband is shocked and will stop at nothing to find the killer.

What I enjoyed most about this movie are the characters and the acting. The killer in this film is creepy and very well put together and it is a character that you don't see much from Hollywood. The killer is creepy in how he acts but also in his dialogue. Another great character is the woman's husband. He takes his revenge in a easy going way but at the same time he's ready to kill at anytime.

What makes some foreign horror films so good is the gore and the kill scenes. The kill scones are some of the best I've seen in a while and really hardcore. You could tell that the director had no intentions of making a PG-13 movie. The kill scenes are very hardcore with heads falling about and I see that this film was restricted in South Korea until certain cuts were made to take out some graphic parts.

The ending is also something you would not see in an American film. It really makes you think about the world and what you could have done right and wrong and the ending is one that will always remember.

The film does have some problems. One problem is that there are several stupid and silly moments. The media in this film does not seem realistic. There will be some great scenes and then all of a sudden, you will see a silly scene. It also not very realistic how the serial killer is found so quickly.

All in all, I Saw the Devil is quite good and make you think and I think it is better than most American-made horror films.

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Duplex

2/5

Duplex is one of those films that has everything going for it. It has a great cast, an interesting story and a great director but sadly the film has mountains of bad jokes and the plot is not believable and it falls flat when it shouldn't.

Duplex is about a new couple (Drew Barrymore and Ben Stiller) who move into a duplex with a old woman named Mrs. Connelly (Eilenn Essell)who lives upstairs. The old woman is more than she appears though and causes a lot of trouble which makes people crazy.

The film has lot of bad jokes which is unusual from a film directed by Danny Devito, who who usually puts out quality movies. The film does get old fast and there are many duplicate and unfunny gags.

Another problem with this film as it is simply not believable. Ben Stiller's character gets fined for giving CPR and also he and his wife almost sell the house to raise money to stop the old woman. The film is just not believable and it makes the the film less fun.

The worst thing about the film is that is does have a nice ending and the whole cast does do a nice job. I think if it was more believable and there were some better jokes on top of the good ending, the film would have been a lot better. Instead, it is just a dumb comedy that has been forgotten for a reason and one I will soon forget.

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