I. Kon-Tiki (2012) Kon-Tiki is an Academy Award nominated adventure film which tells the true story of Thor Heyerdahl (Pal Hagen), a Norwegian adventurer, who sailed around 5000 miles from Peru to Polynesia on a wood raft in 1947 to prove his point that it was possible for pre-Columbian tribes to populate Polynesia from the…
Tag: Adventure
“The Lost City of Z” Review
The Lost City of Z [2016] – ★★★ “There is very little doubt that the forests cover traces of a lost civilisation of a most unsuspected and surprising character” (from a letter of Fawcett to the Royal Geographical Society, December 1921, Grann (2009) at 55). Based on a great book by David Grann titled The…
“Coco” Review: Engrossing, Mesmerising & Heart-felt
Coco [2017] – ★★★★★ A fun, twisty tribute to the Mexican folklore, showcasing touching love for music and one’s family. Coco is a delightful Pixar-produced Academy Awards nominee of 2018. Taking the Mexican folklore and tradition on board, it tells the story of Miguel, a boy living with his family of zapateros or shoemakers in…
“The Odyssey” Review
The Odyssey [2016] – ★★★ “No, no, no, you did not understand, no…I am not making animal documentaries. I am going to tell the story of men who are going to explore a new world” (Jacques Cousteau in The Odyssey). I grew up watching Jacques-Yves Cousteau’s TV documentaries, amazed at all the underwater world, unusual…
Corto Maltese: The Ballad of the Salt Sea (2002): Les “Jeux Interdits”
The Ballad of the Salt Sea [2002] – ★★★ “He’s dreaming with his eyes open, and those that dream with their eyes open are dangerous, for they do not know when their dreams come to an end” (Hugo Pratt, taking inspiration from the famous quote by T.E. Lawrence). “When I want to relax, I read…
The Swashathon (the Swashbuckler Blogathon): The Man in the Iron Mask (1998)
Movies Silently is hosting the Swashathon or the Swashbuckler Blogathon, and I could not pass up this opportunity to review Randall Wallace’s The Man In the Iron Mask (1998). As many of you would know, today is also Bastille Day or la Fête Nationale in France, which provides for another excuse to delve into a film…
“Silence” Review: From Book Comparison to Character Study
Silence [2016] – ★★★★1/2 “This is not the sort of film you “like” or “don’t like”. It’s a film that you experience – and then live with” (Matt Zoller Seitz). “…wandering here over the desolate mountains – what an absurd situation!…I knew well, of course, that the greatest sin against God was despair; but the silence…
Film vs. Book: Shyamalan’s “The Village” & Haddix’s “Running Out of Time”
“The Village” is a 2004 film directed by M. Night Shyamalan (“The Sixth Sense” (1999) and starring Joaquin Phoenix, Adrien Brody, Sigourney Weaver, William Hurt and Bryce Dallas Howard. “Running Out of Time” is a popular 1996 book by Margaret Peterson Haddix for young adults about a girl (Jessie) in a 19th century village who is sent on a mission to town to look for medicine to cure a diphtheria epidemic in her village. Even though the plots of both “The Village” and “Running Out of Time” look different, there are considerable similarities between the two. The ways in which the book and the film are similar speak volumes when one considers the most important things of both: “Running Out of Time”’s narrative and “The Village”’s final plot twist.
“Chinese Puzzle” Review
Chinese Puzzle (Casse-tête chinois) [2013] – ★★★★ Chinese Puzzle is the final film in Cédric Klapisch’s travel trilogy (other films are L’Auberge Espagnole (2001) and Russian Dolls (2004)). The film presents Xavier, a French writer (Romain Duris (Populaire (2012)), who leads a confused and stressful life in Paris. When his girlfriend of 10 years, Wendy (Kelly…
“Skyfall” Review
Skyfall [2012] – ★★★★1/2 For those who are unfamiliar with Sam Mendes’s work and its quality, Skyfall may appear like another action flick of some dubious quality, just another James Bond film full of the same old, recycled “tricks”. However, this is the film of Sam Mendes, which means that this first impression would be false. Skyfall…
Spotlight on Film 