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Reviews
Thomas est amoureux (2000)
Interesting
Thomas est amoureux (Thomas in Love) is perhaps one of the most unique and interesting films that I've seen. Although the introduction featuring 'Sextoon' could easily make it dismissable as a film about sex, hang on for a bit and you will discover quite an intelligent film.
It is the not-too-distant future and Thomas is an agoraphobe (one with fear of open air) who has kept himself in his apartment for eight years, communicating only by videophone functionality on his computer. He is advised to try dating services by his psychologist and meets women via the service, one of which starts to change his life.
The entire movie is filmed from the perspective of Thomas' computer screen, this itself gives the film a very unique effect. What also makes this movie interesting is Thomas' development of character - not only is it done very well, it is interesting to see how love can affect an agoraphobe, how he affects other people via the videophone, and how other people affect him. The way the future is portrayed is also quite interesting.
There isn't much to criticise the movie on (one could argue that there was quite a bit of explicit content, but it does seem necessary). That said, it isn't really a masterpiece. But it's still an interesting and impressive film. Recommended.
L'auberge espagnole (2002)
A nice, refreshing dose of cinema
After thousands upon thousands of being fed trashy American movies, I went to see an advanced screening of L'auberge espagnole (or The Spanish Apartment as it's named here) yesterday - since Australia always gets movies last - and was vastly impressed by it. The movie is about a French student Xavier, who is advised to study economics in Spain. He leaves his loving girlfriend and heads to Barcelona. After a shaky start he moves into an apartment with people around his age from all over Europe where many adventures/misadventures happen that affect his life.
This movie is superbly made. The diverse story is brilliant. The humour is great too. It has lots of substance and character. And overall is extremely well done. One thing that really stood out was the characterisation; the way the different characters interacted and developed throughout the film was ingenious. I also liked the variations of the languages in the film and the way they were used, but this also raised a problem - that there was probably some French and Spanish that could be greater appreciated if I actually spoke the language, but was lost in translation in the subtitles. And there is a tiny flaw - that is some of the accents turned out wrong in the subtitles (the computers' fault i suppose), but it didn't matter. Otherwise the only other downside is that the movie is obviously not for everyone. I also foresee a problem if they dub it: half of the magic of this film lies in the language barrier.
Overall L'auberge espagnole was one of the best movies, I've ever seen. Keep in mind that I am usually fed all the American movies which whilst many good movies come out of there, they have been recently getting really trashy. I found this movie so different, it was a refreshing change, and it made a superb cinematic experience.
Cruel Intentions 2 (2000)
Melodramatic to a fault
I watched this movie on Australian TV the other night. The TV station was boasting on how it was never before seen here. After watching the movie it was easy to see why.
The movie was shocking. It was so melodramatic, the plot was pretty stupid and it was just really bad. It wasn't, however, the worst movie I had ever seen (I saw Charlie's Angels 2 the next night). The melodramatic elements of it all were sometimes amusing (even if it was for the wrong reasons) and some lines that were said were alright.
Overall, Cruel Intentions 2 is a poor film even if some good can be found in it