Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Two movies...

Spend some of my time watching movies during the holidays. More specifically:

Mission Impossible III
This one was on TV, and I really thought I've seen all of the MI movies. But it seems I missed this one. It's not a bad watch, but I do feel that the MI concept is starting to wear a bit thin. Yeah, it's Tom Cruise, some gadgets, a "rubber face" disguise, an impossible break-in, etc, etc. John Woo managed to put his signature on MI2, but I do not feel the this is case with the third installment. In short, an OK action flick, but nothing new here.




Max Manus
Went to see this Norwegian movie about WW2 legend Max Manus and his resitance against the German occupation. Starring Aksel Hennie and Nicolai Cleve Broch in the leading roles, I was afraid that it would seem odd, as both these actors are a bit over-exposed in the Norwegian film industry. But they were actually pretty good, maybe due to the fact that their charaters looked different then the what these actors usually portraits (Broch's blond hair and the longer-then usual hair on Hennie). It's also fun to see movies from cities where I've lived (like the Veum flicks from Bergen), and especially this one where they've made Oslo look 65 years older. And it is also based on a true story, with only minor artistic short-cuts and of course the story is told from the Norwegian side, but I still found it credible (no expert on WW2, though). The two hours went by pretty fast, so this movie is highly recommended. One of the better Norwegian flicks for a couple of years.

2 comments:

Wilhelm said...

Did you notice the bicycle scene and the "shooting a batallion of armed Germans while standing next to their truck" scene as being somewhat Norris-esque in their portrayal of Manus as invincible, Anders?

Anders said...

Well, the this was WW2, way before Chuck N., so if anything, it's Chuck Norris that's a bit Manus-esque... :-D

Serious, I don't know if he really blasted a truck full of Germans or not, but yeah, the whole sequence with the truck and chase was a bit "Norrisesque". But not so much that it bothered me. Some artistic freedom is allowed. I mean, if the movie aimed at being as realistic as possible, we woule see a lot more of Manus just waiting around or skiing to Sweeden...