Thorne: Sleepyhead

British TV crime dramas focusing on the police side of things usually feature a damaged lead character. The damaged one in this is the Thorne in the title. 

Tom Thorne that is, who carries a secret from a previous case, shared with only one other person on the force. In the disappearance of several women in their 20's who later turn up dead or, in one essential case, alive but suffering from locked-in syndrome. Details from the previous case - a man that killed gay boys, then his three daughters - keep popping up and putting additional strain on Thorne and his working relationship with other law enforcement officers.

Obviously, as there is only one other person who knows what Tom did, he looks like he would be involved in the current case. To what extent he actually is a participant in what is happening is not clear (obviously, it will be clear in the end).

As many other British TV dramas, this is very very good. It appears that the best stuff the Brits produce they actually make for TV rather than the big screen. Seriously, they make shows in the quality of Luther, Broken Mirror, Sherlock on a regular basis, while their more popular movies are overly sentimental and drawn out. My opinion only, obviously.

The cast is fantastic, featuring David Morrisey as Tom Thorne (The Walking Dead's Governor), Aidan Gillen (Game of Throne's Littlefinger) and Eddie Marsan (one of Ray Donovan's brothers) as well as many excellent bit players.

There is another Thorne episode, called Scaredycat, soon to be watched by me.

8/10

The Book Thief

What a wonderful book The Book Thief is. I remember that when I read it (it's been a few years) I absolutely loved it. The idea of the story being told by Death himself (I always thought of the narrating Death as a he and apparently so did the people making the film) was different and interesting. All the bitterness and hope that the story held made it a very rewarding reading experience, however sad the book may have made me.

Of course, they would make it into a film. And even though this is a valiant effort, there are just so many little things that didn't sit well with me, which took away immensely from the experience.

My biggest problem, one that almost made me turn off the film several time during the first half hour or so, is that most of the dialogue is in English - with German accent. Why? Can filmmakers please make up their minds. If you want to be realistic, you will have to have German speaking actors and subtitle the film. Or, if you want to tell the thing in English than fucking do so. Nobody needs to hear a German accents (and at times a bad imitation of one) to know that the people portrayed in the film are supposed to be Germans. I hated that!

And if you find a girl that can play the lead role and sort of master the accent (just imagine, they got an actual German boy to play a German boy!) why don't you give her anything to do but look at everything and everyone like a deer in headlights. She can do wide eyed. Bravo! Beyond that, we have no idea whether or not this girl can act.

All of this made me enjoy the movie far less than I should have, because it was a constant source of annoyance that kept me from actually getting into it.

Read the book instead.

3/10

Natural Selection

A devout Christian woman, Linda, lives in a sexless marriage with her husband Abe. It is his believe that sex is only for reproductive purposes and Linda is barren because of an abortion she had at 16. The father of that child would have been Abe.

While Linda practices abstinence (not necessarily voluntarily), her husband secretly goes off to donate sperm on a regular basis - and has been doing so for the entirety of their marriage. The reason she finds out is when Abe has a heart attack? aneurysm? while 'donating'. In a moment of consciousness, he mumbles something to Linda that she interprets as his wish to see his illegitimate son Raymond.

Linda takes off to Florida to find him and believes that she does. In fact, she picks up a recently escaped small time crook, who is laying low at Raymond's house and when the cops come to call he decides to go with Linda to meet his 'biological father'. He does, of course, try to take off at the first opportunity. However, this fake Raymond is somewhat stupid and passes out in some road house bathroom while someone else takes off with Linda's car.

Linda, all forgiveness, decides to continue on their journey. The start talking and telling each other intimate secrets and, yes, fall for each other. This leads to sex, during which the local pastor bursts in, trying to save Linda from what he perceives is an assault. And Raymond is off again.

In the meantime, Abe has somewhat recovered and the couple returns to their uneventful life until it turns out that Linda is not so barren after all. This leads to more complications.

Despite the somewhat disturbing looking poster, this has its sweet moments. I couldn't help myself but root for poor Linda.

6/10

Inside Llewyn Davis

I love most of this film.

The one thing that annoys me, though, is the Carry Mulligan character, Jean. Whenever she is on screen she is very angry. And I am not sure what the point of this angry character is and why she does not seem to have any redeeming features other than being pretty (apparently everyone wants to fuck her, we are told frequently).

Other than that, things are pretty near perfect. Oscar Isaac is wonderful. He is also a great singer. I love folk music, especially the kind from the 1960's, so the music in the film is right down my alley. And the nod to Bob Dylan in the end is nice.

The story is that of the title character sort of drifting through life, here represented by showing 'a week in the life of'. He hops from couch to cough and does in fact not have a set address. Every now and again he will get a paying job, however ridiculous ('Please Mr. Kennedy'). On occasion he will take chances, like hitching a ride to Chicago which in the end comes to nothing.

There is a host of strange characters along the way, as are in most Coen Brothers films. My favorite is probably Roland Turner, played by John Goodman, who sits in the backseat during the drive to Chicago and shares life lessons Llewyn is not really interested in hearing.

Also, a cat.

And wonderful singing, especially by Oscar Isaac.

8/10

Far North

We do not know for sure, but there is a pretty good chance that Sean Bean dies from exposure. After all, he runs off naked into the bitter cold in the end.

Two nomad women live together in the Arctic somewhere, away from their people. One of them, Saiva, was said to bring misery to everyone close to her. That is why her mother went to live in the wild to bring up her daughter years ago. Not sure where the other woman, Anja, came from but whatever.

They live together and survive together and have been doing so for some time, apparently, when one day Saiva finds a stranger, Loki, in the ice and brings him back to their tent before he freezes to death. Two women and one Sean Bean in the same tent can only spell trouble. Of course, both of them develop a crush on him. Initially, it is not clear who he will end up with. It turns out to be Anja.

The three go through an indeterminate time together until one day Anja announces to Saiva that she will be living with Loki once the sea freezes over.

The next part gave me a very distinct WTF? feeling.

Saiva chokes Anja to death with Anja's own braid before scalping her and skinning her face to wear as a mask and wig.

Ew!

Then Loki comes back from testing the ice for the next day's crossing and he gets all hot and steamy with the woman he believes to be Anja. Then the skin on the face starts moving in odd ways and he realizes that Saiva is wearing an Anja mask. Literally.

It is then that he flees the scene. Naked. (Yummy but also Ew!)

There is something beautiful about the frozen landscape and bleakness. Also, the film is compelling. And gross. Yes, also gross.

7/10

Europa Report

One of the better sci-fi films I have seen in recent years.

Never mind that this is a 'found footage' film, which are usually pretty blah (no explanation needed, because the footage is so sketchy. Well, *shrug*, we tried.). Here, the images are clear most of the time because they are supposedly transmitted with high tech equipment and filmed with steady cams from within a spaceship.

An international group of astronauts if on a mission to collect probes from the fourth largest moon orbiting Jupiter, Europa. There is supposedly water under the icy surface and in space travel terminology water = life.

After having gone the furthest for any human ever, the crew eventually loses contact with mission control. While the head of the mission is shown in an interview detailing when they lost contact and what the findings and failings of the mission were, one crew member (Rosa) also talks straight to the camera in an interview setup, This initially made me think that maybe the crew - at least in part - survived. It is only later that it becomes clear that is is part of the footage that was sent back home after communication had been re-established. But it was already too late for them at that point.

The deaths of the crew members are rarely extremely violent, and if they are, there are no clear images of it. Some deaths are heartbreaking - in particular the first one, when James cannot return to the ship because he got hazardous matter onto his space suit and even as it dawns on him what this will mean, he still pushes Andrei, whose glove has ripped and who is losing oxygen quickly. back into the safety of the inside of the ship.

Also, and thankfully, there are no big arguments as so often appear in films involving a group of people in a dangerous situation and confined space.

Some of the cast I don't know and some are rather well-known - Embeth Davidtz is the head of the mission, Michael Nyqvist (of the Swedish Millennium Trilogy) is Andrei, Sharlto Copley is in this as the unfortunate James and Daniel is portrayed by Christian Camargo (the ice truck killer from the first season of Dexter).

Not sure why this film stayed well under the radar last year. It deserved a wider audience.

8/10

Wish I Was Here

Before the film started, Zach Braff swept in, said 'hi' and told us how the film was financed (Kickstarter crowd funding, first film of its kind in this regards, apparently) and then was off again (busy, busy).

It was short, but sweet and the whole thing was free, so who am I to complain?

If you have seen Garden State, the tone of Wish I Was Here will feel familiar. Again, it is about family. Again, it is about death. The death is that of the father, who is suffering from cancer and it is obvious from very early on that he will not have long. Through this situation, Aidan - who has a slew of problems of his own - tries to keep the family together, which also means getting his brother Noah (Josh Gad - and who knew he can actually act?) to come see their father, despite their differences.

It is funny and sweet and heartbreaking. Also, cute kid actors.

7/10

Scenic Route

Old friends Mitchell and Carter are on a road trip together. We don't know from where to where they are going, but they are in the middle of the desert (Nevada?). Mitchell is on crutches. Again, we are never really told what happened.

What we do know is that Carter stages a car breakdown because they don't talk anymore like they used to and he manufactures a situation where they have no choice but to talk. And while they're there he goes off on Mitchell for having given up on his dream on becoming a musician and marrying the "rebound-girl" after breaking up with the love of his life.

But first, they kick the shit out of each other. This happens before the credits. Mitchell has a broken nose and a bloody face and Carter does not move after one final blow. This is the intro.

Then we go back to the previously mentioned car trouble and the fight (first verbal) that follow after Carter's go at a life intervention and Mitchell finding out that his friend has simply removed a wire from the car to keep them stranded. He owns up when a passing car offers them a ride into town. Before the helpful man is allowed to drive off, Carter has to start the car to prove to Mitchell that he fixed it.

It is only after the driver left and some more fighting that the car is really broken. More yelling, blaming each other and the fight from the beginning follow. Mitchell comes to and Carter is still not moving. Mitchell mourns over the body of his friend and eventually starts digging a grave in the desert. As he pulls the body towards it, however, it tunes out that Carter is still alive. When he now realizes that he was about to be buried, he loses it and storms off.

The reunite and suffer together through the heat during the day, the cold nights and the lack of water. As a last ditch effort they stumble off in the direction where Mitchell thinks a town may be and eventually come to the remains of what used to be a small group of houses. But at least they find water.

And then suddenly a cell rings and they have reception again (hurray!) and are saved.

Or are they?

6/10

August: Osage County

When watching August: Osage County you will know right away that this was first a play. It has that dependency on great acting to get the story across in an entertaining way because the scenery is very limited and mostly confined to inside a house.

The actors in this are of the highest order. Every single one of them brilliant in their roles and, really, it's a shame not one of them was awarded an Oscar. If Cate Blanchett in Blue Jasmine beat Meryl Streep's Violet to it, my expectation for that performance are sky high.

And it is Meryl Streep together with Julia Roberts that carry the film, supported by the rest of the stellar cast.

The family gathers for, first, the disappearance and, then, the funeral of Beverly Weston and as the three daughters and Violet's sister descend upon the house with their families, wounds - both old and new - soon break open and every conversation turns into an argument.

All relations are cracked to begin with but some will be broken beyond any hope of repair after a few days, when Violet is left alone with her housekeeper because everyone gets away after yet another explosive scene.

Brilliant.

9/10

Suddenly, Last Summer

They don't make films like this anymore.

Katharine Hepburn plays Mrs Venable, a devoted mother who lost her beloved son Sebastian and has her niece committed for telling an unpleasant story about what happened to Sebastian (the name repeated so often, it is almost like a mantra). She goes as far as trying to get young Cathy lobotomized by one Dr Cukrowicz. Early one, she has an awesome monologue about sea turtles, of all things.

The doctor is played by the wonderful Montgomery Clift, who is the good to oppose Hepburn's bad. He wants to first see for himself, whether Cathy is really as crazy as he is made to believe and an operation is justified.

Cathy is played impeccably by the wonderful, beautiful Elizabeth Taylor. She owns every scene she is in. Quite a feat when you are in scenes with Hepburn and Clift.

All the minor characters have something to gain from Cathy's planned lobotomy. Mrs. Venable has her deluded view of her son untainted by the truth, Cathy's mother and brother stand to inherit $ 100,000,-- and the owner of the asylum Cukrowicz works at a new building sponsored by Mrs Venable.

This is really wonderful to watch, all the way to when Cathy finally tells the truth and everyone is there to witness it.

Quite wonderful.

8/10

The Fault in Our Stars

The beauty of ticket contests is that sometimes you get to see widely anticipated films before their official release date. Case in point: The Fault in Our Stars - an exclusive premiere, one week before its official local starting date (and even before it premiered in the US!). Even better, not only did I win two tickets to this, but a friend also won, so there were four of us.

I've had my difficulties with the book, as I detailed in my other blog. Primarily, I didn't care much for the book version of Augustus. The character was less annoying in the film, I felt. (My friend S. found his constant grinning annoying, though.) Apart from the story with the previous, deceased girlfriend, which fell between the cracks, the book was thoroughly covered. Sure, it took its liberties here and there, but the essence of the story remained.

The translation to screen worked beautifully and the end product is much more enthralling than the book would have led me to expect. The acting was exceptional on all fronts (Willem Dafoe!) and even though there was a lot of laughing in the theater throughout the first half of the film, there was just as much sniffling and nose blowing through the second half.

We laughed. We cried.

7/10

Her

On the risk of repeating myself: Joaquin Phoenix is a gorgeous, gorgeous man. True, it took me a minute to get over the 'stache, but even that most horrible of fashion fads (yes, it looks bad on everyone) cannot hide the fact for too long.

Also, I'm sure we can all agree that he is a brilliant actor on top of this. For a film like Her nobody of lesser acting ability would do. It takes a lot to keep an audience focused and involved in a film that mostly shows the same person throughout. Here, he is put into a film that is all atmosphere. The surroundings, however bleak at times, are stunning. The music is pretty, too.

Much has been said about Scarlett Johansson's exceptional performance as the voice that Theodore, the character played by Joaquin Phoenix, falls in love with (and she/it with him). The few actual supporting actors around Phoenix are ideally cast, as well. Amy Adams especially (also not at her best looking), who plays the role of old friend, gives an understated and believable performance.

Of course, the film is not perfect. The operating system ("Samantha") tends to be annoyingly whiny at times and I am sure that the relatively slow pace is not for everyone, but the story is beautifully embedded into a bleak yet beautiful world.

You won't see many films like this one.

8/10

Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom

If there is one man's life story that deserves to be told, it is Nelson Mandela's. After a few interpretations on film, the latest effort - Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom - is based on the words of the man himself, as recorded in his autobiography of the same name. Basically, this is the story he told of himself, starting from his beginnings as a lawyer, the ANC, prison, and the time after his release (including him becoming the president of South Africa).

Though the story is powerful and the life inspiring, the film does not necessarily live up to the greatness of the man. Idris Elba, portraying Mandela, is nothing short of brilliant. Physically, his resemblance is limited and he is only made to look like the man in the older years. While still playing a young Nelson Mandela, he frequently takes his shirt off, which is gratifying in so many ways but probably not the point.

The cutting of the film appears fitful, made up of short scenes, that feel like unfinished thoughts and makes the story somewhat incoherent. The advantage is, of course, that most of us know the story anyway. But is that a good enough excuse to make the film into a lengthy music video?

But what really, really bothers me about this is rather ridiculous because it is unimportant to the story. Winnie Mandela does not seem to age. There comes one scene, set in the mid to late eighties (I think), where a half-hearted attempt of making Naomi Harris look the age she is supposed to be by putting a little grey in her unkempt hair, but throughout most of the film she appears to be in her thirties.

Ultimately, this is the kind of film biography that caters more to the MTV generation of kids with short attention span than anyone who is seriously interested in the life of Nelson Mandela.

6/10

Aftershock

After boozing and dancing several nights away in Chile, a group of friends (some old, some new) are caught in some big ass dance hall during an earthquake. The main group (three boys, three girls, how inventive is that?) that the film follows doesn't come away unscathed - far from it. In the initial aftermath, one of the guys loses a hand and when his friends try to send him to safety up a rack railway, he cable breaks, the car falls and everyone in it dies.

The next to croak is the gringo with the group, played by co-writer and co-producer Eli Roth....and he's not really much of an actor, is he? He gets burned alive by a group of escaped convicts, who turn out to be much more of a threat to the survivors than the aftershocks of the earthquake are. They give as much as they get, though. The burning is followed by a rape, which leads to the rapist being killed with an ax and the rape victim being shot. 

That is three down and three to go.

The remaining guy in the group gets shot by a terrified woman trying to prevent the beaten gang from coming to relative safety. He dies soon after (courtesy of the escaped prisoners), the two girls left (sisters! awww!) follow who they think is a firefighter (wrong!) into a church and then - now with the priest in tow - into a down to a secret tunnel. Things go wrong, still. The priest falls to his death and the firefighter turns out to be just another convict and kills one sister and dies through the hand of the other.

The last woman standing stumbles out of the tunnel onto a beach. But wait, wasn't there to be a tsunami that everyone throughout the film was dreading? 

Yes. Yes, there was.

3/10

Orlando

This is one story that is hard to explain, which makes it all the more impressive that Sally Potter managed to make a coherent film (well, as coherent as one can make it) out of it. And if you don't know what to expect, this may weird you out.

The film is based on the novel by Virginia Woolf. Orlando is a man and a woman and lives over several centuries, unfortunately during times when being a woman made you less of a person. The female Orlando could not own land and - when turning down a suitor - was told that she would remain a spinster and, well, lose everything.

Luckily, though, a suitable husband fall right at her feet. Well, actually, her face, seeing that she just fell face down herself. And even more luckily, it turns out she does not actually need him. But whatever I tell you about the story will only make it seem even more confusing than it actually is.

It is lavish and beautiful, with some dramatic use of music.

The only sour note (for me) was that even though the film lists Billy Zane as one of the main actors, he only shows up 1 h and 10 min into the film. And then he departs 12 min later.

7/10

Nebraska

Alexander Payne is channeling David Lynch's The Straight Story here.

Whereas old Mr. Straight from Iowa was off on his a lawnmower to visit his brother Wisconsin, who had recently had a stroke and whom he had not spoken to for years, old Mr. Grant tries to get from Billings, MT, to Lincoln, NE, and - also lacking a licence - sets off on foot to collect a promised prize of $ 1,000,000,--.

Of course, nobody besides him is fooled by the mailing promising the money and his family tries to talk him out of it, but his son David realizes that his father simply must do this, if not for the money than out of principle and drives him. Along the way, they run into a few difficulties like head wounds and lost teeth and end up having to shackle up in Mr. Grant's hometown. There, talk of him being a millionaire is making the rounds and everyone is lining up to get a piece of the action. And no persuading from David's side that his dad has not actually won anything can stop it. It is only when the cousins mug the pair and steal the coveted letter that the truth finally hits home with the small town folks, but not with David's dad.

In the end, they make it to the address given to learn that - as expected - Mr. Grant did not actually have one of the winning numbers. He gets a hat for his troubles.

Much like The Straight Story, this is a quiet and slow paced journey that has a man reconnect with his family. Also, it portrays the difficult relationship between the lifelong hard drinking father and his two sons, that may be better off with the old man in constant care. But along the way, they all realize how solid their family bond actually is when faced with the adversaries of people trying to get their hands on the imaginary loot. Together, they even try to steal a compressor before realizing that they stole from the wrong person.

The black and white gives this a slightly bleak but also very calm feel and the acting from all involved is really wonderful. Who knew Bruce Dern as the quietly stubborn father is wonderful and got a well-deserved Oscar nomination for this. June Squibb (as his wife and also Oscar nominated), who I don't remember having seen before, is fantastic. Bob Odenkirk has a small role as David's brother and does that well, of course. And who knew Will Forte had a serious role in him? Also in a supporting role here is Stacy Keach (I didn't even know whether he was still alive, to be honest) as one of the old friends lining up for money after having people first applaud old Grant by announcing the money won and later has everyone laughing at the old man by reading out the mailing that - obvious to everyone but Mr. Grant - is nothing more than a marketing scheme.

This is really wonderful and I hope someone involved wins something tonight.

8/10

Which brings us to the current ranking of the Best Picture nominees I have seen so far (which should not be misunderstood as a tip for tonight - I do believe that 12 Years a Slave will win, although I am still rooting for Gravity and hoping that American Hustle does not pull off a surprise):

Gravity
Captain Philips
Nebraska
12 Years a Slave
The Wolf of Wall Street
American Hustle

Margin Call

This is about financial crisis hitting a big wall street company. Most of it happens during two days, starting with some major downsizing happening, than a rocket scientist (no, really) figuring out that something has been going very wrong lately and is about to hit the company in a big way, the ones earning the really big bucks dusting themselves off by distributing their potential losses down to their buyers and then they all suck it up for a few months and go back to business as usual.

Sounds dry?

Well, it could be with the financial humbug that none of the so-called 'little' people don't understand (this means the average movie goer). Luckily, the cast in Margin Call is stellar and makes this much more interesting than one might expect.

And when I say stellar I mean it.

Here are Kevin Spacey, Paul Bettany, Zachary Quinto, Simon Baker, Jeremy Irons and Stanley Tucci. I love every single one of these men individually and love them even more in an ensemble. There is also Demi Moore, who is brilliant in her own right, of course, but my love for her is limited.

You know what else? This is a directorial (feature length) debut. J. C. Chandoor had one short film to his credit before this and has since made the equally impressive All Is Lost.

Bonus - beautiful shots of New York City by night.

8/10

Fracture

Ted Crawford shoots his wife. He knows she is cheating on him and she knows with whom. So, yes, it is pre-meditated. There is never any doubt that he did it. There are, however, several problems, not the least of them the fact that the arresting officer is Lt. Nunally, the guy the wife was having an affair with.

When Nunally comes to the scene he does not know who Crawford is, as he has only been meeting with his lover under the names 'Mr. and Mrs. Smith'. Crawford lets him into the house under the condition that both men put their guns down. He confesses to Nunally then and there. When the policeman sees the victim, he goes off on Crawford (not proper conduct for a police officer). Crawford later repeats his confession and signs it at the police station - with Nunally in presence during interrogation.

The prosecutor of the case, Willy Beachum, does not know the connection between the victim (who is still alive, but in a coma that she has very little chance of ever coming out of) and the arresting officer. Beachum is very ambitious and has secured a new job at a prestigious law firm ('it's all about the money, money, money') and this is to be his very last case. Unfortunately, he grossly underestimates Crawford and isn't paying as much attention to the task at hand as he should be.

Crawford chooses to defend himself, offers to start trial right away, recants his confession and pleads not guilty. Beachum's underestimating him is not the biggest problem with the case. The gun they find at the Crawford house - the only gun they find, no matter how many times they turn the house upside down - is not the murder weapon. And then, when Beachum learns that Nunally was having an affair with the victim right when he is on the witness stand, the case falls apart.

Thanks to his failure, Beachum loses the new job he has not started yet and - despite his (old) boss having his back - he is done with being a prosecutor. But when he realizes that Crawford is about to pull the plug on his wife's life support, he begs for any help he can get to stop it. He does get the paperwork legally required but does not make it on time.

And then all the pieces fall into place and Beachum goes to see Crawford at his house. He explains his theory of where the murder weapon is - Nunally's gun that Crawford replaced while the officer attended to the victim. Crawford, thinking himself in the safe haven of 'double jeopardy', is as condescending as can be, owning up to everything because he is convinced nobody can touch him now. But the big mistake he made was taking his wife off life support. He beat the trial for attempted murder due to lack of physical evidence but will now be retried for murder in the first degree - with the murder weapon in evidence.

Justice is served.

A brilliant group of actors make this much more exciting than I made it sound.

7/10

Ruby Sparks

Calvin, former 'boy wonder' in literary circles, has not been writing anything measuring up to his successful debut novel. He spends his days talking to his shrink, working out with his brother Harry and walking his dog Scotty, who he only got in order to meet people (preferably girls) that will come up to pet the dog. But Scotty is far too scared of other people.

He has dreams of the same girl that he cannot quite remember. Until one day he does and he starts writing about her on his old typewriter, his dream girl, and calls her Ruby Sparks. Over the next few days, he is writing in a frenzy and Scotty starts bringing him random things, clearly belonging to a woman.

Then one day, Ruby appears. He first thinks that she is a figment of his imagination until he realizes that other people can see her as well. He has created his dream girl. His brother Harry does not believe him, of course, until Calvin introduces her to Ruby and the brothers decide to try out what Calvin is able to change about her by simply writing it down. He makes her speak French as prove that this is actually happening.

At first, everything is fine and Calvin decides to never write about her again so that he can keep her forever. But soon after Ruby meets Calvin's family, their relationship turns into something less magical and more normal. After a while, Ruby wants to spend a little time without Calvin and suggest that she spent one day per week at her place. So Calvin is lonely again and does - contrary to his earlier decision - write about Ruby again. He makes her clingy. This does not work for him and when she gets really desperate about him having let go of her hand to answer the phone, he writes her happy.

When things finally come to blows (and of course, they would) and Ruby wants to leave him, he shows her what he has written about her and to prove to her that he can make her do whatever he wants, he does just that. She runs against an innocent wall, she starts speaking French, she snaps her finger, she sings and strips, she jumps and yells compliments at Calvin....until the letters on the old typewriter slam up and she falls to the floor.

Then he finishes the story, writing her out of his life and retiring his old typewriter.

He rewrites the story again as fiction (on a a laptop). And then, just for that magical ending, he meets her in real life.

7/10

Nokas

The film retells the NOKAS robbery, the biggest ever heist in Norway, in which a group of 11 heavily armed robbers stole a total of 57 million kroner, of which 51 have never been recovered.

The story is almost too weird to have happened in the way depicted. The plan was for the robbers to break down a window into the ground floor of the bank at a time the safe would have already been opened. Failing that, there should be enough hostages inside to force someone to open it. If everything would have gone according to plan they would have been out with the money in under 10 minutes. This alone does not a good heist movie make.

They figured that, as the building had been built in the 1960's, it would not have bullet proof glass and the windows should shatter immediately. This is where they were wrong and it considerably slowed them down. It took a sledgehammer, a battering ram and 113 shots to finally break into the building - giving the employees enough time to get out.

The plan also included a scheme to slow down the local police force from responding. They were already low on numbers as it were, with several officers on Easter holiday. The robbers blocked the police garage with a truck they then set on fire, virtually locking in most of the police working that day. This would have been a brilliant move were it not for the fact that the material they used as fodder for the fire is what got them convicted as it contained DNA from most of the robbers.

The only readily available law enforcement officers were a duo that were already out on an unrelated call. They ended up facing off with the robbers stationed outside the bank. With next to no personnel available, there was nobody there to rope off the area and people strolled by between the bank, the armed robbers and the police - people walking dogs, joggers, women with strollers. Even after shorts were fired (many, many shots), there was still a lot of foot traffic.

Also, the city buses came by right on schedule. There is a scene when all drivers of the buses are alerted of the robbery and gunfire at Church Square. One driver calls in to say that this is his route's starting point and asked what he should do. Dispatch told him to just go there and ask the policemen on site. WTF?

The film ends after the robbers drive off with the loot. What happened after is detailed in insert cards.

This was really quite brilliant.

8/10