Let the Right One In

Let the Right One In is the Swedish vampire masterpiece from director Tomas Alfredson no one's been taking about. This film and book blew me away. I really can't praise it enough. First off, Let The Right One In isn't like the Twilight teen garbage. Now, it is a romance, a love story, but a very fresh one. It doesn't hang on the whole forbidden love stuff.







This is the story of 2 lonely 12 year olds set in a west Stockholm suburb. Oskar has almost no friends...until the girl next door moves in. Her name is Eli, played by the wonderful Lina Leandersson. She a bit weird though. She stinks, is extremely skinny, and doesn't even know what a Rubik's Cube is! But Oskar slowly falls in love with her. Eli give him this strength he never had.





Soon mysterious murders start to happen all around him. Eli had employed a elderly pedophile to do her dirty work. Everyone freaks out.








Eventually Oskar finds out his friend is a 200 year old vampire, and not only that, but a genderless vampire. But that's what makes this so different. Here is a kink in the wire that isn't found in any other vampire story.




That brings me to the difference between the book and the film. Both are perfect, but the book to film jump can never work out perfectly. Lindqvist's novel is 480 pages. The movie is 1 hour and 49 minutes. The book is deeply rooted in subplot and back story. And well, the movie doesn't have all that. It seems shallow and fleshed out compared to the book, but hey, that's the way it has to be. Still, the movie has a subtilness that the book doesn't, espesically in Eli's genderless issue.




All and all, see the film. And read the book if you want. Well, in the movie's defence, there stuff in the book that you just cant show in film. But hey, Let The Right One In is still one of the best films of 2008 and the greatest vampire film OR book ever (in my eyes).





Oh and by the way, they're already making an english remake.

Spirited Away

Spirited Away, one of the greatest animated films ever...well it my favorite, is Hayao Miyazaki 2001 masterpiece. This film is nothing short of genus. Now, I'm not that into anime but I really love this movie. Spirited Away was the last big completely animated movie. Sadly, every major cartoon is now made by computers.

Miyazaki tells us the tale of Chihiro, a whiny little 10 year old girl, forced to move away from her friends into a unknown town. Along the way her parents decide to take a 'shortcut' through an abandoned theme park. Soon they stumble upon a hep of food in a mysterious bar. Through Chihiro's protest, her parents continue to eat and soon turn into a disgusting pigs! Even though this is a child's film it can be extremely gruesome and gross is some parts.

Sacred to death, Chihiro runs in fear encountering many ghost and spirits. Eventually she excepts that she is there to stay. Through guidance from the mysterious Haku, she gets a job at the local bath house for the spirits and begins a very Wizard of Oz-esque search for home and the place where you belong.

The characters are perfectly drawn (no pun intended) with emotion and life. Even the villain have sympathy.

The monsters at Disney brought us the American release a couple years later. Of course they had to toss in their two cents. As little the difference is, the American dialogue changes the end vastly. Don't get me wrong, watch the dubbed version if you want but it is different. And I don't really have a problem with the change.

2001: A Space Odyssey

This film is brilliant! 2001: A Space Odyssey is one of those movies you hear about and hear about as a kid. Surprisingly, many people say its very dull and boring. I couldn't agree less. Sure there is no dialogue for the first 20 minutes and when people do start talk, nothing much is said.

What really tells the futuristic tale set 7 years in the past is the visuals. The incredible special effects (remember, this is 1968) still amazed me and sucked me into this world. What Kubrick did with this film MADE science fiction. Before 2oo1 scifi was Plan 9 from Outer Space. Nowadays you cant go anywhere without seeing ether a direct reference or a subtle homage to this film. From the computer in WALL-E to the airlock scene in Sunshine.

When the film starts we are welcomed to a black screen with haunting black music and my God once you think about why Stanley did that its brilliant! From there we see THE DAWN OF MAN. After a large black monolith just appear and all the apes start using tools and weapons and not just their fist as savage as it still looks. After 15 or 20 minutes we travel millions of years into the future. In space we see Dr Floyd leaving earth's orbit and going to the moon to investigate a monolith(much like the one at the start of the film) discovered on the moon. From there things get really weird and it would be to hard for me and would quit frankly ruin it for you.

2001: A Space Odyssey is one of those movies that everyone on the face of the planet should see atleast once. Even if you think its boring as hell, watch it. Then you can go back and watch Eagle Eye or whatever else crap is out these days.

The Shining

I give you...the greatest horror epic of all time! The Shining is Stanley Kubrick's only horror believe it or not. Staring Jack Nicholson as... Jack Torrance. Haha. I stand by this as the best Stephen King film and one of the best horror film ever.

When I first saw this, I had no idea what to expect. About a year ago, during Halloween on like HBO or Showtime. I also think it was my first Kubrick film...no that was 2001. But yeah, it disturbed me. I also began reading the book but never got through it. I don't remember why. One day I'll finish it.

Like most book to movie adaptations thinks get lost. Some of which are details of the lady in the bathroom and moving hedge animals. Well, I can see why Kubrick cut out the hedge demons. He wanted his movie to much more grounded in reality. Legend says King hated this movie. Probably because Kubrick cut detail of Jack's alcoholism, which was very personal to King and a important part of the book.

In case you don't know, The Shining is this magical telepathy connection to the dead, spirits or something. If you understand it, you may be able to harness it. But if things get out of control, it will drive you mad. Jack Torrance embodies the evil uncontrolled side, while Danny, his son, manages to keep it from ripping him apart. Its hard to sum up this movie in a short blog and i really don't want to ruin it for any one so just see it.

There Will Be Blood

If you have a milkshake and I have a milkshake and I have a straw and my straw reaches across the room and starts to drink your milkshake. I drink your milkshake! I drink it up!



No way No Country For Old Men is better then this. Paul T. Anderson's masterpiece on capitalism, corruption, greed and religion is EPIC. This is also Daniel Day-Lewis's best. These crakin' Hollywood epics are few and far between nowadays.



This is one of those movies you should see at least 2 times. It takes a while to sink in. You can easily miss key plot point even if you do give it undivided attention. It tell the rise and fall an extremely monstrous oilman. It begins with a just one lone man digging from the black gold all by his lonesome. This man is Danial Plainview.



Now some of the things this guy does may upset you. It may anger you, but his is a very mean man. Its always hard to watch something that so closely follows a villain. Especially one that follow him so closely. We rarely leave his sight.

But the thing is, hes not that bad, you can really empithize with him so much. Espacaly at the end. How he often destorys the demented Eli, the false prophet will make you very happy.

What gets the film going is Danial's discovery of oil under the Sunday Ranch. He and Paul Sunday, who is kind of a nutter himself, don't exactly get along. The music and cinematography perfectly reflect the the story. One event comes to mind about half way through.

There Will Be Blood is based on Upton Sinclair's Oil!. If you see this...don't read the book, its very different, but still good. I read the book first so I wasn't really disappointed it either. Either way, There Will Be Blood is a modern classic in the truest sense.