The Hostage
The Da Vinci Code
Lucky Number Slevin
The Hostage
Latvian director Laila Pakalnina's newest feature "Kilnieks" ("The Hostage") is about a kind airplane hijacker that sets down in Riga, Latvia. His hostage, a small boy, wants to know about the country they have arrived in, so the first hostage demands are some local chocolate and a CD with information about Latvia. "The Hostage" is a sweet feature, an affectionate and almost naive ode to the lovable, good-natured and sometimes eccentric Latvians. The film is striving for something deep and truthful. Sometimes it's successful. Sometimes it's not. The film doesn't entirely hit the right tone to become emotionally engaging. Perhaps it's because of the sketch-like structure, or the fact that the ambiguous narrative runs in so many directions, it's difficult to understand just exactly what it wants to say.
( Julie Vinten )
This atrocious film is a shocking example of everything that is wrong with Latvian cinema. A hijacker forces a plane to land at Riga Airport, keeping seven-year-old Tom on board as a hostage. Tom then requests a teach-yourself-Latvian CD along with some local chocolate. Meanwhile, an Olympic champion biathlete gets called upon to take the hijacker out with his shooting skills. "The Hostage" is a failure on every level. Laila Pakalnina has clearly tried to make a "Latvian" film, instead of just a film. The result is an utter mess that resembles a cross between an advertisement for Laima chocolate and a tourism commercial for Latvia. This film would get laughed out of any half-decent film festival and rightly so. Will someone please make a good film in the name of Latvia? Anyone?
( Tim Ochser )
The Da Vinci Code
This thriller is based on the possibility that Jesus married Mary Magdalene, who had a child, which means that Jesus' bloodline can be traced to our time, and that this truth has been kept hidden for 2000 years. This is a great basis for a book as well as a movie. However, "The Da Vinci Code" is oddly boring. The narrative is just a little too faithful to Dan Brown's immensely popular novel. By not cutting unnecessary parts, the movie is burdened with too many characters that we never get to know all that well and too many details that are mentioned briefly and then left hanging in the air. And then there are the gobbledygook explanations. Though "The Da Vinci Code" has interesting ideas, it's clumsily paced, generally unexciting and full of missed opportunities.
( Julie Vinten )
I first heard about "The Da Vinci Code" from a friend of mine who enthused about the book as though it contained the meaning of life. Since reading it myself, I have secretly been anticipating the inevitable film version and I am pleased to say that it delivers. Tom Hanks and Audrey Tautou effortlessly slip into the lead roles as Robert Langdon and Sophie Neveu. The movie uses the real-time narrative of the novel to good effect and manages to keep the viewer in a state of suspense right up until the end, which is no small achievement given that everyone knows how this particular story ends. Put it this way: if "The Da Vinci Code" wasn't based on a best-selling book, it would have been considered a decent thriller.
( Tim Ochser )
Lucky Number Slevin
Slevin (Josh Hartnett) is having a really bad day, and things don't seem to be getting any better when he is mistaken for someone that owes two different mobsters a lot of money. "Lucky Number Slevin" is an "Out of Sight"-style comedy-thriller populated by wisecracking, smart-assed criminals. The movie wants to be hip 's and with a fine cast (Morgan Freeman, Bruce Willis and Ben Kingsley), spot-on dialogue and a lot of film buff-friendly references - the movie does reach a fair level of coolness. It has a soul and is well-made. If I'm not more impressed it's because this has all been done many times before in the recent past. But hey, if it ain't broke, why fix it?
( Julie Vinten )
This extremely entertaining thriller was a sheer joy to watch after so many awful films of late. When Slevin (Josh Hartnett) gets mistaken by two New York crime bosses (played by Ben Kingsley and Morgan Freeman), they hire assassin Goodkat (Bruce Willis) to kill him. The ludicrously convoluted plot and delightfully sharp dialogue will have you straining your ears not to miss a trick, but even the most attentive viewer will probably struggle to keep up with all the twists and turns. Josh Hartnett gives his best performance to date and shows that he can actually carry a film. The rest of the cast also clearly had a blast making this. Comparisons to Tarantino are inevitable, but this is a fine film in its own right. Sit back and enjoy.
1/2( Tim Ochser )
