Scribblings

Movie credits explained: The Gaffer

If you are one of those people who like to stay in their seats after the movie has ended, you will no doubt have seen a host of jobs in the credits that make you wonder: "What on earth is that?" In this new series I will try to explain some of these jobs to you, so that next time you are watching the credits you can amaze your friends with your knowledge. In this first episode: The Gaffer.

Profile: Rachel McAdams

There’s a moment during Red Eye, and The Notebook, and Mean Girls, when you inevitably draw a conclusion. This conclusion has nothing to do with the movie itself, not with the director, the story, or the quality of the movie or anything like that. No, at some point during watching any of those movies, or The Family Stone, or The Wedding Crashers, you will inevitably realize that Rachel McAdams will one day be the greatest actress in movies.

Book to Movie: The Time Traveller's Wife

Like many other people, I have that dream to someday write my own book. It's a dream I've had since I was a little kid, and even though I actually enjoy writing short stories more, I still hope to one day have a book on shelves in bookstores all over the world. Sometimes I think to myself that I have some pretty cool ideas, especially compared to some of the less accomplished of the millions of books out there, but then I read a book like The Time Traveller's Wife and wonder why I even bother. Audrey Niffenegger's debut is so imaginative, funny and romantic, and gave me such an incredible emotional high, that I doubt I will read a better book for the rest of the year. And how they ever want to turn this into a movie, I have absolutely no idea, but I wish Gus van Sant and the other people involved a lot of luck!

Review: Inside Man

Spike Lee is one of the most consistent directors out there. Save for some more uneven pictures like She Hate Me and Girl 6, Lee's body of work is just plain impressive. And while Inside Man is not up there with Do The Right Thing, Clockers and 25th Hour, it is definitely an entertaining and intelligent thriller that does things a little differently than most cookie cutter thrillers you see in theaters nowadays.

Review: Chicken Little (2005)

Watching Chicken Little made me feel like an old man. Before the movie was five minutes old, a whole storyline had already been told, and it took only about ten minutes for another one to be dealt with. This all in the frantic, seemingly unconnected way that you see in many animated tv-shows, but which you don't really expect in a Disney movie. It made me shake my head and wonder how I was going to be able to bear even the slight 75 minutes that this movie was going to last. Luckily, things picked up later on, but Chicken Little is still one of Disney's most unsatisfying animated features in the long history of the studio.

Top 10 Best Cop Buddy Movies

The Cop Buddy Movie is one of those genres that came up in the 80's, achieved huge popularity, got overflooded with crappy rip-offs and has now gotten a bad name because of that. Still, look back at the history of the genre and ignore all the crap (not easy, since there really is a mountain of bad Cop Buddy Movies) and you can see that it has given us quite a few memorable pieces of popcorn entertainment. Here's the best ten.

Five Movies in Five Minutes: Scarlett Johansson

At this moment, there aren't that many actresses more popular than Scarlett Johansson. She has made a name for herself with the combination of plenty of acting skills, mostly shown in interesting, small movies like Lost in Translation and Ghost World, and looks. Not only is Scarlett beautiful in a non-Hollywood way, she also possesses a body that has fanboys everywhere going crazy, search terms like 'Scarlett Johansson Boobs' clogging up the internet all over the world. For the discerning Scarlett-scholar and people who have never heard of her but want to know more, I'll try to dig up her five most interesting movies so far.

Review: Brokeback Mountain (2005)

Can we maybe forget for a second that this is the big 'Gay Cowboy' movie? The publicity that Brokeback Mountain has gotten because of the concept has done the movie a lot of good, propelling it into the spotlights and making it a truckload of money, but the movie deserves to be judged on it's own merits, which it has plenty. Brokeback Mountain is an honest, tender movie about two people struggling with their love for each other in a world that does not accept even the thought that such a love could exist.

Short Review: Four Brothers (2005)

Four Brothers has a lot of potential, but sadly not all of this is realized. The movie, concerning a foursome of adopted brothers intent on finding the men who brutally killed their mother, stars some pretty cool actors, has a premise that could deliver fireworks and an interesting style. Director John Singleton wanted to give his revenge movie the sensibility of a western, and stay far away from the flashy videoclip visuals you see a lot in action movies nowadays. And Four Brothers does have it's moments, like the shoot out at mom's house, where the brothers are surrounded by bad guys, or the final punch up on an icy lake. Problem is that a lot is left in the dark, some of the actors are not at their best (Mark Wahlberg being more annoying that intriguing) and the movie does not have the emotional oomph you would expect from a revenge-movie. Fun to waste 100 minutes with, but instantly forgettable.

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