The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

The Two Towers has always been my favorite installment in The Lord of the Rings trilogy. It's an incredible accomplishment - it's a popular belief that the middle part of the trilogy is always the weakest. We don't have the fun of being introduced to the world the movie is set in and we already know all the main characters plus it doesn't provide the conclusion the third part does. But for me, The Two Towers is not only (however slight) improvement over The Fellowship of the Ring but it also doesn't feel too long like The Return of the King did in its last 40 minutes.

The Hours

(114 min, 2002)
Director: Stephen Daldry
Writers: Michael Cunningham (novel), David Hare (screenplay)
Stars: Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman and Julianne Moore

Hours, days, years, moments, lives.

(spoilers ahead)
“The Hours” is one of the most powerful movies I've seen. But before I get to describe the actual story I want to go through the structure of the film. There are many common motives in the movie – suicide (Laura's attempt, Richard's death, Virginia's final escape), eggs, flowers, books, service people who don't understand their customers (Flower lady who didn't get Richard's book, Virginia's cook who is mean to her, Laura's babysitter friend), kids we can rely on, that somehow make us confess more than we wanted to, devoted partners, on whom we can count on, even if we don't deserve it, moments of total desolation, the release of real feelings when important visitor comes around, the kiss – whether it is long overdue (Clarissa), the dream come true (Laura) or quick impulse and the sign of affection (Virginia).

Three women, each living in different time, different city. But they all have all those things in common. They actually have something in common with all of us – the feeling of despair, of being lost, alone. Solitude. Although they are surrounded by people.

The bravest one of all three is Clarissa. She lives with her partner Sally, she is a publisher, she has a daughter. She also takes care of her friend Richard, who is dying of AIDS. Every single day she is busy, she is in constant motion, running errands, doing housework, working, buying flowers she adores. "Always giving parties to cover the silence". It's her way of coping with the fact her life is running away from her, before her own eyes. And her dream ran away long time ago. She loves Richard and she only had one magical summer with him. After that he left her for Louis. When Louis visits Clarissa, on the occasion of big party she is throwing for Richard few hours later, she breaks down. He was the one, her one and only, and he spent his life with someone else and now she is taking care of him, long after his best years, watching him slip out of consciousness, sanity and life, being reminded every single day that her dream will never come true.

Virginia Woolf is kept in the countryside, for her own good, by her husband. She had deep depression, she tried to commit suicide. She can't find joy in this quiet place and hopes desperately to get back to frenzy and life beaming London. Virginia is working on the book, „Mrs Dolloway” which will make the most literal connection in the plot between three women. Virginia is a rebel, she doesn't except any rules or conventions Her servants mock her and she is scared of them. Being left alone in a peaceful place like that only makes her feel worse – after all, all she has is the time and peace for her thoughts and ideas. Sometimes too much thinking, especially abut dark matters, especially by someone with vivid imagination and great brilliance is the worst possible thing. Her husband who deeply believes he is saving her, by keeping her away from havoc, finally comes to understanding that she will never be happy in the place like that. Her selfishness and his love is perfectibility portrayed in the scene on train station, where Virginia finally understands exactly how much her husband loves her. So much he condemns himself of being alive when she'll be dead, so much he will willingly go through her illness worsening and her condition deteriorating.

Secretary

(104 min, 2002)
Director: Steven Shainberg
Writers: Erin Cressida Wilson (screenplay), Mary Gaitskill (short story)
Stars: James Spader, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Jeremy Davies
Plot: Lee Holloway is a smart, quirky woman in her twenties who returns to her hometown in Florida after a brief stay in a mental hospital. In search of relief from herself and her oppressive childhood environment, she starts to date a nerdy friend from high school and takes a job as a secretary in a local law firm, soon developing an obsessive crush on her older boss, Mr. Grey. Through their increasingly bizarre relationship, Lee follows her deepest longings to the heights of masochism and finally to a place of self-affirmation.

Spank me harder

“In one way or another I've always suffered. I didn't know why exactly. But I do know that I'm not so scared of suffering now. I feel more than I've ever felt and I've found someone to feel with. To play with. To love in a way that feels right for me. I hope he knows that I can see that he suffers too. And that I want to love him.“

There are not many movies I saw that portray love accurately. In fact, the feeling itself is so grand, that only movies which show some aspects of it exist and the fact they managed to capture them is already a great achievement – there is longing (“Brokeback Mountain”), desire (“Mulholland Drive”), sweetness (“Amelie”), purity of the feeling (”The Village”) and fragility of it (“Closer”). And now “Secretary” shows beautifully another aspect of love, perhaps the most crucial one – the sense that the one you love knows what you are going through and understands you completely.


“Is it that sometimes the pain inside has to come to the surface, and when you see evidence of the pain inside you finally know you're really here? Then, when you watch the wound heal, it's comforting... isn't it? “

Red Dragon

(124 min, 2002)
Director: Brett Ratner
Writers: Thomas Harris (novel), Ted Tally (screenplay)
Stars: Anthony Hopkins, Edward Norton and Ralph Fiennes

All things truly wicked start from an innocence.

FBI Agent Will Graham (Edward Norton) has been called out of early retirement to catch a serial killer, known by authorities as "The Tooth Fairy" (Ralph Fienes). He asks for the help of his arch-nemesis, Dr. Hannibal "The Cannibal" Lecter (Anthony Hopkins), so that he can be able to catch "The Tooth Fairy" and bring him to justice. The only problem is that "The Tooth Fairy" is getting inside information about Graham and his family from none other than Dr. Lecter

“The Silence of the Lambs” is a legendary movie. Right there, Anthony Hopkins created one of the most fascinating and terrifying villains in the history of cinema. More than a decade later Ridley Scott made sequel to the story - “Hannibal”. The film was very disappointing and instead of focusing on the nature of evil, exploration of dark places of characters' minds and building chilling atmosphere it served its audience ridiculous amount of senseless gore, weak script and overall grotesque (in a bad sense of this word) experience. Finally, with “Red Dragon” came a movie with rich characters, interesting story and Hannibal Lecter once again playing his sophisticated, devilish games.

Are some of the people born evil or do they simply become it along their way? Is evil hiding in all of us? Are we all capable of unimaginable violence, the cruel infliction of pain and monstrosity? We'll probably never know what really lies in the bottom of our soul and what our nature truly is. Both the beginnings of Hannibal Lecter and the story of the killer in “Red Dragon” - Francis Dollarhyde - seem to hint that the evil is born when other people unleash it on us.

The Ring

(115 min, 2002)
Director: Gore Verbinski
Writers: Ehren Kruger (screenplay), Kôji Suzuki (novel)
Stars: Naomi Watts, Martin Henderson and Brian Cox

Before you die, you see the ring

Rachel Keller (Naomi Watts) is a journalist investigating a videotape that may have killed four teenagers (including her niece). There is an urban legend about this tape: the viewer will die seven days after watching it. If the legend is correct, Rachel will have to run against time to save her son's (David Dorfman) and her own life
There is such thing as good remake and “The Ring” is the proof for that. The movie is one of the first classic horrors of 00's – almost everyone saw it and it's completely unforgettable. It also started the flood of remakes of Asian horrors - “The Eye”, “Dark Water” and “The Grudge” among others. None of them, with the exception of few amazing moments in “Dark Water”, even compares to “The Ring”, though. I bet after watching it every person freaks out about hearing the ringing of the phone or picking up the coffee mug and seeing a ring. In 2002 “The Ring” was something new and exciting in horror movies, nowadays films from this genre still borrow from this movie, although it didn't invent any the things included in it, along with other remakes of Asian horrors it only made them popular. Years after seeing the movie for the first time, I still feel uneasy when I look on switched off TV set, because I'm scared I'm going to see weird reflections in it. And I remember how scared I was during the first 7 days after I saw this movie.

The prologue of “The Ring”, which is cliched but very well made, suggests another teen horror. But then we meet Rachel, fierce and brave woman who is raising extremely curious son, Aidan (Who calls his mom by her name and not by simple “mom”?) we realize this is not just another silly horror movie. There is some family drama in the story, which brings interesting connections to the players involved. Rachel's curiosity is partly professional and partly mandatory, since she watches the tape. That tape is one of the most fascinating things in the movie – it's abstract, genuinely creepy, interesting and you simply can't get it out of your head. The images from it, all equally disturbing and unsettling, are placed throughout the movie. After Rachel watches the tape the phone rings and quiet voice informs her she has 7 days left to live.

Solaris

(99 min, 2002)
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Writers: Stanislaw Lem (novel), Steven Soderbergh (screenplay)
Stars: George Clooney, Natascha McElhone and Ulrich Tukur 

everything you DESIRE... 
everything you FEAR..

everything you THINK....
becomes REAL.

(spoilers)

I'm just so overwhelmed by the harmful opinions about this movie. It has been trashed by public, by critics, by almost everyone. Yet when I looked at forums, reviews and comments about "Solaris" it has occurred to me that nobody actually made the effort to understand the movie. And it's both a shame and a waste.

Steven Soderbergh made a true, cinematic masterpiece. He captured the very idea of love, the emotion, the feeling itself in carefully composed film frames, in two heartbreaking performances from George Clooney and Natasha NcElhone and with help of Cliff Martinez in heartbreaking, stunningly beautiful music.

"And death shall have no dominion"
Chris Kelvin lost his wife. He's in grief. It was his fault and now it's too late. Few years later he's being called to arrive on spaceship inspecting mysterious planet - Solaris. Shortly after that event, his dead wife...reappears.

"Dead men naked they shall be one with the man in the wind and the west moon."
It is so simple to understand that movie, the only thing you have to do is to open your heart and carefully observe. We see all the events from Chris's point of view, except for one short scene concerning Rheya.