rikkimima Reviews

Kassablanka (2002)

Quite mediocre...but a must see!

[7/10 · 3 January 2003]

Well, to be honest...I could think of at least 50 movies I liked better than this one, but somehow this movie really kept me thinking for hours after seeing it. I even had a discussion with my friends afterwards in a café about the issues in this movie, which for me is quite unique.

The whole movie takes place in Antwerp (Belgium). Antwerp is not only known for its port and diamonds but also for the large amount of people who have voted for the local right-wing extremist party "Vlaams Blok" (1 out of 3). This story takes place a couple of days before 'Zwarte Zondag' (Black Sunday), when the Vlaams Blok-party won a lot of votes...

The story itself is quite simple... a Belgian guy and a Moroccan girl fall in love. And because of their parents, friends and neighbours wouldn't understand (or approve of) their love they have to hide it. You could say it's a modern "Romeo & Julia", but in a racial context.

I thought the story had quite some flaws: somehow I got the impression the director wanted to tell too much, when he only had +/- 1h30 to tell it. e.g. the romance (the main 'issue' in the movie) seems almost a matter of secondary importance, because it takes maybe 5-10 minutes of the entire movie for the 2 main actors to meet, talk and fall in love. Besides, the acting certainly wasn't that great (everyone was quite mediocre even the 2 leading actors), but still believable.

Why then would I recommend you to see it?

Well, for one: when this movie came into our theatres, one of the (would-be) spokesmen of the muslim community (Dyab Abou Jahjah) forbid muslims to go see this movie, because it was supposedly disrespectful to Arabs, Arab culture and religion. I (and anyone else I know for that matter, including muslims) didn't see anything disrespectfull at all. On the contrary: both cultures (Belgian and Arab) where shown in a positive AND a negative way. Anyhow Abou Jahjah's censorship didn't work, because when I went to see it there were some Moroccan girls watching it too.

But most importantly: You should certainly watch this movie if you can, not because of its story or acting, but because it raises some important issues and more importantly it REALLY makes you think about racism... and maybe even get you in discussion with your friends ;-)

7/10

Game-On (1995–1998)

How can you not adore this?????

[10 October 2002]

Being a real lover of good comedy series like Blackadder, Fawlty Towers, a.s.o. I must say that none of those has ever made me laugh as much as this one did/does.

First of all let me say that I have never seen the first series (with Ben Chaplin) so I can't judge if this is better or worse. But what I do know is that if you can't laugh with the humour on 'Game On' you should really wonder if you have any sense of humour at all...

Neil "Double-hard Bastard" Stuke (Matt Malone) and Matthew "Ginger tosser" Cottle (Martin Henson) couldn't have been better cast for their parts. They are the absolute stars of the show. Samantha Janus is a little disappointing, compared to them, but good enough. She doesn't ruin it, but it is obvious why she doesn't get bigger and better roles...

To be brief: the stories are original (homosexuality, marriage, friendship), the dialogues are hilarious, the acting is good,... and in the end you get a GREAT comedy, believe me.

I give it a 9 out of 10.

PS: If you disagree with my opinion feel free to let me know...

Signs (2002)

Not your average Alien movie

[8/10 · 24 September 2002]

After seeing "The Sixth Sense" which to me was a really amazing movie, I was a little disappointed with Shyamalan's "Unbreakable". So I was really eager to see if "Signs" could tell me if "the 6th Sense" had just been a lucky shot or if "Unbreakable" was just a little bump in the road. And to tell the truth, despite what others might say, "Signs" is an amazingly good movie. It just proves to me that Shyamalan is a great director (and a good actor too, cos he's in the movie as well).

Some will say that "Signs" is just a mix of various other movies (The Birds, War of the Worlds, Encounters of the third kind,...) but that just proves they are missing the point of the whole movie. This movie isn't about the aliens. No. It's about a family coming closer together in adversity. The alien-story is almost secondary, but i liked it nonetheless (the part where they show the alien in Brazil is really scary).

The characters are recognizable to everyone and that really isn't that obvious in a science-fiction/thriller movie. Whatever bad (or good) thing happens to the family, you can always relate to them. Mel Gibson is great in this movie (almost as good as in "Braveheart") as are Joaquin Phoenix and both kids. This film is good because like every other Shyamalan movie it has a message: nothing ever 'just happens' by accident. Most things happen for a purpose. And as you'll watch, you'll find out too.

So to be brief: This isn't a story about Aliens invading earth but a story of a family coming closer together (during an Alien invasion).

I give it 8 out of 10.

Have fun watching! It's most certainly worth it.