volkstuintje Reviews

Cashback (2006)

"You just have to see that love is wrapped in beauty and hidden away in between the seconds of your life. If you don't stop for a minute, you might miss it"

[10/10 · 28 May 2007]

You find the most beautiful films when you least expect it. Yesterday I went to the Sneak Preview in the local cinema and I came out happier then I've been in weeks. Cashback is an odd combination of teen comedy and romance and the best thing is that it works! The story involves around Ben, an art student. He just had a rough (literally and figurative) break-up with Suzy. Ben has problems to forget Suzy. He can't sleep anymore and is emotionally broken. To speed up the eight hours he used to sleep, he starts working night shifts at Sainsbury's. The film follows Ben's process of dealing with his broken heart, while he is working with his silly colleagues.

Effectively the film also tells the story about Ben's past which shows how his fascination with the female body began and how those things formed the way he thinks about things now. While working in the supermarket he likes to freeze time, to capture the beauty of little things, and to draw pictures of the (naked) female customers.

This film is not about sex and teen jokes as some people probably will say. It is about having a broken heart, finding new love, finding someone that is the perfect other half of you. It is about beauty. The scenes where everything but Ben is frozen and he walks around the store drawing the portraits of the women just strike the right chord. Sean Ellis did a great job to make those scenes look that perfect. It's his ode to the female body.

All I can say is that everybody should go and see this film. It's the best thing I've seen in a long, long time.

The Terminal (2004)

This movie isn't that great

[4/10 · 29 May 2005]

This movie was a disappointment. I mean if you have a Tom Hanks-Steven Spielberg combination you expect a good movie. It wasn't really their fault, it was the script.

So, you have a guy from East-Europe (Krakosia) who doesn't speak English. The writer of this script basically thinks: Oh, he can't speak English, so he must be idiot. Victor Navorski acts like he escaped out of madhouse.

The characters have no personality at all. They are very superficial. The story line says that they are in love, but you can't see it when you look in the characters when they are not around each other.

And the end was terrible too, because no sensible man is willing to wait such a long time for an autograph, which is hard to believe anyway because all the 57 jazz-musicians didn't die in all those years.

I wouldn't recommend this movie to anyone.

Tangled (2001)

Just skip the first hour

[5/10 · 8 May 2005]

The begin of this movie is really, really bad. It seems like just another story about a boy who doesn't have the guts to tell the girl that he is in love with her. And to make the situation worse, his best friend hooks up with that girl (Jenny). This of course means a lot of jealousy.

The story doesn't seem to have any potential. I really found it difficult to just not turn off the TV. The only reason I had was the appearance of actress Estella Warren and that was still to come.

However, this story without any potential, manages to put together a great climax at the end, a real surprising finish with a clear message and that is something that I didn't expect after seeing the first hour.

Although there is a great ending, it still doesn't make up for the crappy first hour of this movie.