As Far As My Feet Will Carry Me (2001)

Based on a true story, this German and Russian foreign film follows a German prisoner-of-war as he escapes from a Siberian work camp in a dangerous journey to find his way home to his wife and children. 

   Another foreign film. I enjoy them. They're intense and feature pieces of history few are familiar with. This raises interesting questions, like did any of these German soldiers "deserve" their treatment in Russia? Or is this an example of fighting evil with evil? Who should be held responsible for the crimes in WWII? The young German soldier forced to remove all his clothes and stand freezing to death by order of his Russian guard? More than this, it's a look into the strength and determination of one man as he fights to be with his family. 

    Our hero is played by an interesting actor. He captures the desperation and hysteria of a man subjected to things no man should ever be. His antics are both humorous and heart-wrenching. After having traveled across the frozen Siberian wasteland, he sees a small spindly tree and proceeds to run to it, laughing, and throw his arms around it shouting, "Du ist ein Baum!" or in English, "You're a tree!" For most of the movie, his eyes carry complete terror, as would mine no doubt.
    It's a long movie, but it's interesting because of all the different kinds of characters: the brutal Russian officer, the two cutthroat hunters, the indigenous healers our hero encounters, Central Asia street vendors...
   It's an incredible story. It's victorious. 

Heart of Darkness (1993)

A TV movie adaption of Joseph Conrad's iconic novella stars Tim Roth and John Malkovich as the infamous Kurtz. 

     Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" is probably one of my favorite books of all time. The author was able to capture perfectly the evil of King Leopold's conquest in the Congo as personified in the mysterious Kurtz without being preachy or judgmental. It's timelessness is almost horrifying, as that heart of darkness in mankind has risen up again and again, through the Holocaust, ethnic cleansing in Rwanda, modern war crimes, and countless other unnoticed incidents in society. This adaption tries so very hard to imitate what the text accomplished, but it just became rather sad and confusing.

    I thought the location was beautiful. It was exactly what I pictured when I read the book. You could almost see the heat rising off the jungles and the rivers, and there was no actor who wasn't gleaming with sweat and dirt. 

   There wasn't another especially bad with the acting, either. Tim Roth was a little blank, but given the text, Marlowe does seem rather unresponsive to the events around him. Malkovich was decent too, given what little screen time he actually had. I didn't dig the American accent, but that hardly ruined the entire character.

   I think the problem with this adaption was its overuse of symbols and subtlety. There were a lot of seemingly "unnecessary" scenes that one might only understand if the book itself had been analyzed in depth. It was very long, too, over two hours, and not much actually happened. I think "Heart of Darkness" is just one of those books that extremely difficult to transition to the screen. It's Conrad's words that really contain the power of the message, and so trading them in for a script and images waters down that power. "Apocalypse Now" had a better idea, I think: Take the message and change the setting to something fresh and still painful. I believe it served Conrad's message more effectively. 

Robin Hood (2010)

Featuring the "Gladiator" team of Russell Crowe and director Ridley Scott, "Robin Hood" takes a more historical look at the man behind the legend and how he became the outlaw as we know him.

    This movie is very close to being epic. It's not there, but it's so very close. I believe the main flaw was it assumed too much of its audience, it assumed that we were quite familiar with the actual history surrounding Robin Hood and would recognize subtle references to the Magna Carta, the reasons and results of King Richard's Crusade, and the mindset of English royalty as it had existed for many, many years. One viewer who wrote a review on IMDB complained that he/she had no idea what was going on. That's a problem.

     However, for me, a relatively astute historian, I respected the historical approach. The movie really did capture the heart of what was going on that time if not all the details and did an excellent job of setting up a serious, realistic base for Robin Hood's exploits as they exist in legend. It was good to see a Robin Hood movie where our hero doesn't resemble some sort of Medieval court jester and Marian actually has a personality of her own. 

    Speaking of Marian, I am SO glad they cast Cate Blanchett. For a while, they considered Natalie Portman, which would have been atrocious for many reasons, such as she is a terrible actress and way too young for Russell Crowe's somewhat-grizzled Robin. Blanchett proves yet again she can be simultaneously feminine and threatening, playing her Marian as a hard-working woman of the field who loves her family, her village, and her freedom. No way "Padme" or whatever her name is could pull that off. 

    In a nutshell, it's a worthwhile movie. It's very long, but it's definitely a worthy entry in your "Russell-Crowe-with-two-expressions-angry-or-angrier-and-still-somehow-being-completely-baddass-while-doing-it" collection. "Gladiator" is better, but "Robin Hood" is good. 

North Face (2008)

Based on a true story, North Face is a suspenseful adventure film about a competition to climb the most dangerous rock face in the Alps. Set in 1936, as Nazi propaganda urges the nation's Alpinists to conquer the unclimbed north face of the Swiss massif - the Eiger - two reluctant German climbers begin their daring ascent. Summary written by Irishlass240 

    And so my fascination with German films continues, "North Face" being one of the more striking examples. It's nail-bitingly suspenseful, historically-interesting and visually-stunning. It's a little-known story, at least in the US, I would imagine, but another example of Germany's mindset in the 1930's right before the war, but deeper than that, a glimpse into the sheer fearlessness climbers have to possess to do what they do, and the cost of that fearlessness. 

    I liked the acting in general, although the film's heroine Luisa seemed to have two states: happy or devastated. She has the face of a less-structured Cate Blanchett but lacked the timelessness and elegance, which worked, because her character is a country mouse at heart. Maybe that innocence explains her polarized expressions, but I dunno. The two climbers were much more interesting, Andi and Toni. Toni appears to be the elder, at least at heart, with a melancholy nature and longing eyes. Andi is excitable and the bolder of the two. They had wonderful chemistry as best friends. 

    The true star of the movie though is, of course, the mountain. The camera work is excellent, capturing angles I can only begin to imagine to perform. The north face is merciless and barren and definitely earns its place as the most dangerous slope in the Alps. In the movie, it's known as "The Last Problem of the Alps." 

Date Night (2010)

Steve Carell and Tina Fey star as a married couple whose dinner date turns into something they least expected. 

    Honestly, I didn't have high hopes for this one. There wasn't anything terribly original about it, and the papers didn't love it. However, I was once again reminded that just because the critics don't it, doesn't mean I won't. It was fun.

    What made this was Steve and Tina, who are, individually, some of the funniest people today. If it had been any other actors in their parts, the movie has the potential to be horrible, but because of their perfect timing, chemistry, and super-likeability, they sold it.  

    There are almost no real "extras" in this movie, any random part could be played by someone recognizable from either movies or tv, so that was fun to see who would pop up next and if one can identify where they're from. 

    This is a good "date movie." Ha ha ha. It's a good length, has consistent if not constant laughs, a sweet message, and Steve Carell dancing. A good, light way to spend an evening.