Bert Vandecasteele

Author: Bert

  • Dark Shadows

    “That was a regrettable turn of events.” (Barnabus Collins)

    When I saw the trailer for Dark Shadows, Tim Burton’s newest feature, I wasn’t sure what to think. It shifted colour between silly comedy red and stupid drama blue so often I was getting an epilepsy attack. That’s a bad sign: if the trailer to a straightforward movie (hey, we’re talking Burton) can’t decide on what it wants to show, it’s usually because the movie doesn’t know what it is.

    Turns out that was exactly the case. Warning, this is a terribly written review for a terribly written movie. (more…)

  • Take Shelter

    “Is anyone seeing this?” (Curtis)

    I don’t know what it is that made me go see “Take Shelter”. Was it the promise of Michael Shannon, one of the giants who breathe life into Boardwalk Empire? Was it the premise – a movie not showing its full hand of cards before it’s entirely over? Or was it just that breathtaking poster, with its explosion of both colour and intimacy?

    These are the movies I live for. The ones I know nothing about and then genuinely surprise me. (more…)

  • The Iron Lady (and how I would fix it)

    “It used to be about trying to do something. Now it’s about trying to be someone.”

    You know that feeling you can only get in the cinema? It’s that short moment the lights go on and you look around at your friends sitting next to you, the moment you know you just shared an experience and you want to find out whether what happened to you also happened to others. Usually, this is the moment where discussions start – no two experiences are ever the same. When the movie’s unanimously bad, you’re safe. When it’s the greatest thing ever, you’re usually fine, too. But when the movie is a mixed bag… that’s when the cat fights start.

    I braced myself when The Iron Lady‘s credits started rolling. And then found out we all had just about the same problems with it. I guess you’d call the movie unanimously flawed. (more…)

  • The Artist

    When I first heard about the Artist and saw the trailer, I knew I had to see it. So I eagerly awaited the release date. By the time it launched in Germany, however, it seemed like the entire world had been engulfed by the quirky silent movies charm. And then it got nominated for every Oscar (and then some). So I groaned it off and decided I’d wait until the hype was over.

    Then came the 29th of February, a dead day, a day that’s not supposed to exist. So I figured: now’s as good a time as any. Turned out that was a good call.

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  • Downton Abbey 201

    “War has a way of distinguishing between the things that matter and the things that don’t.” (Matthew)

    Well, we’re back. The year is 1916 and we’re in the middle of the first World War. The stakes are high but still everything has its usual casual charm in Downton Abbey’s second season.

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  • Boardwalk Empire 211 – Under God’s Power she Flourishes

    “I think there’s no one else in the all the world; there’s only you and me.” (Gillian)

    Okay, I’m not going to beat a dead horse for long, other reviewers have done this already. But please do allow me this short rant: Boardwalk Empire has never been more blatantly Oedipal than this. In one episode, Jimmy Darmody went from shellshocked criminal to tragic victim of his surroundings. And to think it was as easy as letting his sleep with his mother and kill his father.

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  • Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn

    “How’s your thirst for adventure, Captain?” (Tintin)

    It should be no secret that I’m a Belgian. And, as is mandatory on our dictatorial catholic schools, where the whips are aplenty and fagging is still a hip new thing, I have read all Tintin comics. When applying for a job, the topic would casually pop up: “What do you think of Thomson’s motivation on page 23 of The Temple of the Sun?”* To which we would find a fitting answer. Common practice.

    Then came Steven Spielberg and we, the mighty Belgians, roared with outrage! What had he done to our ageless blank slate male? What had happened to the clear line drawing, Hergé’s trademark style? And – gasp! – character development? Seriously?!

    In all seriousness, it turns out Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn is actually pretty darn good.

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  • How Monsters, Inc. uneconomically sets up a world and gets away with it

    How Monsters, Inc. uneconomically sets up a world and gets away with it

    Monsters, Inc. is an amazing film. The first Pixar movie not to be directed by John Lasseter, it further consolidated the already wildly successful California-based computer animation studio, showing that it wasn’t just a one-genius operation. Monsters, Inc. let Pete Docter in the director’s chair and with great success. But why is it so great? In this article, I’ll be digging a bit deeper into the story structure used in this surprisingly unconventional flick.

    Today, I’ll talk a bit about the way Monsters sets up its world. (more…)

  • Boardwalk Empire 210 – Georgia Peaches

    “How Nucky shoes be fitting these days?” (Chalky)

    If you say you didn’t see it coming, you’re pretty much blind. Sure, it’s HBO – if Boardwalk Empire were a network show, Angela’d been dead ages ago. But, even with HBO’s budgets, a role can be so piss-poor that not even money can save it. So Angela bit the duts in what would otherwise have been just another Boardwalk Empire episode.

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  • Downton Abbey 107

    “Sometimes I feel as if I were living in an H.G. Wells novel.” (Violet)

    For an episode spending so much time on introducing a telephone and with a very predictable cliffhanger, I was surprised to not see two and two put together. It appears that, in case of war breakout, the good old telegraph is still the way to go. Downton Abbey finished off its spectacular season with a bang followed by a very predictable non-existent cliffhanger. Jeez, it’s 1914, we all know the war was coming.

    (more…)