REVIEW: Melancholia (2011)

Karen's Movie Blog - A personal space where I keep track of the movies I watched with my personal rates and comments.

I have seen 568 movies so far (since January 1, 2010)

1 - DO NOT WANT!
God awful, makes you want to gouge your eyeballs out with a spork, and either headbutt the TV or try to hit the cinema screen with projectile vomit. Everything about this movie is bad to such a degree that it doesn't even become good in its badness. You really wish you had done something more worthwhile during the movie's running time, like trimming your nose hairs. If someone would give you this movie, you would microwave, burn, blend or eat it, to avoid the risk that other human beings could be exposed to it.
2 - AWFUL
Still awful, but has at least one thing that is done well, like one decent scare in an otherwise pathetic horror movie, one good laugh in an otherwise decidedly unfunny comedy, one clever plot element, etc. You would never ever want to watch this again except maybe for that single good part.
3 - BAD
Bad, but you agree that watching this film was an OK pastime on a lazy weekend evening because there was nothing else on TV and you were too lazy to dig up anything better. Or, you felt the need to expose yourself to something crappy to recalibrate your appreciation for movies, and without being a totally shameful waste of time it reminded you how bad a film can be. You could have better spent your time, though. You will definitely avoid watching it again, even on the next lazy weekend evening.
4 - NICE TRY
Still bad, but is ‘almost there’. Either it has some good parts that are ruined by bad parts, or it stays at a constant level of “it had promise but the good part never came”. You still would never want to watch it again.
5 - ACCEPTABLE
The threshold for ‘OK’. It's not good, not bad, just acceptable. This is the kind of movie that only just makes you feel you didn't waste 90+ minutes and/or the price of a cinema ticket. You would only want to watch it again under the conditions of 3, but you would never ever consider doing more effort than pushing a button on your TV remote to watch it again. This movie is either an equal mix of good and bad parts, or is just so forgettable that each time someone mentions the title, you need to read the plot and look at screenshots to remember what it was about.
6 - NOT BAD
It has some aspects that lift it above mediocrity and make it quite enjoyable to watch, but it either never becomes really good, or if it does, it still has some bad parts that drag it down. You would only watch it again spontaneously if it were a long time ago since you saw it and you re-watched all your movies scoring 7+ too recently. You would only recommend this to someone if they're really into the genre, but you would still warn them that it's not that good.
7 - GOOD
This movie is really worth watching and you would watch it again spontaneously, but not too often. It's just not that good that you would say to your friends that they would really miss out on something if they didn't watch it. It's very enjoyable despite some noticeably uninteresting parts, sub-part acting, plot holes or other negative points that you'll always remember when thinking about this film.
8 - VERY GOOD
This is the kind of movie that you could watch again several times, even though it is clearly not perfect. There are still some minuses about this film, but the rest is good enough to almost forget those. You would recommend it to friends unless you know it's not their cup of tea.
9 - EXCELLENT
It's almost perfect. You could watch this movie again almost an unlimited number of times. It still has something significant you don't like, therefore you don't give it an outright 10. You would recommend this movie to your friends even if you know they don't like the genre, maybe it could change their mind.
10 - PERFECT
You could watch this movie until eternity without ever getting bored by it. With each viewing you discover something new or see something in a different light, and/or the key scenes still thrill you even though you know them by heart. This movie has nothing in it that is less than good. If there's anything that is not perfect, it is greatly compensated for by something else that is stunningly brilliant or gripping. You would recommend this movie to everyone, even total strangers.
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Favorite actors
Tom Hanks, Colin Firth, Stanley Tucci, Morgan Freeman, Will Smith, Ralph Fiennes, Jack Lemmon, Russell Crowe, Mel Gibson, Bruce Willis, Ewan McGregor, Kevin Spacey, Matt Damon, Robin Williams, Al Pacino
Favorite actresses
Meryl Streep, Julianne Moore, Anne Hathaway, Goldie Hawn, Julia Roberts, Susan Sarandon, Renee Zellweger, Maggie Smith, Kate Winslet, Amanda Seyfried, Jennifer Aniston, Jodie Foster, Jennifer Connelly, Helena Bonham Carter, Cate Blanchett, Marilyn Monroe
Favorite directors
Ron Howard, Robert Zemeckis, Martin Scorsese, Nancy Meyers, Chris Columbus, James Cameron, Darren Aronofsky, Tim Burton, Peter Jackson, David Fincher

REVIEW: Melancholia (2011)

Posted by Karen on Saturday, November 5, 2011 Under: Reviews

July 13, 2011

''Melancholia'' - Lars von Trier's best work to date. The movie is about the nature of depression and how 2 sisters go through it. Kirsten Dunst (Justine) accepts her melancholia by the time a planet that was hiding behind the sun threatens to collide the Earth, while other sister (Charlotte Gainsbourg - Clair) is afraid to face the reality and her own personal emotions.

If you have any little doubt whether you want to watch this movie or not, you better don't, because this is not for everyone, and if you still want to see this then prepare yourself for what you're going to face. The movie is all about how Lars Von Trier sees the world, the people and the dearness between them. It's beautiful, it's real, it's disgusting, it's terrifying - it all depends on how you want to perceive this film. The opening and the ending scenes are mesmerizing! The music used in the film is taken from Wagner's ''Tristan and Isolde'' opera which fits the movie perfectly. Cinematography - amazes. Special effects, not for 3D, but are very realistic and breathtaking.

Kirsten Dunst gives us her best performance to date, forget the girl in Spider-man, this is a new level for her. She finally proves us how good she can be with the right movie choice. An Oscar nomination is on its way...

I'm not a fan of Lars and his movies, but this one had me at the edge of my seat to the last minute.

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