Reviews

Well the obvious things to like about "Adaptation" are the really complex characters and the great acting. Especially the acting of Nicolas Cage, who plays both the frustrated Charlie Kaufmann and his brother, who is full of the joys of life, amazed me. Although the twins look exactly the same, you are always able to distinguish between the two on the first sight. But if you fully let yourself get involved in the film and look behind the obvious positive aspects (mentioned above), you will find some ideas unique to the history of film. In my opinion you have "a film within a film" in this story (maybe this does not perfectly hit the nail on the head, but i will try to explain it). Of course everything is based around Charlie Kaufmann and his way of dealing with his life and job. That is the main plot, which sounds like nothing special compared to other films. But while the film develops, Charlie's life turns more and more into an unrealistic "Hollywood movie" of the kind that Charlie, as a screenwriter, tries to avoid composing. The whole movie deals with Charlie's ambitions to create a screenplay devoid of the old "Hollywood" stereotypes in which the characters succeed and one unrealistic event follows the other. He says that he wants to write a screenplay in which "nothing much changes", like in real life. But finally he is the one who succeeds and develops in personality. Further more, he is confronted with a chain of unrealistic events, and as his life mutates into a parody of Hollywood films, the viewer is more and more able to find little hints referring to other famous movies. Ironically, the life of Charlie turns into a Hollywood film itself --> "a film in the film".

OK all this sounds quite cool but why only an 8? Well although you have a really original idea behind this movie and a protagonist you can easily identify with, you sometimes feel like the movie is a bit slow... maybe this is necessary, not only to demonstrate Charlie's problems in dealing with a "real life" screenplay, but also to make the turning point of the movie more powerful.

But anyway i recommend it for nearly everyone.

These days, where we get overwhelmed with horror movies which fail to build up suspense without falling into stereotypes, its hard to single out a horror movie different from todays "teenie shockers". There are two main aspects which ought to captivate the watchers attention. On the one hand you have this really disgusting "thing," incomparable to anything i have ever seen before in other movies. On the other hand there is a constant distrust evolving from the beginning to the end which affects every action of the characters, whose feelings the viewer is compelled to identify with. Not knowing who is infected, you suspect nearly everyone, even "R.J. MacReady," who can be seen as the main character. For me this was a new experience insofar as there is actually no one in the story you can sympathize with.

I have just finished watching "running scared," and i have to admit i really liked the way it was directed.

The pictures are shot at you with such a tempo, especially during the action scenes, that your eyes are forced to focus on the screen and not on your girlfriend next to you.

To my astonishment the acting of the main character was not that bad.

OK there is nothing new in the storyline and the dramatic parts of the movie tend to be more affected than stirring. But hey, i assure you this movie can save your evening if you are not searching for something with too much of a message.

Well, its hard to find any negative points in this movie. The acting is good, the story has potential and the hero is a cool guy. But while i was watching this one i always expected something to happen, but was always disappointed when nothing did. Maybe its because this was one of my first western movies and i was expecting more action, or maybe its because it was hard for me to feel sympathy for the main character, but i still feel like there was something missing in this movie. So besides the strong ending i took most interest in the character development of Clint Eastwood, who, i have to admit, plays his role quite convincingly.