Let’s start with what I didn’t like about the movie: that abbreviated sub-title LXG. I’m getting tired of all these shortened hipster subtitles like MIB, MI2, T2, X2 and H2O. I get the feeling that I’m back in friggin’ science class. Is this marketing nonsense used to cater for the ever-diminishing attention span of a numbed audience? Does it make for better merchandising (imagine the greater risk of wrong spelling). Well, the best and worst it does is link it too obviously to that other superhero movie, X-Men (oh, I mean X2 of course). Best, because X-men was a nice movie and worst because this movie can stand on its own perfectly.

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Somehow things don’t seem to work out between Dutch cinema and me. I always seem to miss the better movies and see the bad ones. And then there’s the fact that all Dutch movies are either about World War II or about sex. When “Phileine Zegt Sorry” turned out to be last night’s sneak preview, I decided to let go of my reservations and see whether it really was as bad as I expected it to be.

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Net 5′s late-night Hitchcock series on a Friday night continued last night with his eerie and complex psychological mystery Marnie. I hadn’t watched it since I was a teenager and found the revisit took me by suprise. Foremost, I wasn’t prepared for how incredibly sad it was (I never expected to be so moved by a Hitchcock). Or how much I liked it even though it was short on suspense, full of unlikeable characters and a box-office failure to boot…

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Those living in the city may be interested to know that the squatted Houtsma (corner of Kostverlorenkade and Bellamystraat) have started a free-entry film club every Wednesday night at 8.30pm. It’s run by ‘two young Amsterdammers’ who never advertise what film it is but guarantee it’s always ‘obscure’ and ‘good’…

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Directed by Tsui Hark this remake of the 1967 Chang Cheh’s classic kung fu film, “ONE-ARMED SWORDSMAN”, The Blade is a strange mixture of incredible cinematic moments and outright sloppy filming. None the less, the action ranks up there with the best of this genre, with fight scenes that will have you on the edge of your seat.

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What makes a good scary movie? Is it the shock effect of the fiend who lurks around the corner and suddenly attacks the unsuspecting victim? Well, most horror movies use this clichéd technique to create the effect with which they try to scare their audience. Only, after leaving the theatre or switching off the DVD, most of the fear subsides and people move on. There are some movies however that do more than just startle people with shock effects; through their story they manage to put a genuine fear in them, creeping slowly upon them and remaining with them long after the movie has ended.

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Tomorrow, at 11h55. Yes, at lunchtime. Dutch broadcaster SBS6 is showing The Diary of Anne Frank. 1980 TV-film version.

Taniguchi, a Tokyo businessman, is minding his own … eh … business. When his son is kidnapped by a gang of thugs. Pushed over the edge by his son’s disappearance, Taniguchi undergoes a cyborg transformation. From mild-mannered family man to a ferocious man/machine walking arsenal. Taniguchi attacks the thug horde, who also transform into cyborgs and confronts their commander (Tsukamoto himself). A murderous battle rages, culminating in a final clash.

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Both films roughly have the same story. It’s ‘the near future’ a violent sport called Rollerball is very popular. The big shots that benefit from it’s success notice that viewers ratings dramatically increase when violence increases. So they bribe teammembers of various teams to be unnecessarily brutal. Inflicting terrible injuries at first and finally killing people. The star player of one of the teams can’t take anymore and rebels against the powers that be.

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Director, Fran’ois Ozon has redeemed himself, to a certain extent, after his tragic attempt at the musical genre with the odious 8 femmes (2002). Swimming Pool gives us a more serious exploration of the psychology of a murder mystery write played brilliantly by Charlotte Rampling. Ludivine Sagnier makes the second part of this dynamic duo as the film basically revolves around the relationship between them. Perhaps he could have even subtitled this film 2 femmes

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