Articles in European Movie Reviews
Open Your Eyes (1997) Movie Review
Having seen Cameron Crowe’s American remake of Spaniard Alejandro Amenabar’s “Open Your Eyes” first, it’s inevitable that I would make the mistake of comparing “Open Your Eyes” to “Vanilla Sky” and not the other way around (as is the correct way). When considering the two movies, it’s not a question of what did Crowe change, [...]
March 7th, 2003 | Nix | 0 comments | Read MoreBravo Two Zero (1999) Movie Review
There have been surprisingly few movies made about the 1991 Gulf War. My guess is because there’s not an engaging villain, largely due to Saddam Hussein’s mythical “5th Largest Army in the World” crumbling like Madonna’s acting career — that is, arriving with much bloated hype, but proven to be an empty shell. After all, [...]
February 25th, 2003 | Nix | 1 comment | Read MoreThe Bunker (2001) Movie Review
I’ve always been more than a little perplexed by movies that require an exclusively American cast to use a “foreign” accent even if the entire movie is in English. I’ve always thought, “Well, if they’re speaking English and we the audience are supposed to assume that they’re speaking in their character’s native tongue, why in [...]
February 19th, 2003 | Nix | 0 comments | Read MoreWinter War (1989) Movie Review
If you could use movies as a measure of real life (which you should never do, natch), then the World War II movie “Enemy at the Gates”, and now “Winter War”, teaches us that, for advice on how to conduct successful warfare, don’t look to the Russians. “Winter War” is a Finnish war picture that [...]
February 15th, 2003 | Nix | 0 comments | Read MoreBend it Like Beckham (2002) Movie Review
It’s no surprise that “Bend It Like Beckham” is coming to American theaters sometime later this year after a successful run in its native England. It’s one of those “feel good” hits that will pull in the same crowd that gave repeat business to the surprise hit of 2002, “My Big Fat Greek Wedding.” Like [...]
February 13th, 2003 | Nix | 0 comments | Read MoreMoonlight (2002) Movie Review
The Dutch movie “Moonlight” follows a young girl name Claire (Laurien Van den Broeck), an isolated girl who, as we first see her, has just gotten her period. Claire lives with her wealthy adopted parents in a luxurious house in the woods, near an omnipresent airport; the home’s location is a source of angst for [...]
February 12th, 2003 | Nix | 0 comments | Read MoreIrreversible (2002) Movie Review
“Irreversible” opens slowly, quickly shifts into a chaotic but exciting series of events, before falling back down to Earth and eventually becoming dull. The French film opens with writer/director Gaspar Noe trying to prove that camerawork doesn’t mean you have to use a tripod, or even keep your camera at ground level. For the film’s [...]
February 12th, 2003 | Nix | Comments Off | Read MoreExecutive Protection (2001) Movie Review
“Executive Protection” has the distinction of being the first film from Sweden to be reviewed on Nixflix.com. It’s an action film, although the action is kept to a minimum despite what the boxcover and the pictures would have you believe. It’s a drama, although the drama is so restrained you wonder what any of it [...]
January 31st, 2003 | Nix | 0 comments | Read MoreDas Boot: The Director’s Cut (1981) Movie Review
I am told German Wolfgang Petersen’s movie “Das Boot” is the submarine movie by which all submarine movies are measured. It just so happens that the submarine in question is a German one, and in a movie set during World War II, this is quite an anomaly. Then again, I’m sure the Germans were getting [...]
November 30th, 2002 | Nix | 0 comments | Read MoreAbout a Boy (2002) Movie Review
I believe the reason “About a Boy” is so good is because it’s hard to peg the movie into any (or any couple of) categories. It’s not exactly a Comedy, since there’s very little laugh out loud moments. It’s not exactly a Romance because a love interest for Huge Grant’s Will doesn’t appear onscreen until [...]
November 9th, 2002 | Nix | 0 comments | Read MoreMean Machine (2003) Movie Review
The British Sports in Prison movie “Mean Machine” is a remake of the American Sports in Prison film “The Longest Yard,” about convicts who uses a game of football to get back at their prison guards. “Mean Machine” replaces football with, well, football (only the international kind, meaning soccer to all you Americans out there). [...]
September 19th, 2002 | Nix | 0 comments | Read MoreHeaven (2002) Movie Review
“Heaven” is the latest film from German Tom Tykwer (“Run Lola Run”), and stars Cate Blanchette (“Bandits”) as Philippa, an Englishwoman in Italy who plants a bomb in a man’s office, only to have fate intervene and move the bomb to another location where it kills 4 innocent people. The movie makes clear that Philippa [...]
September 9th, 2002 | Nix | 0 comments | Read More














