All reviews - Movies (2930) - TV Shows (1)

An average movie

Posted : 11 hours, 34 minutes ago on 18 May 2013 02:17 (A review of Alfie)

The original version was one of those classics starring Michael Caine. As a matter of fact, I had seen this movie not so long before but, to be honest, I didn't really blow me away. I mean, Michael Caine was, as usual, pretty awesome but the main character was such a douche-bag and the story was hardly compelling in my opinion. At least, it was pretty controversial for its time. Anyway, since I didn't enjoy the original version, I wasn't expecting much from this remake. Eventually, it was not that bad at all but it wasn't an improvement either. Obviously, Jude Law was a good casting choice to be this quintessential playboy , even if he never managed to be as amazing as Michael Caine and there was also a pretty cool supporting cast (Jane Krakowski, Marisa Tomei, Omar Epps, Nia Long, Susan Sarandon, Sienna Miller). Still, you wonder what is the added value of making this story in our modern time, except for taking advantage of Jude Law's pretty face and sudden popularity (Back in those days, his relationship with Sienna Miller was a tabloid favorite). Still, even though the whole thing was nothing really amazing, I thought it was a decent flick and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

0 comments, Reply to this entry

An average movie

Posted : 22 hours, 30 minutes ago on 17 May 2013 03:20 (A review of The Great Gatsby)

To be honest, this movie was not a priority but since there was not much else to watch, I thought I should give it a try. Eventually, I thought it was not bad but still nothing really amazing in my opinion. Basically, it is one of those visual extravaganzas which have been Baz Luhrmann's specialty for quite a while now. Honestly, even though it was an interesting approach, it was also rather distracting, especially the first 30-45 minutes which were basically Gatsby on acids. Later on, the whole thing settled down a little and I was more able appreciate the visual wizardry involved. For Leonardo DiCaprio, it was yet another portrayal of a neurotic individual which can be added to his ever growing list (J. Edgar Hoover, Howard Hughes, Teddy Daniels or even Cobb, Calvin Candie or Billy Costigan). Frankly, even though he did a decent job, he didn't really nail it this time and I preferred Robert Redford's version. On the other hand, Jay Gatsby is such a mythical larger-than-life character, one of the most fascinating fictional figures ever created and if he works amazingly on the paper, I'm not sure he can be put on the silver screen because since you actually see him in flesh and blood, a lot of the mystery surrounding him is gone. Another thing that disappointed me was the relationship between Gatsby and Carraway. I mean, they picked up two actors who happened to be BFF since childhood so I expected some awesome brotherly chemistry but it was just not there. Finally, if Jay Gatsby is one of my favorite literary characters, Daisy Buchanan must be one of the shallowest I have ever seen, even in the book I thought she was tedious to death and I never understood why Gatsby went through all this hustle for this broad. Well, in this movie, she was again pretty annoying. Still, the whole thing remains a nice watch, the modern music didn't bother me, and there was some very nice use of 3D (for once). To conclude, even though it is far from being a masterpiece, it is still worth a look, especially if you enjoyed Baz Luhrmann's previous work.

0 comments, Reply to this entry

A good movie

Posted : 1 day, 4 hours ago on 17 May 2013 09:09 (A review of The Science of Sleep)

Ever since I watched and loved 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind', I became instantly a fan of Michel Gondry and I was really eager to check what he would do next. His first follow-up was a decent documentary called 'Block Party' but I was eagerly waiting for his next fiction. To be honest, it wasn't really mind-blowing like I was hoping for but it was still a pretty solid flick. First of all, it was pretty neat that he shot the movie this time in France, his motherland,and there was a couple of familiar figures who you may have never heard of (Charlotte Gainsbourg, Alain Chabat, Miou-Miou, Emma de Caunes). As usual with Gondry, the whole thing was visually really appealing. Unfortunately the story was not really amazing in my opinion. I mean, like everything made by Michel Gondry, it was pretty quirky and whimsical but it was missing something to be really spellbinding. It seemed that Gondry put too much effort to make his movie looked awesome and as a result, the script was not really strong, especially compared to 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind' which had an amazing story with some really interesting characters. Still, it remains a cute tale and Bernal and Gainsbourg were both terribly charming. To conclude, even though it is not a masterpiece, it still remain a pretty cool flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Michel Gondry's work.

0 comments, Reply to this entry

A good movie

Posted : 1 day, 4 hours ago on 17 May 2013 09:03 (A review of The Messenger)

I wasn't sure what to expect from this flick but since I heard some good things about it, I thought I should give it a try. Eventually, it was an interesting and pretty deep drama about one of the most thankless jobs in the world. So, I did like it but, somehow, it didn't really grab me. I'm not so sure why but maybe it had to with the fact that there was no real storyline but just some episodes randomly put together. Furthermore, I wasn't sure what to make of the two romances involving Ben Foster, especially the one involving Jena Malone. Basically, there were many little stories but none of them was really fully developed. Still, it is a strong drama, absolutely, with some tremendous acting by the whole cast (Ben Foster, Woody Harrelson, Samantha Morton, Jena Malone). It was especially nice to see Foster and Harrelson finally in the spotlights. Those guys are among the most underrated actors nowadays and they gave some of their best performances here. To conclude, it is a pretty solid drama and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in the actors involved.

0 comments, Reply to this entry

An average movie

Posted : 2 days, 4 hours ago on 16 May 2013 09:11 (A review of The Married Couple of the Year Two)

Jean-Paul Rappeneau is not really famous abroad but he is pretty well known in France. In fact, he is basically the French Terrence Malick. Indeed, even though Rappeneau’s career spread out over almost 40 years, he made eventually only 7 movies. The most famous one must be ‘Cyrano de Bergerac’ which was a massive success in France back then and was even noticed abroad. Anyway, this movie was one of his first ones and, to be honest, I don’t think it was really good. Basically, it is one of those fluffy comedies starring Jean-Paul Belmondo. Belmondo started with the French new wave but quickly became a super-star in France and to a lesser extent abroad as well. Then, he turned away from the Art house movies and focused more on commercial efforts with a tremendous success. This time, even though there is an actual historical background, like I said before, it is not a serious affair and I had a hard time to care about the whole thing. Somehow, it reminded me of ‘Tout Feu, tout flamme’, another feature directed by Jean-Paul Rappeneau which was even more underwhelming than this one. At least, Belmondo and Marlène Jobert were really charismatic and had a good chemistry together and the whole thing was mildly entertaining. To conclude, even though it was nothing amazing, it remains a decent comedy and I think it is worth a look, especially if you are interested in French movies.

0 comments, Reply to this entry

A good movie

Posted : 2 days, 21 hours ago on 15 May 2013 03:55 (A review of Minority Report)

I remember, when this movie was released, there has some huge buzz about it. I mean, it is quite understandable since the biggest movie star and the biggest movie director (at least, if you consider the box-office revenues) were finally working together and we all expected some fireworks. Eventually, it was pretty successful financially and critically but even though Roger Ebert chose this movie as the best one coming out in 2002, I can't say I share his opinion. I mean, it is definitely a solid SF feature, no doubt about it. Indeed, the visuals were awesome, Spielberg managed to create a really intriguing vision of the future and, for once, the whole thing was pretty gloomy which is something you don't expect in his work. Furthermore, the original concept was really interesting and created some neat moral dilemmas. Finally, you can say whatever you want about the guy but Tom Cruise can deliver and gave here a solid performance. Unfortunately, I thought the ending was rather convoluted with too many annoying twist(s) for my taste. The point is that if you deal with future, present, premonitions and stuff like that, they will be plot-holes without a doubt, but the last 30 minutes made this even more obvious and this last act was rather weak in my opinion. Basically, the story was just fine until Anderton eventually shot the guy. Everything before was fine and really spellbinding and everything after was far-fetched, nonsensical and pretty disappointing. Still, even though I don't think it is really amazing, it remains a visually fascinating SF feature, most of it is damned entertaining and spellbinding to watch so I think it is definitely worth, especially if you like the genre.

0 comments, Reply to this entry

A bad movie

Posted : 3 days, 4 hours ago on 15 May 2013 09:02 (A review of Dreamcatcher)

I have never been a fan of those Stephen King's novels adaptation but this one must be the worst I have seen. It is even more disappointing considering that there was a pretty good director (Lawrence Kasdan) and a decent cast (Morgan Freeman, Thomas Jane, Jason Lee, Damian Lewis, Timothy Olyphant, Tom Sizemore, Donnie Wahlberg). Back in the 80’s, not only Lawrence Kasdan had some major success as a screenwriter (he wrote ’The Empire Strikes back’ , ’Return of the Jedi’ and ’Raiders of the Lost Ark’ , not too shabby, ain’t it?), he developed also a solid career as a director and all his movies were acclaimed efforts (’Body Heat’, ‘The Big Chill’ , ‘Silverado’ , ‘The Accidental Tourist’) . Way later in his career, he made this movie which is his worst so far, a huge flop in the US (it did manage to just break even thanks to the worldwide gross). It was a huge blow for his career and it took him almost 10 years to direct another feature, the also underwhelming and underperforming ‘Darling Companion’. So, what went wrong here? Actually, the first half was watchable. I mean, it was still pretty weak and not really above your average B feature but there was something appealing about those guys with a special ‘power’. However, in the 2nd half, they brought in some kind of Alien invasion and the whole thing became really horrendous. I mean, seriously, it must have been one of the worst movie sequence I have seen. Yeah, it was that bad. The story became really idiotic, the aliens looked awful, hell, even Morgan Freeman looked awful (just check those eye brows…). If the 1st half would have been as bad as the rest, it would have probably ended up in my top 10 of the worst movies ever made. To conclude, I really really didn't like this flick, it is a mess and it is not worth a look whatsoever.

0 comments, Reply to this entry

A good movie

Posted : 4 days, 6 hours ago on 14 May 2013 07:50 (A review of Big)

I remember it as if it was yesterday. Back then, when I was just a kid, not even 10 years old, I saw the trailer for this movie. I thought it looked awesome and I was really eager to check it out. Somehow, it took me 20 years (!) to finally watch this flick. I have seriously no idea why it took me so long but the kid that I used to be was really grateful towards the older myself to finally grant him an old wish. On the other hand, I was also a little bit sorrow because it was obviously too late to watch this flick and I would have enjoyed it much more 20 years ago. Still, it remains a solid comedy, a typical Tom Hanks feature that he used to make in the 80’s before becoming a ‘serious’ actor and winning two back-to-back Academy awards in the process. I mean, it is pretty funny, when you check the reviews about the people who love it, it always concerns people who watched it first when they were kids and now they get a great nostalgia feeling when they re-watch it nowadays. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that but there is definitely a target audience here and, for grown-ups, it is slightly enjoyable but not much more than that. I mean, it is fun, Tom Hanks gives a very good performance and it is good while it lasts but it is nothing really ground-breaking in my opinion. To conclude, even though I don’t think it is really great whatsoever, it still remain one of the better comedies coming from the 80’s and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

0 comments, Reply to this entry

A good movie

Posted : 4 days, 6 hours ago on 14 May 2013 07:06 (A review of Red Riding: 1983)

Within 2 days, I watched this whole trilogy and I thought it was a really rewarding watch. This time, this last installment had the very difficult task of wrapping all the murky stuff developed in the previous installments. Personally, I thought that this last feature was the least focused one. Indeed, instead of one main character, they had this time two and since the running time was again rather short, I really wonder if it was a wise choice to have two storylines. Furthermore, one of those two men was one of those despicable West Yorkshire police officers and even though it was indeed a bold move, it was also really difficult to root for the guy or to care about what he was going through. The other storyline was about some looser lawyer who keeps wondering if he should get involved with the whole thing or not but there was not much time to develop this character in my opinion. Once again, for the 3rd time around, there was again a really underdeveloped and underwhelming romance, just like in the other installments, but this time around, it was involving a psychic which made it even more disputable. Still, what a strong conclusion for a really intriguing trilogy! As a whole, it works even better than if you take all the movies as stand-alones. Indeed, the 3 really different directors managed to create a dark and fascinating world with one of the vilest police forces you’ll ever encounter. To conclude, even though this last installment was not really flawless, I really enjoyed this trilogy and I highly recommend it, especially if you like the genre.

0 comments, Reply to this entry

A good movie

Posted : 4 days, 8 hours ago on 14 May 2013 05:15 (A review of Red Riding: 1980)

After the incredible mayhem ending the first installment, I was really wondering where this sequel would go. Eventually, this sequel didn’t really follow these events and instead, it dealt with a totally different serial killer case which took place 6 years later and what remained was the setting, especially the police force of West Yorkshire. This time, it dealt with a real-life serial killer called the "Yorkshire Ripper’. To be honest, I didn’t know it was a real-life killer while watching this flick but some news footage felt pretty genuine so I wasn’t really surprised when I found out later on. To be honest, pretty much like the previous movie, even though I liked this flick, I can’t say I was really blown away by the whole thing. Once again, I felt that the whole thing was rather short and there was barely room for the police investigation which was actually pretty interesting (the way the main character was, out of nowhere, fired for some dubious reasons was rather unconvincing and right after that, seemingly out of sheer luck, they managed to get the Ripper undermining even more his investigation). Furthermore, there was once again a really unnecessary and underwhelming romantic angle, just like in the 1st movie. They could have get ridden of it , as far as I’m concerned, but at least, it was the best and most convincing romantic storyline in the whole trilogy. Still, in spite these flaws, I really enjoyed this flick. Indeed, this time, they brought another director, James Marsh, responsible for the marvelous ‘Man on Wire’, and even though the directing style was quite different, it worked like a charm and there was a great gloomy mood. Furthermore, once again, what a strong cast! This time, the main character was played by Paddy Considine, an actor who is definitely growing on me and he was really good in here. To conclude, even though it was not really amazing in my opinion, it remains a very good sequel, a fascinating thriller and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

0 comments, Reply to this entry