To be honest, I wasn’t really expecting much from this flick but, since it was starring Jennifer Hoffman, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, even if it wasn’t the worst one I have seen, it still turned out to be a rather lame Dutch comedy, I’m afraid. Of course, the whole concept was really generic and predictable but a bigger issue was that, right from the very first scene, the main character was such a pathetic annoying loser. And, yet, the cast was actually not bad at all and it was interesting what they managed to do with this rather weak material. Unfortunately, they were not helped by the approach which was chosen. Indeed, the characters, especially the father/husband, were constantly going one step forward, two step backwards, which was obvious and, above all, so frustrating. Obviously, it was a real dick move from his wife to drop at the beginning of the holidays that she wanted to get a separation (indeed, why not wait until they were back home?) but it took him forever to finally make an effort and, when he finally did, he usually did something pretty awful just after. At least, it was refreshing that the wife didn’t end up in bed with some other guy and that, at the end, it seemed that they would still break up after all. That’s the thing, even though on the surface, it was just another cheap disappointing Dutch comedy, there was actually something genuine about the characters and what they were going through. At least, Jennifer Hoffman still looked really lovely and super charismatic but I wish she could get involved in some more interesting projects to really unlock her full potential. Anyway, to conclude, even if I have seen worse, it was still pretty weak and you should probably avoid it, except maybe if you really like the genre. 

Well, as I expected it turned out to be rather dark and depressing, that’s for sure. Basically, it was a propaganda film about the propaganda in Russia and the impact of the war in Ukraine mostly on the school system in Russia. However, at the end of the day, did we learn anything new after all? Even if Pavel Talankin meant well, eventually, it all felt like some propaganda playing on our feelings on how ‘free’ we are while the poor people in Russia is being brainwashed. Russia is in the state of war and I have some serious doubts about how Russia is depicted in the media in Ukraine or even in the media in the Western countries. There is also the fact that this movie will be never displayed in Russia, even after the war, so it will be only seen by people sharing the ideas and values in this movie. Eventually, it was mostly curious about what was not displayed in the movie. Indeed, it was implied that everything started to get bad in Russia from the moment the war started but, by then, Vladimir Putin had been in power for already 20 years. Furthermore, 10 years ago, the Crimea was annexed and there had been a civil war raging in the West of Ukraine involving pro-Russian separatists up until they started to invade the country. So, how was life before that in Russia? Pavel Talankin’s actual age is unknown but he seems to be in his 20’s so it means that he has never known or experienced a different regime which is something so interesting but actually never tackled in this movie. Another major point was how isolated he was but I wonder if it was really true. Indeed, there were a couple of scenes which he obviously didn’t shoot himself and I wonder who this mysterious cinematographer was. Like his mother, it could well be that she was also against the regime but he might have cut everything negative they could have said just to protect them. At the end, you will never know what the people living in this country are actually feeling and thinking and, as displayed in this movie, it is quite heartbreaking to see all these bright children growing up in such a dark and toxic environment. Anyway, to conclude, even if it didn’t really blow me away, it was still an interesting watch and it is definitely worth a look. 

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but, since it was directed by Park Chan-wook and since it had been very well received, I was really eager to check it out. Well, to be honest, I was actually surprised by how little I cared about the damned thing after all. While watching this movie, it reminded me of ‘Le couperet’, an obscure French comedy directed by Costa-Gavras which I saw years ago, and, indeed, it turned out that it was adapted from the very same book. ‘Le couperet’ was not amazing either but, at least, it was a decent dark comedy and, being French myself, I could completely identify with the main character and what he was going through. Furthermore, in spite of its flaws, Costa-Gavras’s movie was a super sharp satire of the dark realities of the French economy at the time. Unfortunately, with Park Chan-wook’s version, I have no idea about the economic situation in South Korea so it never felt sharp or funny to me. A bigger issue was that I felt very little connection with the characters involved, especially the main character. I’m not blaming Lee Byung-hun, he was actually pretty good but I have to admit that, for some reason, I had a hard time to disassociate him from his character in ‘Squid Game’ which I saw not so long ago. His wife was played by the lovely Son Ye-jin and she was not bad either but I just didn’t care much for their couple. At the end of the day, it felt like watching a pathetic guy killing a bunch of other pathetic guys in order to get his dream job which turned out to be pretty pathetic as well and, as far as I was concerned, the end-result was never really interesting or entertaining to behold. Anyway, to conclude, even if it didn’t really work for me, it was still a decent watch and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Park Chan-wook’s work. 

Following all the fuss around this movie, since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. To be honest, I think it’s too bad for Blake Lively that, even though she finally had a box-office hit, it was after all completely obscured by all the legal shenanigans between her and Justin Baldoni. Even though making a sequel from the following book ‘It Starts with Us’ might have seemed a no-brainer, since Baldoni holds the rights to this book, it is very unlikely that it might happen after all. Anyway, how was the damned thing after all? Well, it was certainly half-baked, that’s for sure. The first thing that bothered me was how glossy the whole thing looked. Indeed, Atlas was probably the cleanest and least convincing homeless guy I have ever seen. Lily Bloom’s flower shop looked more like a film set like than an actual shop, without mentioning how unlikely it would be that she could bankroll the whole thing on her own. Finally, Justin Baldoni’s chiseled look was so over-the-top, he actually looked more like a boy band member than a neurosurgeon (Lively was slightly more believable but the focus on her look and sophisticated wardrobe was also rather annoying). Another bewildering choice was that, even though this movie was supposed to be about domestic abuse, it took like forever to tackle this subject. I thought it was also rather weird that, before it did escalate, there were like no real red flags about Ryle. Eventually, there were actually 3 incidents but all of them were shot in a way that it was actually rather unclear what really happened which was rather frustrating. Sure, you could argue that, as a victim, Lily was so traumatized that she didn’t remember properly what exactly happened but I don’t know, I thought it was rather annoying. And yet, the damned thing was still intriguing though, above all, because you see very few movies about this subject nowadays. Furthermore, even though Justin Baldoni did get a major bucket of sh*t on his head (maybe deservedly so), he was not bad, at least, his character was more interesting. The other thing that worked was the trauma shared by Lily and Atlas regarding domestic violence and this link was touching and intriguing. However, as a witness of domestic violence, you would assume that she would have been so much more triggered by the ‘accidents’ involving Ryle, like Atlas was. Anyway, to conclude, even though most of it actually didn’t work, I guess it is still worth a look, even if my rating was probably too generous here. 

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but, since it was directed by Marjane Satrapi and since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, it was a rather obscure feature but, above all, it was actually really weak, probably the weakest movie Satrapi has delivered so far. Basically, this time around, she went for a hyperlink feature but, even though I always had a weak spot for the genre, this one just never really worked though. Eventually, the only scenes which were at least a bit entertaining were the ones involving Rossy de Palma (and there were really not many scenes involving her). The worst sub-plot was probably this sad suicidal teenager who was cured of her depression after being kidnapped and tortured by some psycho. Sure, it might not sound so bad but the worst part about this was they went for a comedic tone which was so misguided. I get that Satrapi wanted to get edgy here but, wow, it seriously did backfire after all. However, everything else was never really shocking or interesting or entertaining to behold. At least, it was great to see Monica Bellucci who still looked amazing at 60 years old but, unfortunately, she was stuck with such an awful spoiled boring once famous opera singer. One (rare) thing that did intrigue me was what kind of dialect was speaking the character played by Gwendal Marimoutou (who is actually apparently a singer who became famous with ‘The Voice’ in France). Since his father is from Martinique, it could be from there. Unfortunately, even though Marimoutou was pretty good, I still didn’t care much for his character but it was the same thing for all of them, except for the one played by Rossy de Palma. The fact that they were all involved in some tedious little stories probably didn’t help. Anyway, to conclude, the damned thing was pretty lame and it’s not really worth a look, even if you are interested in Marjane Satrapi’s work. 

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but, since there was a decent cast involved and since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. Basically, it turned out to be one of these typical geriatric comedies involving a group of older women but, to be honest, the damned thing turned out to be pretty lame, I’m afraid. In fact, it was even the worst movie I have seen released in 2024 so far, no less than that. Sure, it might sound harsh but I have seen too many movies in this genre and I guess I’m getting slightly fed up by now. Concerning Jocelyn Moorhouse, the track-record of the Australian director was not bad (see also ‘The Dressmaker’ and ‘How to Make an American Quilt’) but this was easily her weakest directorial effort so far. The fact that the damned thing was pretty much a shameless commercial for Key West probably didn’t help. Concerning the cast involved (Susan Sarandon, Bette Midler, Megan Mullally, Sheryl Lee Ralph), it was obviously the main attraction here and I guess they were not bad, even though Megan Mullally looked way much younger than her co-stars (in fact, Sheryl Lee Ralph was also 10 years younger than Sarandon and Midler but it was less obvious than Mullally). However, they were all stuck playing such boring and poorly developed characters. The whole conflict between Lou and Marilyn was so tedious as well. The fact that Bruce Greenwood turned out to be Bradley after all was also so predictable and lazy but, at least, it was refreshing that Lou didn’t end up with him. Anyway, to conclude, even if I have to admit that the damned thing was rather harmless, I’m afraid it was still a waste of time and I think you should probably avoid it. 

To be honest, I wasn’t sure what to expect from this flick but, since it was Damien Chazelle’s directorial debut and since it was available on YouTube, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, with his first movie, Chazelle went for some massive vintage John Cassavetes vintage vibe but it wasn’t a bad choice. Seriously, if they would have removed the modern cars and the smartphones, it would have felt as if the movie had been shot 20 years before. Eventually, it is an acquired taste but I thought that the black-and-white cinematography was quite beautiful and there was a nice jazzy mood (the music was really cool as well). I also liked the fact that Elena and Madeline both had such a different vibe. Indeed, Elena had a strong sexual aura (this meet-cute in the metro was so intense) so it’s not surprising that Guy would fall for her but there was also something soft and gentle about Madeline and I get that Guy would be attracted to both of them. It’s too bad that, even though all 3 of them were quite charismatic, Chazelle never really managed to make them really interesting though. I guess it’s the drawback coming from such an artistic approach, sure, it’s beautiful to look at but it tends to deprive the characters of a good chunk of their personality. It didn’t also help that they were all involved sometimes in some random scenes which had very little added value. For example, why did we follow Elena going to the house of some random creepy old guy? On top of that, according to the title, we already had to focus on Guy’s and Madeline’s journeys, not hers. Still, you have to keep in mind that Chazelle was not even 25 years old when he made the damned thing which is quite impressive. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was a decent directorial debut and I think it is worth a look, especially if you are interested in Damien Chazelle’s work.  

After almost 20 years, Sam Raimi was finally coming up with something original and I thought I might as well check it out. Well, it definitely had some potential. Basically, they took ‘The Blue Lagoon’ concept and gave it a dark edge with some black humor which did sound really fun. On top of that, I always had a weak spot with movies dealing with survival in some rough environment and the damned thing was sometimes pretty wild with Raimi behind the wheel. And, yet, to be honest, I wasn’t completely sold after all. I think it had to do with the fact that the concept was actually too slight after all. The whole idea was to have some effective but mousy employee stuck in a deserted island with her douchebag boss and, while it might sound great on paper, it turned out to be too limited or limiting after all. I mean, the dynamic became clear from the start, Linda had always dreamed of facing such a challenge so she would take care of things but Bradley was an arrogant dominant spoiled brat and they would regularly clash. Unfortunately, this dynamic was obvious within the first moment that Bradley woke up on this island and they basically kept repeating and rewinding this conflict until the end which was, at least for me, not really satisfying. It did escalate and Raimi really went wild, that’s for sure, but it all felt rather predictable. Another issue was that Linda and Bradley were both not really interesting as characters. I won’t blame Rachel McAdams and Dylan O'Brien who were both some perfect choices to play these characters, they had to carry the whole thing on their own and they both really nailed it. To be honest, I thought it was rather weird though that, when they were back at the office, they successfully managed to tone down McAdams’s beauty and charisma but, suddenly, when she got stranded on this deserted island, she became quite gorgeous again which didn’t make much sense to me. Eventually, it turned out to be a B feature with a blockbuster budget but not really much more than that. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was still a decent watch and it is worth a look, especially if you are interested in Sam Raimi’s work. 

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but, since it was starring Noomi Rapace and since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, even though Rapace did have her international breakthrough at the beginning of the 2010’s, I’m afraid it didn’t last for long and, nowadays, she is stuck playing in such underwhelming direct-to-streaming features. This movie was a perfect example. Sure, I have to admit that it wasn’t the worst of the bunch but, at the end of the day, it was still totally forgettable. I mean, I do have a weak spot for post-apocalyptic movies and it was an interesting choice that they didn’t give any details about this conflict, how it started, what were the ideologies involved,… Still, beside this cloud of mystery, they didn’t really do anything interesting with the genre though. Eventually, the only thing which really worked was, as usual, Noomi Rapace. Indeed, no matter the material, she is always so intense and this movie was no exception. In this case, even though her character was barely developed, she was always convincing and compelling to behold. I have also noticed that, since I saw her in the Millenium franchise all these years ago, it was the first time that she was playing again in a Swedish movie so it was actually pretty cool to hear her speak Swedish again after all these years. Unfortunately, I didn’t care at all for the other actors involved but it was mostly due to the fact that all their respective characters were uninteresting and seriously half-baked. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was still a decent watch but really only thanks to Noomi Rapace and, if you are not a fan of her work, you should probably skip this movie. 

Since I kept hearing some interesting things about this movie, I was quite eager to check it out and I’m actually surprised that it took me so long to finally watch the damned thing. Well, even though it turned out to be a decent watch, to be honest, I didn’t expect it to look so old and so cheap and I don’t mean it as a compliment. Still, it was definitely a strange and intriguing documentary, no doubt about it. In fact, I was myself a hardcore gamer but not with these classic arcade games but with the next generation with the Nintendo, Super Nintendo, Sega Master System and Sega Mega Drive so I did have a connection with the subject matter. Especially in this case, I mean, I think I must have played Donkey Kong a couple of times back in the days but the damned thing was so difficult. At least, I would have to agree, I think retro gaming is actually more fun than modern gaming which somehow doesn’t work really well with my brain (in real life, I have no sense of orientation whatsoever and it turned out to be a major issue while playing video games in 3D environments). Still, I can’t imagine myself being so obsessed by one specific game after all these years. Anyway, while watching this movie, you obviously end up rooting for Steve Wiebe. Indeed, he was a nice guy, he was really dedicated to his craft and he seemed to be respectful to everyone around him. I did sense that they toned down the impact his passion/obsession actually had on his family though. Against him, well, you had Billy Mitchell who was (and still is?) this massive legend in retro gaming but, the more you watch the movie, the more you wonder if his reputation might have been more based on the persona he had created than his actual gaming skills. I mean, you do see him talking a lot but you actually never see him gaming at all through the whole duration which was rather suspicious. As a matter of fact, in the 2010’s, many of his more recent records were disputed as he was accused of cheating. Seriously, grown-up men playing for hours on some ancient arcade games, neglecting their loved ones in the process while maybe only 100’s of fanatics actually really care? Anyway, to conclude, it was a pretty cool documentary and it is definitely worth a look.