I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since I have a weak spot for Emma Stone, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, there is no doubt that Billie Jean King was a fascinating woman, a real trailblazer, and Emma Stone gave here another strong performance (she still looked 10 times better than King even after they tried to tone down her natural beauty though). Unfortunately, pretty much anything else in this movie felt terribly flat and seriously predictable. Seriously, pretty much any turn of events and the consequences they might have could be easily anticipated at least 30 mins in advance. Another major failure of this movie was that the makers never managed to show the importance of the match between King and Riggs had at the time. Indeed, to be honest, I thought it was rather weird that it was considered such a big achievement for the n.1 female tennis player to be able to beat a 55 year old retired tennis champion. I mean, if nowadays Serena Williams would play against a male player 25 years older than her, I’m pretty sure she would crush him. However, back then, for the women’s liberation movement, this game was actually huge and, in my opinion, this movie never really managed to show its impact. It didn’t help that the makers wasted too much time on Bobby Riggs’s private life and it was also a mistake to focus also on King’s discovery that she was a lesbian. In fact, she already knew years before and the movie was already dealing with women’s rights and to add gay’s rights to the mix as well was just too much to handle. Anyway, to conclude, even if it turned out to be rather half-baked, it was still an interesting movie and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since there was a nice cast involved and since it was available on Netflix, I was quite eager to check it out. After watching this flick, I have noticed that it had been actually pretty much destroyed by the critics but, to be honest, I don’t think it was so bad. I mean, sure, it  was hardly original and it was pretty much a mix of vastly superior SF flicks (‘Gattaca’, ‘Blade Runner’, ‘Ex-Machina’,…) but I think the concept was interesting enough. On top of that, as usual, Léa Seydoux was quite mesmerizing to behold. Basically, the basis of this movie was that a deep and meaningful relationship between a man and a robot (or synthetic as they called them in this movie) was unthinkable. However, the main issue was that this notion was really flawed. Indeed, in my opinion, if such robots could develop some complex feelings and thoughts like us, then, they would be pretty much just as human as we are. I mean, at the end of the day, we are basically some organic machines, no more, no less, and the only thing that really defines us is our minds, not our organs. As a result, the inner struggle going on with Ewan McGregor’s character was never really convincing, I’m afraid. The point they tried to make was that, since he designed and built up Zoe, he would never be able to accept her as someone real but, as explained before, it never really worked. To make things worse, before the 3^rd act, some car accident happened and it had a dramatic impact on their relationship but what exactly happened between them afterwards was never clear. Seriously, it turned the whole thing into some kind of lame romantic-comedy during which the lovers are separated by some bogus conflict before finally getting back together at the end. Anyway, to conclude, even if the damned thing was indeed rather half-baked, it was still a decent SF feature and I think if it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

I really had no idea what to expect from this flick but since it won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, I was quite eager to check it out. I have to admit that I was slightly worried by the 4 hours running time. Well, I wish it was worth it but, eventually, even if the story was not bad at all, it was probably the slowest thriller I have ever seen. Seriously, to be honest, maybe I missed something but I didn’t see anything in this movie which required such a long running time. I mean, at some point, instead of looking for her lost son as she said she would do, the main character decided to go after the man responsible of her wrongful imprisonment. Fine, but then, she did spend at least two hours of running time stalking the guy day and night which was just too much. In the process, she became acquainted with some marginal figures (a hunchback selling some balut eggs, a transvestite and a mentally disturbed homeless woman) and, through most of the running time, she had some seemingly pointless conversations with these characters over and over again. Obviously, I didn’t really grasp this movie but, at least, it was visually quite beautiful though. Indeed, with this gorgeous black-and-white photography, it reminded me of ‘Roma’ which was actually released afterwards. Furthermore, all the scenes were done with some very long static shots and it was obvious that the director Lav Diaz made sure each scene looked like some realistic and yet still suggestive canvas. Finally, there is no doubt that Charo Santos-Concio delivered here a very strong performance. Anyway, to conclude, even if it didn’t really work for me, it was still an interesting watch and it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

Since I kept hearing some good things about this flick, I thought I might as well check it out. First of all, I have to admit that I didn’t know anything about the famous book series it was adapted from but I think this lack of knowledge actually allowed me to enjoy more this flick. Indeed, as a result, during the first half, I was wondering where the whole thing was getting to and it kept me on the edge of my seat. However, from the moment all these monsters got loose, it all went on auto-pilot until the end, I'm afraid. Sure, it was rather well made and fairly spectacular but, in my opinion, the concept was nothing really ground-breaking after all and, in a similar genre, I preferred ‘Jumanji’. The issue was that from the moment the snowman gets out, it was pretty much some non-stop action scenes and, as a result, there was actually no room for character development. Of course, you shouldn’t express something very deep from such a movie but it would have been nice if they could have slowed down a notch the relentless CGI extravaganza so we could have the time to learn the characters and care about them. At least, the cast was really solid and Jack Black was a perfect choice to play R.L. Stine. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was still a decent watch and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

Since this movie has a rather poor reputation, I wasn’t expecting much but since I have a weak spot for Keanu Reeves, I though I might as well check it out. Well, unfortunately, it turned out to be terribly lame, I’m afraid. Basically, it was an indie feature trying to be quirky and/or artistic but it completely failed to be either. On top of that, nothing much happened through the whole thing and, to make things worse, the few characters involved were just terrible. Indeed, they were all uninteresting, but the character played by Reeves was just spineless and the character played by Bojana Novakovic was even sometimes downright cringe-inducing. While you are kept in the dark through most of the duration, there was finally some twist at the end providing some information about these characters but it was just as lame and underwhelming at the rest of the movie was. Eventually, the most bewildering thing about this movie was how Keanu Reeves ended getting involved in this project. Indeed, for a lame blockbuster, at least, he would get a nice pay check but since this movie was obviously made with a shoestring budget, money was definitely not the motivator here. At least, Bojana Novakovic and Adelaide Clemens did look charming but that’s probably the only positive thing I could find regarding this flick. Anyway, to conclude, the damned thing was pretty much a waste of time and it is definitely not worth a look, except maybe if you are a die-hard fan of Keanu Reeves. 

Since it sounded like a very interesting movie and since it was available on Netflix, I was quite eager to check it out. Well, even though the material was quite fascinating (I have to admit that I didn’t know much about Ted Bundy before watching this flick), unfortunately, I didn’t really get the approach they chose. I mean, you can assume that the idea was to tell this story from Liz Kendall’s point of view which wasn’t a bad idea but it didn’t really work, I’m afraid. Indeed, during the 2^nd half, pretty much right after the first trial, Kendall took her distance from Bundy and, for the rest of the movie, she was barely involved, except for getting drunk on her coach and follow the news on her TV. Furthermore, the way they handled Ted Bundy was also rather odd. Basically, you never see him doing anything really truly reprehensible and they focused more on his escapes and some of his trials and fairly often, some of the arguments made by the accusation were actually rather dodgy. As a result, you start wonder if he might have been innocent somehow but, to be honest, I’m not sure that it was what the makers really wanted to achieve here. I think that the idea was to make Ted Bundy look more ambiguous but it was like trying to convince us that Hannibal Lecter was actually a vegetarian. Still, it doesn’t mean that it was a bad movie, far from it. Indeed, it was still a spellbinding story and Zac Efron and Lily Collins were very well cast. Above all, I was really impressed by Zac Efron who easily gave here his best performance so far. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was still a decent watch and I think it is definitely worth a look.