Login
Home
585 Lists
7798 Reviews
Collections
Cast : Bradley Cooper, Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara, Toni Collette, Willem Dafoe, Ron Perlman, David Strathairn, Richard Jenkins, Tim Blake Nelson
What was it about?
An ambitious young carny with a talent for manipulating people with a few well-chosen words hooks up with a female psychiatrist who is even more dangerous than he is.
My two cents:
For the 1st time of his career, Del Toro finally handled a fairly realistic tale without some fantastic elements but there was an obvious connection between his usual work and this carnival world filled with freaks and misfits. Anyway, there is no denying that the damned thing looked amazing and Del Toro, with his first neo-noir, delivered a pitch-perfect mood. Bradley Cooper also delivered a strong performance as well, even if his character turned out to be not much more than a cheap hustler after all. Concerning the story, it definitely had some potential but, to be honest, I think it could have been even better developed though. First of all, even if it was always entertaining, it was also really long and it felt as if Del Toro tried to combine two movies in one. To make things worse, in spite of the rather extensive running time, most of the other characters (Molly, Dr. Lilith Ritter, Zeena, Pete, Clem, Ezra Grindle) were all barely developed which was a shame since they were all quite fascinating. The biggest victim was probably Rooney Mara who was stuck playing another thankless part. I mean, what did Molly see in Stanton? And, the other way around, what did he see in her? Coming back on Stanton Carlisle, we do spend so much time with the guy and, as a result, I was expecting him to come up with something exceptional at some point. However, after all, the guy went from being a hobo to be a cheap hustler, then a slight less cheap hustler and finally ended up as a pathetic drunk so you might wonder if the guy was really worth spending so much time with after all. On the other hand, I have to admit that the final scene was pretty much perfect. All in all, even if it wasn’t really a homerun, it was a solid watch though.
My rating: 07/10
Check the full review
Notes: For the 1st time of his career, Del Toro finally handled a fairly realistic tale without some fantastic elements but there was an obvious connection between his usual work and this carnival world filled with freaks and misfits. Anyway, there is no denying that the damned thing looked amazing and Del Toro, with his first neo-noir, delivered a pitch-perfect mood. Bradley Cooper also delivered a strong performance as well, even if his character turned out to be not much more than a cheap hustler after all. Concerning the story, it definitely had some potential but, to be honest, I think it could have been even better developed though. First of all, even if it was always entertaining, it was also really long and it felt as if Del Toro tried to combine two movies in one. To make things worse, in spite of the rather extensive running time, most of the other characters (Molly, Dr. Lilith Ritter, Zeena, Pete, Clem, Ezra Grindle) were all barely developed which was a shame since they were all quite fascinating. The biggest victim was probably Rooney Mara who was stuck playing another thankless part. I mean, what did Molly see in Stanton? And, the other way around, what did he see in her? Coming back on Stanton Carlisle, we do spend so much time with the guy and, as a result, I was expecting him to come up with something exceptional at some point. However, after all, the guy went from being a hobo to be a cheap hustler, then a slight less cheap hustler and finally ended up as a pathetic drunk so you might wonder if the guy was really worth spending so much time with after all. On the other hand, I have to admit that the final scene was pretty much perfect. All in all, even if it wasn’t really a homerun, it was a solid watch though.
“Since I had seen so far all the movies directed by Guillermo Del Toro, of course, I had to see his last directorial effort at some point, especially since it had once again received some solid reviews. Everybody noticed that, for the 1st time of his career, Del Toro finally handled a fairly realisti” read more
“I didn’t care much for ‘Murder on the Orient Express’ but, since it was apparently fairly successful at the box-office, they had to come up with a sequel and, since it was available on Disney+, I thought I might as well check it out. First of all, I did see the older version starring Peter Ust” read more
“To be honest, 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. First of all, the Americans have apparently always been fascinated the Lizzie Borden true crime story since th” read more
“Since I’m a huge fan of Pixar and since this movie had received some really good reviews, I was seriously eager to check it out. Well, once again, Pixar didn’t disappoint, that’s for sure and it is impressive how far ahead they are still in the overcrowded CGI animated features market. Sure, t” read more
Notes: Once again, Pixar didn’t disappoint, that’s for sure and it is impressive how far ahead they are still in the overcrowded CGI animated features market. Sure, the damned thing looked amazing, I wouldn’t expect less from these guys, but it went so much deeper than that. Indeed, even though it might seem at first to be about a girl suddenly turning into a red panda, it was actually about puberty and it was really neat how well they tackled such a tricky subject. Indeed, after watching so many movies, I think I could count on a single hand all the movies which actually managed to do something interesting and/or believable on this topic. In this case, their biggest asset was the main character, Meilin, who was so convincing, so pitch-perfect, I think she was hands-down one of the best characters created by Pixar. I also loved her tight group of friends. Eventually, even though the whole thing was entertaining, they always took these characters and what they were going through seriously and the end-result was just spellbinding to behold. To be honest, I wish they made her struggle a little bit longer with her ‘curse’ and, eventually, she got it under control too fast in my opinion. Furthermore, I didn’t care much about the whole scheme of making money with her ability of becoming a red panda but these were some really minor flaws. 
“I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since it was starring Saoirse Ronan and Margot Robbie, I was quite eager to check it out. Well, even if the damned thing looked great and even if Ronan and Robbie both gave some solid performances, to be honest, I was never really convinced b” read more
