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“I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since I have a weak spot for Jessica Chastain, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, to be honest, I ended up with some mixed feelings about the damned thing. Indeed, even though there were some interesting things, in my opinion, it w” read more
chosen by Bea
Notes: What I liked the most about this movie was that there were just so many interesting layers. First of all, even though you might feel nothing about skateboarding, you'll have to admit that there was something quite spellbinding about watching these guys dashing through such a ugly urban landscape doing some incredible tricks. Indeed, in such a socially and economically deprived environment, they still found a way to push themselves creatively, honing their skills through hours of training, delivering something artistic while their relatives completely ignored them. But, of course, the whole thing went just way beyond skating. It was also an intimate look on these skaters and the fact that the director was one of them was something that you rarely get to see since, most of the time, a documentary maker is basically an outsider. As a result, the whole thing was just as much about Bing Liu himself than about his two friends. Concerning his buddies, it did help that they were both really charismatic. Eventually, as far as I was concerned, I was mostly intrigued by the way he handled Zack. Basically, the guy was/is one of his best friends but also a destructive loose cannon who happened to be also abusive with his girlfriend, something Bing Liu clearly struggled to deal with, especially with his own past as a victim of domestic violence. Anyway, I could go on forever, basically, it was a really strong documentary and the best one we have seen so far with the film club.
(Mar. 2019)
Notes: I haven't seen this one yet...
“To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since I have a weak spot for Matthew McConaughey, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, eventually, it was a really interesting story with some great potential but it turned out to be only a decent watch at best, I’m a” read more
Notes: To be honest, with such a title, I was actually expecting something rather cheesy. Well, I have to admit that the end-result turned to be not so corny after all and, eventually, I wonder what they actually meant with this title. Still, even though they did give an interesting look on what it meant, and probably still means, to go back home for many soldiers, they didn’t cut really deep into this sensitive subject though. Indeed, not one of these soldiers suffered from debilitating PTST, not one of them did beat up their wife or girlfriend, not one of them became an alcoholic or a drug addict and not one of them went on a shooting rampage. Still, I still have to admit that they didn’t complete sugarcoat what they went through and their portrayals did feel truthful and convincing. The fact that these 3 men were basically some average guys and not some kind of perfect super-beings also really helped. On top of that, it was definitely courageous to take some distance from all these movies displaying war as such a great and honorable endeavor for all involved, especially only a few years after WWII ended. It was also a master move to cast Harold Russell, an actual wounded soldier, to play Homer Parrish and you can imagine that, nowadays, they would hire instead a famous actor and use some CGI but this approach was obviously much more naturalistic and simply better.
“From the 3 DVDs my sister recently gave me as a gift, this was the one I was the most excited about since I am a big fan of Bertrand Tavernier’s work and of French cinema in general. Pretty much like Martin Scorsese did with the Italian cinema with ‘Il mio viaggio in Italia’ (even the titles o” read more
Notes: To be honest, I have to admit that I was slightly worried while watching the 1st episode. Indeed, even though the girl playing Carmela, apparently a non-professional and illiterate actress, was fine, the actors playing the American soldiers were just really weak. Fortunately, it didn’t bother me much during the rest of the movie which turned out to be really strong after all. Indeed, I really liked the approach chosen by Roberto Rossellini. Basically, instead of a having a main character, a hero, he gave various episodes, each time focusing on different people involved in various situations but it actually gave a much more accurate depiction on how war actually works. Indeed, war impacts everyone and it’s never really about the acts of one courageous individual. On top of that, It’s interesting that, even though this episodic approach might make the whole thing seem random, it was actually surprisingly effective. Indeed, there was a clever narrative thread as each parts chronologically followed the historical events that took place during the war (the arrival of the Allies in Sicily, how they progressed in the main land through Naples, Rome and Florence and the final battle in the Po delta a few months before the end of the war). It was also impressive that Rossellini managed to deliver this movie only a few years after the war ended, especially since it was quite ambitious with many characters coming from various countries, with many locations and plenty of army gear and equipment involved. 
“To be honest, I didn’t know anything from this flick so I had no idea what to expect from it and I actually ended up watching the damned thing because my sister bought me this movie on DVD. Well, first of all, even though ‘Intouchables’ is a decent flick, I still think it must be one of the mo” read more
Notes: Before watching this flick, I had already seen two other versions of this story ('Ossessione' (1943), 'The Postman Always Rings Twice' (1981)) and this version turned out to the best one I have seen so far. There is apparently a 4th version ('Le dernier tournant' released in 1939) but, by now, I think I'm pretty much done with this story... Anyway, coming back to our main feature, even though you didn't have the explosive sex scenes from the Jack Nicholson-Jessica Lange version, John Garfiel and Lana Turner had together some very nice chemistry and they made together one of the best doomed couples I have ever seen. Basically, they were not really good, they were not really bad either, they were both continuously fighting the feelings they had but they couldn't get rid off each other. Even though it was already the 3rd time around I watched this story, it was just spellbinding and it is definitely one of the best film noir I have seen so far. It did tend to drag a little bit towards the end but it might have had to do with the fact that I already knew the whole thing by heart at this point. 
“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. Well, even though it didn't reach the level of 'Game Change' (I still have to watch 'Recount'), it was actually ” read more
“By now, somehow, I have seen almost all the movies starring Jason Statham and, to be honest, most of them are just terribly generic and rather boring and this movie could have been a perfect example of this. However, it actually had some potential as it had a nice darker and edgier edge than your us” read more
“To be honest, I wasn't really sure what to expect from this flick but since I have a weak spot for Michelle Monaghan and Michael Keaton, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, unfortunately, it turned out to be such an underwhelming cheap direct-to-DVD thriller. I mean, I don't blame Michelle” read more
Notes: Even though I have to admit that it is indeed probably the best version of this tale I have seen, well, I still think that the story is/was rather boring though. Concerning the characters, it was pretty much the same. Sure, I have to admit that Jean Marais did manage to do a lot with the Beast but all the characters were, in my opinion, rather tedious. However, there is no denying that it was such a masterstroke to have a surrealist poet like Jean Cocteau to direct this classic fairy tale. Indeed, can you imagine if someone like David Lynch or Luis Buñuel would have been allowed to direct ‘Snow White’ or ‘Cinderella’? Well, it could have been brilliant but that’s actually what happened here. Indeed, instead of the usual sappy children story, here, Cocteau went for a completely different vibe and the end-result was some kind of surreal gothic horror tale which was obviously really neat. Above all, the damned thing was visually quite amazing with some arms holding candelabras all over the place, some statues following you with their gaze and many other interesting visual stuff. Eventually, since everybody seemed to love the damned thing so much, I feel slightly bad that I didn’t care more about it, even if I really admired it. Maybe I should give it another try at some point.