Login
Home
587 Lists
7852 Reviews
Collections
“Even though most of the Netflix original films have been terribly disappointing so far, since I kept hearing some positive things about this one, I was quite eager to check it out. To be honest, it is actually a rather slow movie and it took me a while to understand what the makers were really getti” read more
Notes: To be honest, it is actually a rather slow movie and it took me a while to understand what the makers were really getting at. Eventually, it was only from the moment that Ronsel and Jamie came back from the war that the whole thing started to really get my attention. Indeed, from that point, it became a study of a forbidden friendship involving 2 broken men and it was quite fascinating and also rather heartbreaking to behold. Basically, for the first time of his life, Ronsel had left this place and discovered the horrors of the war but also the rest of the world and, suddenly, he was treated mostly decently by some total strangers. But then, when he had to get back to the bigotry and segregation in Mississippi, he couldn't make this step back. For Jamie, it was a more conventional form of PTSD but the guy was still pretty much a lost soul as well. So, they became friends and even though they could support each other, this friendship would also have some dramatic consequences for both of them. To be honest, I'm not sure if I really cared for any of the other characters but these two men were quite spellbinding to behold. 
Notes: To be honest, I thought it was rather difficult to judge this movie because there is James Dean in it and everyone tends to overly praise his movies. I mean, by now, I have seen all 3 movies starring James Dean (see also ‘Giant’ and ‘East of Eden’) but, to be honest, I find it really weird that the guy became such a legend just after showing up in 3 movies. After watching this flick, I thought it became even more obvious. I mean, sure, I liked the damned thing and Dean gave a solid performance but I didn't think it was really a masterpiece. I don’t know, maybe, at the time, the teenagers thought it was fascinating as they were really able to identify themselves with the characters but, to be honest, I thought they were all rather whinny and even a little bit obnoxious. I mean, they are just really self-centered and I guess that’s what you are supposed to feel at this age but I thought they made it rather overly dramatic. Anyway, even though I wasn’t completely convinced by this feature, it was still a solid drama, James Dean was really charismatic, I have to admit it, and it is definitely worth a look. 
“Since I kept hearing some really good things about this flick (it even won the prestigious Golden Palm at the Cannes Film Festival), I was really eager to check it out. Well, I have been faithfully following Ken Loach for more than 20 years and, to be honest, I has been a while that the guy delivere” read more
Notes: Well, I have been faithfully following Ken Loach for more than 20 years and, to be honest, I has been a while that the guy delivered something so impressive. Indeed, Loach managed to deliver one of his best movies which was rather unexpected as many including myself thought that his best movies were already behind him. Anyway, once again, he gave us another socially relevant and really powerful tale and, in this case, it was even more heartbreaking as it all felt terribly familiar. Indeed, my wife has been terribly ill for already 8 years and, even though we live in the Netherlands and not UK, she had to face the same fight with the bureaucracy to have her invalid status acknowledged and approved. This battle lasted at least 4 years and what's so outrageous is that such organisations should be meant to help people but, in fact, there are in place to make sure the government's budget doesn't get red. As a result, you have some seriously sick people who spend hours, days, months dealing with this matter which eventually turns into a huge battle when they should be in fact focusing on their recovery. Well, in this movie, Ken Loach completely captured this social nightmare, the realism was just uncanny and it is not hard to believe that some women would choose to get into prostitution as ruthless gangsters and pimps might seem to be eventually more helpful than the so-called social welfare system.
Notes: I haven't seen this one yet...
Notes: I haven't seen this one yet...
“Even though this movie didn't really get much love when it was released, since I always had a weak spot for Gus Van Sant's work, I was quite eager to check it out. After the huge critical failure of 'The Sea of Trees' (It is even considered by many as his worst movie so far), Van Sant here made a ni” read more
Notes: I haven't seen this one yet...
“I wasn't really sure what to expect from this flick but since it seems to have a decent reputation, I thought I might as well check it out. First of all, I have to admit that I have never been a huge fan of Prince above all because his style was just too over-the-top for my taste but, while watching” read more
Notes: The damned thing turned out to be really impressive, even quite unforgettable I might add. Indeed, it is a great companion piece to ‘Shoah’, even if both movies tackled this subject in two completely different ways. At least, this movie was much shorter than ‘Shoah’ so you might assume that it is much easier to swallow but you would be actually mistaken. In fact, you might be grateful that it is rather short because they gave us some of the most horrifying images I came across. The interesting thing is that the damned thing started with some rather bucolic shots of the countryside with some fairly whimsical tune. They even made some sarcastic jokes about the architecture of the guards towers which was just so unexpected and it actually really floored me. The narration was also quite amazing. Indeed, it was so poetic in spite the fact that the material was dealing with the closest thing to hell you can imagine. It was apparently written by some guy called Jean Cayrol who was, unsurprisingly, a survivor from one of these death camps. Seriously, how incredibly difficult it must have been for him to write this stuff only 10 years after this nightmare took place? In general, it is quite incredible that they came up with such a movie so soon after the actual events. Eventually, I think that, back then, people already had the need to remember, to look back to what happen, even if it was so horrible because, if we don’t, we might forget it or not believe something so horrendous might have ever taken place.
“To be honest, I wasn't expect much from this flick but since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as wel check it out. I have to admit that I have never been a huge fan of such spoofs and, even though this one is considered by many as a cult-classic, I really had a hard time to care about ” read more
“To be honest, I wasn't really sure what to expect from this flick but since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as wel check it out. Well, even though I didn't have such huge expectations, the damned thing still turned out to be seriously disappointing, First of all, I always hate it wh” read more
“Even though this movie didn't get much love when it was released, since I have always been interested in Tarsem Singh's work, I still wanted to check it out. Well, unfortunately, it turned out to be another really disappointing effort from the once so promising director. I have to admit it though, e” read more