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“When this movie was released, even though it was critically heralded, it turned out to be a box-office flop. Apparently, the audience didn’t care for another Steve Jobs biopic only a couple of years after another one, even if it was apparently much superior than its predecessor. Even so, since i” read more
“To be honest, it has been a while since I have seen this flick and I wonder how I actually ended up watching the damned thing. I think one of my friends at the time suggested to me to watch it. Anyway, it was the first time I saw a movie directed by Gregg Araki and I was definitely impressed. Indeed” read more
Notes: To be honest, I did struggle to really connect with this movie. I mean, it did give an interesting and really bleak view on the life in China back in the 50’s and 60’s. In fact, while watching the damned thing, I was wondering how the director got away with making something like this in China. Well, he didn’t. Indeed, during the production, they apparently smuggled the movie out to Japan and then released the movie worldwide. Anyway, basically, it deals with some average people, living some average life and, apparently, they all went along fine in a rather peaceful community. However, following the drastic decisions of the Chinese Communist party, their lives were suddenly turned upside down and fear became suddenly a major factor in their everyday life. What stroke me was that you get to see them living for years under such a political system which was originally designed to be fair but, eventually, you didn’t see them experiencing any improvement on their living conditions at all. So, that was all quite interesting but the main issue I had was that, even though you spend more than 2 hours with the characters, you don’t get to know any of them after all. I guess it might be one of the virtues of this movie, the fact that you have to figure out on your own what these characters might be thinking or feeling. However, since I’m not Chinese and since I was born in the 80’s, it was rather difficult for me to relate with them. Anyway, even if it didn’t really blow me away, it was still a very interesting movie though.
“Earlier this year, I already saw the first installment so I thought I might just as well re-watch this sequel. I'm well aware of the fact that this movie has a rather lame reputation but I always had a weak spot for the damned thing and it is definitely one of my guilty pleasures. Anyway, I don't re” read more
“If I recall it correctly, for some reasons, I actually saw this movie with my wife in the movie theater when it was released. To be honest, it was a rather odd choice since it seemed to rather cheesy but, I have to admit it, I always had a weak spot for romantic-comedies and I probably thought that ” read more
“I already saw this movie but since it was such a long time ago, I was really eager to check it out again. Basically, it was some kind of homage to Alfred Hitchcock’s work, and even though Hitchcock himself was apparently not impressed, I think the damned thing was actually pretty neat. Indeed, I e” read more
Notes: Personally, I always had some mixed feelings about this flick. Indeed, on one hand, Jonathan Demme is a fine director and Denzel Washington and Tom Hanks provided also some solid performances. Especially for Tom Hanks, it really launched the 2nd phase of his career. Indeed, so far, Hanks was successful as a comic actor but, thanks to this movie, not only he managed to win his first Academy Award but he became overnight a really sought-after dramatic actor. Concerning the HIV issue, since it was a the first big budget movie about the subject, it was indeed quite important. And, yet, the whole thing didn’t reallly convince me. The main issue was that this movie was just too late. Indeed, in my opinion, they should have made it 10 years before, when the whole disease was completely misunderstood, then it would have been really ground-breaking. Basically, it just pushes a whole bunch of wide open doors, pretty much validating the prejudices of most of the viewers (’10 years ago, we wouldn’t touch or speak to an AIDS patient because they were all gays and junkies and we were just ignorant but, now, everybody agrees that it is all so sad’) and, in the process, it got on my nerves. 
“To be honest, even though I have seen all the movies directed by Hayao Miyazaki, I'm afraid I have never been a really huge fan of his work. Still, he remains a really interesting director so I was really eager to check his last (and probably final) directing effort. Well, first of all, as usual, th” read more
“I actually saw this movie when it was released, I was just about 13-14 years old, and I think the fact that I was younger made me able to enjoy more this movie. Indeed, when I was even younger, I used to watch all the old movies starring Bruce Lee with my father, I thought they were just awesome and” read more
Notes: I haven't seen this one yet...
“To be honest, it has been a while since I have seen this movie and maybe I should re-watch it at some point. First of all, even though I did love some movies directed by Jim Jarmusch such as ‘Dead Man’, ‘Ghost Dog’ or ‘Only Lovers Left Alive’, I must admit that I actually had a hard time” read more
Notes: When it was released, there was a huge buzz and eventually it received some great reviews. So, following this and the fact I loved Robert Altman's previous movie ('The Player'), I was really eager to watch this movie. Unfortunately, I was rather disappointed. Still, since I was 14-15 years old when I watched it the first time around, I thought it needed a rewatch. Eventually, I enjoyed it a little bit more but it was still nothing mind-blowing. Basically, it is one of those hyperlink features with various characters and storylines which are more or less intertwined together. Back then, I thought it was a boring mess which was going nowhere. Nowadays, I'm more familiar with the whole hyperlink thing and I could appreciate more what Robert Altman was trying to pull here. Unfortunately, pretty much like 'Nashville', I didn't care much about the characters or what they were going through and, as a result, it was sometimes rather tedious to watch. Still, it was very well directed, there was a huge cast and they all gave some strong performances. 
Cast : Isabelle Huppert, Charles Berling, Virginie Effira
What was it about?
Michèle seems indestructible. Head of a successful video game company, she brings the same ruthless attitude to her love life as to business. Being attacked in her home by an unknown assailant changes Michèle's life forever.
My two cents:
Obviously, the critics won't miss the fact that that it was rather misognist as the women seem to almost enjoy to be brutalised to the point that they might even fall in love with the perpetrator but Verhoeven has never been a subtle director in this area. Eventually, what won me over was this fascinating main character, perfectly played by Isabelle Huppert who is still one of the best French actresses. Indeed, during the whole thing, you are never sure if you should despise this manipulative ice queen bitch or admire this attractive incredibly sharp woman. I also loved the fact that the whole thing was never about finding how did the deed and it keeps going on in some unexpected very dark corners after you found out who it was. The only major problem I had is that they were probably too many characters with their own agenda and, as a result , they kept adding layers upon layers of various conflicts and intrigues and it was just too much too handle for this movie . Still, even though it wasn’t flawless, I thought it was really captivating.
My rating: 07/10
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“At last, after 10 long years, Paul Verhoeven finally came up with a new directing effort and I was really eager to check it out . Eventually, I'm not sure if the other members of my film club really liked it but I thought it was another strong thriller from the Dutch master. Obviously, the critics w” read more
My Queue 2 - Movie backlog (1376 movies items)"@Director Black, you can vote only once for a movie."