Posted : 3 years, 10 months ago on 31 December 2020 07:07
(A review of
Miss You Already)
To be honest, the title of this movie was a major spoiler which wasnât really a great start but since there was a nice cast involved, I thought I might as well check it. Well, I have to admit that it actually turned out to be a decent surprise and it has been ages that Catherine Hardwicke had delivered a solid directorial effort like this one. Of course, you could argue that âTwilightâ had been a massive box-office success but it was also ridiculed by the rest of the planet. Above all, its commercial success never had the impact you might have expected on Hardwickeâs career. Anyway, coming back to our main feature, they did get many elements right. Indeed, the four characters were fairly well developed and the cast (Drew Barrymore, Toni Collette, Dominique Cooper, Paddy Considine) all delivered some solid performances. I also did appreciate that the tone was usually fine and thankfully it never became too light. I guess that it was the main issue with this movie, the fact that it was âfineâ but, to be honest, it never became really much more than that. Maybe it was too safe but, in the genre of âthe terminally-ill-cancer-patientâ, it definitely didnât cover some new ground after all. I also believed that the conflict between Millie and Jess was probably not dramatic enough and it was also hardly convincing. I mean, they spent the whole movie creating a great friendship and, yet, they would like us to believe that Jess would suddenly dump Milly while she was in the middle of a huge fight against cancer? Anyway, to conclude, even if it wasnât a masterpiece after all, it was still a decent watch though and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.
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Posted : 3 years, 10 months ago on 30 December 2020 07:35
(A review of
Criminal)
I wasnât really sure what to expect from this flick but since there was a really nice cast involved, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, with such a generic title, I should have already lowered my expectations but, to be honest, I was actually surprised by how weak it turned out to be. Seriously, how did they manage to get such a cast (Kevin Costner, Gary Oldman, Tommy Lee Jones, Ryan Reynolds, Gal Gadot, Michael Pitt, Alice Eve, Antje Traue, Scott Adkins) to show up in such a movie which was basically a weak B feature? Sure, the intro was promising but, very quickly, the plot turned out to be some huge nonsense and, very soon, I had lost any interest. Basically, it was some kind of mix of âFace/Offâ with âSelf/Lessâ but the only reason why John Wooâs movie was at least slightly entertaining, was because it didnât take itself so damned seriously. Another missed opportunity was the fact that, in my opinion, they basically ruined Kevin Costnerâs character. Indeed, it was probably the only interesting thing in this movie, the fact that Costner was playing a dangerous sociopath, unfortunately, his personality was changed almost right from the start and he became, well, just another terribly nice and decent guy, the kind of characters Costner has been playing for most of his career. Anyway, to conclude, the damned thing was really weak and I donât think it is really worth a look.
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Posted : 3 years, 10 months ago on 29 December 2020 07:42
(A review of
Glass)
Since this movie had been really poorly received, I wasnât expecting much, but the idea of a movie mixing âUnbreakableâ and âSplitâ sounded really intrigued so I still wanted to check it out. Furthermore, I wondered how Shyamalan had managed to ruin so quickly his fresh new comeback. Well, to be honest, after watching the flick, I have to admit that I was actually positively surprised by the damned thing and I wonder why the reviews were so harsh. I mean, sure, it wasnât a masterpiece whatsoever but I thought it was still a decent sequel in this franchise. Indeed, I really loved the idea of a movie reuniting Kevin Dunn with Elijah Price and Kevin Wendell Crumb and the set-up, to have them imprisoned all together fairly early on in a psychiatric hospital/jail was really neat as well. However, the fact that the security was just so low-key in his facility was just ridiculous and hardly convincing. I mean, one of these men was super strong and the other one was super dangerous so they might require something more then a few guards and some cameras. Concerning the characters, it was rather odd that, even though there were only 3 of them and the running time was over 2 hours, Shyamalan didnât really manage to develop any of them. I mean, Bruce Willis was basically sleepwalking through his whole performance but I guess you shouldnât expect more from him nowadays. On the other hand, Samuel L. Jackson was simply catatonic for one hour. James McAvoy was once again quite brilliant juggling no less than 20 characters but, for some reasons, this time around, they decided to make him switch characters every 10 seconds and, as a result, he became some kind of exhausting circus act. Finally, as usual with this director, there were a couple of twists at the end but, since it is his most infamous trademark, they were hardly surprising but, above all, they were rather pretentious and, eventually, hardly as fascinating as Shyamalan would like us to think. Anyway, to conclude, even though I would agree that this movie was flawed, I still believe that the concept was really neat and it turned to be a decent watch after all so I think it is worth a look.
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Posted : 3 years, 10 months ago on 28 December 2020 08:15
(A review of
Soul (2020))
Even though Pixarâs recent track-record has been rather patchy, this movie did sound really intriguing and it was really neat that it was released for free on Disney+ on Christmas. Well, the guys from Pixar have done it again. Indeed, they have produced yet another masterpiece. Of course, the animation was gorgeous, I wouldnât expect less from them, and the jazz music was really sweet as well, but, above all, the depth of the story and the themes developed was just really impressive. You might argue that it might be too similar to âInside Outâ, Pete Docterâs previous directing effort, but I didnât bother me. Basically, this movie was some kind of a mix of âInside Outâ with âCocoâ and âUpâ with some body-switching as well. Regarding the body-switching thing, you can imagine that they could have made the whole movie about this (how many movies have been made around this concept?) and it would have been still fairly successful anyway. However, and thatâs where the movie really stands out from the competition, they went just way beyond that. Basically, they tackled the biggest question ever which is âWhat is the meaning of life?â, even if both characters were not even aware of this quest and this journey was just quite spellbinding. I also really appreciate the fact that, even though the main character seemed to be a decent guy, he was also flawed which made him so much more human and identifiable. The only critic I might have was that I wasnât completely convinced by the logic ruling the Great Before or Great Beyond. I mean, for example, how many times did Joe go back back and forth between our world and this other realm? It seemed slightly too simple. Still, in spite of this minor flaw, the damned thing was just fascinating to behold and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.
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Posted : 3 years, 10 months ago on 24 December 2020 12:45
(A review of
Holmes & Watson)
Of course, I didnât expect much from the damned thing but I guess I still wanted to check it if it was indeed so bad after all. Well, to be honest, I have to admit that some of the jokes were actually fairly clever and some others were so stupid that they turned out to be actually quite funny. Unfortunately, pretty much everything else in this movie was just terribly dreadful, Iâm afraid. The first issue was that the whole concept was misguided from the very start. Indeed, during the last 10 years, there has been an overdose of Sherlock Holmes adaptations (according to IMDb, this was already the seventh iteration). As a result, it means that the genre has already become a parody of itself (see for example Guy Ritchieâs version), so, there was definitely no need to make such a parody which was just seriously redundant and felt like beating a dead horse. On top of that, even though it was maybe fun at first, the whole gimmick of Will Ferrell playing some arrogant idiot has outstayed its wecolme a long time ago, Iâm afraid. Eventually, what you get was a Holmes who would say something impossibly clever and then, 10 seconds later, something incredibly stupid  so the character was never really consistent. And the fact that everyone around him thought that he was brilliant for no apparent reason made it even more cringe-inducing to behold. Concerning the plot, it was just terribly derivative and, at the same time, too convoluted to be actually at least somewhat entertaining. Anyway, to conclude, the damned thing was just a waste of time and you should probably avoid it.
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Posted : 3 years, 10 months ago on 24 December 2020 08:08
(A review of
Chicken with Plums)
Since I really loved âPersepolisâ, I was really eager to see this following directorial effort from Marjane Satrapi. Well, even though it turned out to be not bad at all, Iâm afraid it still didnât really work though. First of all, even though this movie was also an adaptation from another acclaimed graphic novel written and drawn by Satrapi, in contrary to âPersepolisâ, she decided to make a live-action adaptation but, considering the material, it might have worked better in the animation genre. To put it bluntly, the story was quite a mess. In fact, somehow, I havenât read the book, but I believe it could still work with a graphic novel but, when adapted this way, the visual realism just clashed with the inertia of the story. At least, I have to admit that the whole thing looked fine though. What to say about this tale? I guess it was supposed to be some kind of Persian fairytale and I did like the fact that the narrator was omnipotent and would tell anything from the past and the future completely randomly. Unfortunately, it was just rather difficult to get the whole thing started and, to be honest, it never really took off. Finally, Mathieu Amalric remains one of my favorite French actors and delivered here another solid performance but, eventually, his character was just so uncharismatic and rather unlikeable and, as a result, it was difficult to care about what he was going through. The other characters were not much more interesting (except for Azrael) but, at least, they had the excuse that they were all barely developed. Anyway, to conclude, I really wonder if it would have worked better as an animated feature but, in spite of its flaws, it was still a decent watch and I think it is worth a look, especially if you are interested in Marjane Satrapiâs work.
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Posted : 3 years, 10 months ago on 23 December 2020 07:48
(A review of
The Professor and the Madman)
I wasnât expecting much from this flick but since I have a weak spot for Sean Penn and Mel Gibson, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, it has been ages since both actors had a critical or commercial success (at least, Gibson had more luck as a director with âHacksaw Ridgeâ) but Iâm afraid this movie turned out to be another flop. But, to be honest, making a movie about the creation of a dictionary was maybe not the greatest idea in the world. On the other hand, I have to admit that the fact that a schizophrenic murderer became a major contributor was intriguing but, still, the damned thing never really worked. Basically, they tried to focus on both men but James Murray was pretty much reduced to a workaholic struggling to get this gigantic work done. In fact, they mostly focused on rehabilitating Dr. William Chester Minor but I think this approach was a mistake. Indeed, they kept telling us that the guy was actually not so bad, in fact, even brilliant, and, therefore, he should have been pretty much released. However, he did kill a random innocent man during a psychotic episode which means that he was maybe not guilty by insanity but still insane and there was absolutely no indication that it would never ever happen again. To make things worse, the widow of his victim actually fell in love with him which was downright ludicrous. I mean, that she would forgive him, sure, why not? But the whole love angle was just completely misguided though. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, I have to admit that it was still an intriguing story and I guess it is worth a look.
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Posted : 3 years, 10 months ago on 22 December 2020 11:13
(A review of
Norwegian Wood)
I had no idea what to expect from this flick but since it was directed by Anh Hung Tran, I was quite eager to check it out. To be honest, I canât believe it was the first movie I have seen from this director in the last 20 years (on the other hand, he has directed only 3 movies in the meantime). Well, first of all, I thought it was very brave from Tran Anh Hung, a Vietnamese director who spent most of his youth in France, to direct a Japanese movie. Unfortunately, even if the damned thing was, as usual with this director, visually really neat, Iâm afraid it still didnât really work though. Eventually, what was this movie about after all? Basically, it was about a young student who had the bad luck to fall in love with 2 very difficult girls. The first one, Naoko (very well played by Rinko Kikuchi), at least, had the excuse that she had been highly traumatised by the suicide of her first love, Kizuki, who happened to be also the best friend of the main character. Unfortunately, these characters were introduced within the 5 minutes only by voice-over and , by that point, Kizuki was actually already dead. As a result, this movie really suffered from the fact that the relationship between these 3 characters was never properly fleshed out from the start. With Midori, the other girl the main character fell in love with, it was even trickier as she was basically an annoying tease, at least, as far as I was concerned. Especially when she tried to explain what love meant for her, I thought it was just so infuriating and I actually felt like slapping the damned girl. The funny thing was that, I kept thinking about it and I came to the conclusion that, in fact, my wife more or less thinks the same way (even if she would completely deny it if I would ask her). So, there was some truth in this character but it didnât change the fact that she was still borderline obnoxious. Eventually, the problem with this movie was that none of the characters was properly developed so I had a hard time to care about any of them. 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 are interested in Anh Hung Tranâs work.Â
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Posted : 3 years, 11 months ago on 21 December 2020 09:49
(A review of
Dick Johnson Is Dead)
I wasnât really sure what to expect from this flick but since I kept hearing some really good things about this movie, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, to be honest, even though I did like it, I have to admit that I was actually expecting more from the damned thing. I mean, Dick Johnson seemed to be a great guy and Iâm glad for Kirsten Johnson that she seemed to have such a great relationship with both her parents but Iâm afraid I was never really grabbed by her movie. I was also not sure about the final act. Indeed, as it turned out to be, in spite of its title and what you might expect, Dick Johnson actually never really died turning the shooting of this movie. And, yet, towards the end, they shot some fairly hardcore footage of someone apparently dying in an ambulance, apparently fake, and then a complete funeral ceremony with Dick Johnsonâs family and relatives but, suddenly, it was revealed that it was in fact also a subterfuge. Itâs not that I thought it was shocking, itâs more that it all felt rather misleading to me. I mean, Kirsten Johnson might argue that she made this movie to help her father to prepare for the end of his life but I think it was pretty obvious that he did it more as a favour to her then actually for himself. Â In my opinion, in fact, this project was made partially out of a sense of guilt from Kirsten Johnson who mentioned that she didnât have any footage of her mother when she was still Alzheimer free. As a compensation, she then decided to make a full-length feature focusing on her father before he became seriously demented. Still, there is no denying that the damned thing was really original, in fact, it was a unique picture, and only therefore, it gets some extra points from me. Anyway, to conclude, even if it didnât really blow me away, it was still a decent watch and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are into more experimental documentaries. Â
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Posted : 3 years, 11 months ago on 20 December 2020 07:53
(A review of
The Circle)
I wasnât really sure what to expect from this flick but since there was a nice cast involved, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, to be honest, I was surprised by how weak it actually turned out to be. Itâs too bad because it definitely had some potential as it was dealing with such a topical subject. Indeed, some of the ideas developed might seem far-fetched but, as displayed in âThe Social Dilemmaâ, a great documentary on the subject, the big high-tech companies are pretending that they are delivering some services tailor-made for the needs of their members but it has become quite clear that it is their members that they are actually constantly tailoring for their needs. Same thing for the omnipresent cameras as, in the UK for example, there are already more than 5 millions CCTV cameras all over the country. So, the ideas were there but, unfortunately, pretty much nothing else really did work though and, in my opinion, the biggest issue was with the characters. Indeed, none of the supporting characters (Bailey, Ty, Mercer, Annie) was fleshed out enough but you could argue that they were not the main focus of this story. Even more problematic was that even the main character didnât work whatsoever. Indeed, even though the movie was constantly focusing on this girl, we never get to know her properly. I mean, what was her deal? Was she a huge believer of the Circle or was she in fact sceptical? And why the hell did she go kayaking in the middle of the night?!? To make things worse, I always had a weak spot for Emma Watson but, Iâm sorry, she was just terribly weak here and she completely failed to show what was going in the mind of her character and what she was going through. Anyway, to conclude, even though this movie had some potential, it never really worked and I donât think it is really worth a look.Â
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