Posted : 6 years, 1 month ago on 10 March 2019 12:43
(A review of
The Campaign)
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 a decent political comedy coming from Jay Roach. Indeed, first of all, I have always been fascinated by politics and they gave here a rather dark and cynical view on this subject but it was pretty neat that, even though some of it was quite over-the-top, it was still not really far from what actually might happen in real life. The other thing that I enjoyed was even though Will Ferrell was unfortunately playing again one of his typical morons, his opponent was also a huge idiot played by Zach Galifianakis and this combination actually really worked. Unfortunately, the first mistake they made was that, even though these two characters were completely stupid, they apparently actually had a heart of gold. Even Cam Brady was basically a harmless idiot who was completely corrupted by this evil American political system. Well, this approach was rather disappointing and it would have worked better if they had chosen an even bleaker approach by showing that these 2 political candidates were both some major ambitious a**holes. Even worse, as a result, they had to go for a lame happy-ending coming from nowhere which didn't fit the material at all. 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 like the genre.
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Posted : 6 years, 1 month ago on 9 March 2019 12:17
(A review of
Wild Card)
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 usual Statham vehicle. Indeed, even though he was playing his typical tough guy, his character was actually complexer than usual. Indeed, he was also a massive loser, literally and figuratively speaking, which was just so much more interesting than the usual boring one-dimensional characters played by the action star and it is a proof that he could have had such an interesting career if he had chosen some more challenging roles. The rest of cast was also surprisingly interesting (Michael Angarano, Hope Davis, Milo Ventimiglia, Stanley Tucci, Sofía Vergara, Jason Alexander, Anne Heche) but most of them were terribly underused and showed up only for a couple of scenes. Anyway, coming back to the movie itself, unfortunately, it still turned out to be disappointing though. Basically, the plot was just a huge mess. In fact, there were about 2 different plots (Nick Wild helping his (girl)friend to avenge herself, Nick Wild playing bodyguard for a rich nerd) but none of them really worked at all and, above all, their combination was just terribly awkward. Anyway, to conclude, even though it was probably the most interesting film starring Jason Statham I have seen in years, it was still rather weak after all and I don't think it is really worth a look.
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Posted : 6 years, 1 month ago on 9 March 2019 08:26
(A review of
Blindsided)
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 Monaghan, I can imagine that playing someone blind must be on the bucklist from every average actor and she wasn't really bad but the whole thing didn't work at all. To make things worse, I do have actually a weak spof for movies taking place only on one location with only a handful of characters but, this time, this story was just rather idiotic. The whole point was, I guess, to see how a blind woman would manage to rescue herself on her own from two thugs but, to be honest, during half of the movie nothing much happened at all. Indeed, you just get to see the characters having the most boring and pointless conversations ever. Apparently, the viewers were supposed to believe that, during these conversations, that Sara (the blind woman) would manage to convince the bad guys that they should kill each other which was rather pathetic since they were both planning to do it all along. Finally, the ending was just as ridiculous as the rest. Why on Earth would she decide to keep the diamonds? To get her revenge from our f*cked up world? Actually, it probably means that she knew all along where the diamonds were hidden (otherwise, how would she know to put them back in the fridge?) so she was after all also another thief but this revelation was just as lame as the rest of the movie already was. Anyway, the damned thing was pretty weak and I don't think it is really worth a look.
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Posted : 6 years, 1 month ago on 7 March 2019 10:20
(A review of
Captain Marvel)
I already saw this movie but since I just bought a brand new awesome TV, I was quite eager to check it out again. Well, even though it didn’t get much love when it was released, I thought it was not bad at all at the time but, to be honest, after rewatching the damned thing, I would have to agree that this movie was after all probably the most disappointing MCU instalment so far. Indeed, it was quite disappointing because, not only it was their first solo movie focusing on a female super-hero but, on top of that, it was dealing with their most powerful super-hero. I won’t blame Brie Larson, she was really charismatic and she tried really hard to sell it to the audience but, eventually, it turned out to be a very conventional origin story (basically, how Carol Danvers ended up with her super-powers) which wasn’t necessarily a bad idea but the issue was that it was told in such a convoluted way. Another thing that I did like the first time around but left me cold now was the choice of having the action take place in the 90’s. Sure, it was a rather simple way to focus only on this character without worrying about all the numerous other Marvel characters but, to be honest, I didn’t really get the link with this era and the main character though (the fact they used exactly the same gimmick with ‘Wonder Woman 1984’ probably didn't help). Concerning Captain Marvel herself, they obviously took their distance from how sexy she has been represented in the comic books and they went for a more bad-ass approach which was not bad but, to be honest, I’m not sure if I was really convinced though. On the other hand, I have been rewatching all the MCU instalments recently and I have to admit that it was rather cringe-worthy to see Black Widow going to a random battle pretty much EACH TIME with some cleavage. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, I have to admit that it was still a decent watch and, if you like the genre, it is definitely worth a look but there is no denying that it could or should have been so much better.
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Posted : 6 years, 1 month ago on 5 March 2019 08:45
(A review of
Midnight Special)
I already saw this movie but, the first time I watched it, the circumstances were not ideal, so I thought I might as well check it out again. Indeed, the first time around, I saw this movie without subtitles and I have to admit that I did struggle to follow exactly what the characters were saying. On top of that, I think it is a rather frustrating movie but, while rewatching it, I have to admit that I was more able to appreciate its mood and its flow. Anyway, even if it turned out to be another decent directorial effort from Jeff Nichols, I think it was a slight step-back from his previous work though. Indeed, even if it was done on purpose, it didn’t help that Nichols chose to keep some big chunks of the story and of the characters involved in the dark through the whole thing. For example, while the cult thing was quite interesting, it turned out to be actually rather misleading and it had a rather minor impact after all. On the other hand, I don’t think that the plot or the dialogues were so important. Indeed, while a 3rd rate director would have probably delivered here a generic SF thriller, Nichols managed once again to create a really nice mood which made the whole thing quite spellbinding to behold, even if the concept was nothing really original after all. Furthermore, it is really neat that he keeps working with Michael Shannon who is such a fine actor and miles more interesting than many pretty faces working in Hollywood. Concerning the rest of the cast, Joel Edgerton and Adam Driver were fine as well, on the other hand, Kirsten Dunst was not bad but her character could have been more developed (in fact, all the characters could have been more developed). Anyway, to conclude, even if it was probably Nichols’s least interesting movie so far, it was still a decent watch and it is worth a look, especially if you are interested in this director.
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Posted : 6 years, 1 month ago on 4 March 2019 10:08
(A review of
Now You See Me 2)
To be honest, even if ‘Now You See Me’ was not bad, I didn’t think it really required a sequel but since it had been fairly successful at the box-office, I guess it was inevitable. First of all, it was rather disappointing that Isla Fisher’s character completely disappeared but, apparently, Fisher got pregnant and I have to admit that Lizzy Caplan was actually a decent replacement. Anyway, coming back to the movie itself, well, at least, it wasn’t worse than its predecessor but it wasn’t really an improvement either. Basically, the major mistake they made with this franchise was that even though it was based on illusions, in contrary to ‘The Prestige’ which remains the best in the movie in this genre, the illusions displayed in this movie were just really over the top and, above all, they looked so fake. Another thing was that, even though it was just so cool that they hired Daniel Radcliffe, his character unfortunately turned out to be rather disappointing. I mean, sure, I got the joke when Walter Mabry said that he played around with magic while he was at school but lost interest but, seriously, what’s the point to have Radcliffe being involved in a movie about magicians without him playing an evil magician as well? At least, the cast was really good and they seemed to have some fun but, to be honest, I really struggled to care about the damned thing. Still, I guess it might be worth a look if you really enjoyed the previous instalment.
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Posted : 6 years, 1 month ago on 3 March 2019 08:48
(A review of
Climax)
Since I have always been interested in Gaspar Noé's work, I was quite eager to check his last directing effort. Pretty much like some other directors like Michael Haneke or Lars Von Trier, Noé is a rather challenging director always delivering some really dark movies so I was ready to see again something hardcore and possibly even rather unpleasant. Eventually, it turned out to be provably his most accessible movie so far but, be warned, it was still far from being a feelgood flick though. Still, even though I really liked the concept, I think it could have been better developed though. Indeed, the first part with all these amazing dancing scenes was just really powerful and I was hoping that, when they would start drinking their LSD laced sangria, they would have some kind of burst of creativity and land in some fantastic world. In fact, to be honest, since it was directed by Gaspar Noé, I was expecting the whole thing to turn into some kind of explixit orgy at some point but there was after all eventually very little sex and mostly off screen. Instead, Noé decided that all the characters involved should have some kind of massive bad trip so the whole thing basically turned into a long and slow nightmare. I mean, it was not bad and well done and actually rather expected from this director but it was unfortunately never really spellbinding. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its limitations, it was another visceral experience coming from this director and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Gaspar Noé's work.
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Posted : 6 years, 1 month ago on 2 March 2019 08:26
(A review of
To Stay Alive: A Method)
To be honest, it is a really obscure flick, in fact, I had actually never heard of it and I ended up watching the damned thing because my sister had given me this DVD as a gift. Well, at least, it was definitely something original and it is rather tricky to describe it. Indeed, it is not really a documentary and I think the best way to describe it would be to call it an auditive poem on how to become/to be an artist. I first wanted to call it a visual poem but it wouldn't have been accurate since nothing really noteworthy occurred visually speaking but it was above all about what the people involved had to tell us. To be honest, I wish they focused only on Iggy Pop and Michel Houellebecq as they were much more interesting and charismatic than the 3 other obscure artists. Of course, I get that their addition was to show that being an artist has nothing to do with being famous but I just didn't care enough about what they had to say. I also thought it was rather anticlimactic to show Iggy Pop driving a very expensive car (was it a Rolls Royce?). Sure, maybe it wasn't his car at all but I think it vastly contradicted what they said through the whole thing. Eventually, even if he had been through all this sh*t through his whole life and career, at the end, he still managed to reach some material comfort or even some luxury. Anyway, to conclude, even if it wasn't always fascinating, it was still a decent watch and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in experimental movies.
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Posted : 6 years, 1 month ago on 1 March 2019 07:33
(A review of
The Purge: Anarchy)
Even though I wasn't exactly blown away by 'The Purge', since this sequel seemed to have a decent reputation, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, first of all, I want to point out a major flaw in this concept. Indeed, it is rather ridiculous to believe that crime would drastically drop if people were allowed to do whatever they want during one night. Indeed, for example, a murder is very often an impulsive act and a thief would rather operate some other night when not everything is in complete lockdown. So, the concept is rather ridiculous but it doesn't mean that it can't be entertaining and I have to admit that this sequel was an improvement on its predecessor. Indeed, this time, we finally got to see the Purge going on in the streets which was something seriously lacking in the previous movie. Then, I also enjoyed the fact that they started with various storylines but I would have preferred that they kept these storylines separated. Another issue was that none of these characters was interesting or charismatic enough. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of the fact that I still believe that it is a rather half-baked concept, I have to admit that it was a decent watch and it is actually worth a look, especially if you like the genre.
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Posted : 6 years, 2 months ago on 24 February 2019 12:40
(A review of
Some Velvet Morning)
It seemed to be a rather obscure flick but since it was directed by Neil LaBute, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, it turned out to be a nice surprise and, to be honest, it has been a while since LaBute had delivered something interesting like this, in fact, everything else he had made during the last 15 years was actually rather disappointing so this little movie was a neat return to form for this director. First of all, I always had a weak spot for such minimalist features involving only a few actors (in this case, only 2) and just one location. Of course, to make it work, you need some really strong actors and you need some really snappy dialogues but in both areas, I was more than satisfied. Indeed, Stanley Tucci and Alice Eve were fine here and LaBute wrote some nice exchanges between the 2 characters. There was one detail that bothered me though, it was the fact that Velvet's place didn't felt lived in at all and there was no way that even a high-end call-girl like her could afford a place like this on her own. However, it turned ot to be explained by the twist at the end. Usually, I don't really care about such twists because it means that everything you have seen was just fake which means, as a viewer, you have pretty much wasted your time investing in characters and relationships which were in fact completely bogus but, in this case, it did work. Indeed, it explained why it didn't add up that Velvet was living in this place but it didn't ruin the relantionship between the 2 characters and, in fact, it gave this relationship some extra meaning. Anyway, to conclude, even though the damned thing was nothing really groundbreaking, it was still a decent watch and I think it is worth a look, especially if you are interested in Neil LaBute's work.
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