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All reviews - Movies (7673) - TV Shows (10)

A good movie

Posted : 6 years, 5 months ago on 17 June 2018 06:33 (A review of Giant)

Since it was the last movie starring James Dean that I hadn't seen so far, I was really eager to see this flick. Well, even though it turned out to be pretty good, I can't say it really blew me away though. I mean, there was some very good stuff and it could have been a great movie but it didn't completely worked in my opinion. First of all, this movie will be forever remembered for Dean's performance and while he was indeed very good, his character was actually the 3rd wheel in this romance. Indeed, the movie was in fact about Elizabeth Taylor and Rock Hudson's love story and family life and, in spite of Dean's effort to steal the show, his complex character didn't have much impact after all. Concerning the main story, I was also bothered by the fact that Leslie had such an impact on her husband but it didn't work the way around, he didn't seem to have such an impact on her which was a failed opportunity. Furthermore, in the 3rd act, all the children had a specific sub-plot which was just too much, especially with Dennis Hopper's character who not only refused to take over the ranch but also got married with some Mexican girl. As a result, they tried to handle too many topics and they should have removed some elements to remain better focused. And, yet, in spite of its flaws, it was still a solid epic and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.Ā 


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A good movie

Posted : 6 years, 5 months ago on 15 June 2018 12:15 (A review of The Program)

I wasn't really sure what to expect from this movie but since there was a decent cast involved, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the damned thing and it is probably one of the best movies I have seen dealing with (American) football, especially in college. Basically, the whole thing was rather well done providing a nice balance. Indeed, they displayed how thrilling this game can be and how it can open some new doors to its best players but also how shady the stuff going on in this environment can be and also the tremendous pressure these young men have to face. Eventually, the only thing preventingĀ  this movie from becoming really awesome was the fact that there were too many characters involved with their own sub-plot. It is actually a typical gimmick used in the sport genre but even though it does work, it is also rather lazy and you always end up with some barely developed characters. In this case, the best example would be James Caan who didn't have much to do, except giving some speech from time to time usually to his players, even though the guy actually received top-billing for this movie. Anyway, to conclude, even though it was nothing really amazing, it was still a really solid sport flick and I think it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.


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A good movie

Posted : 6 years, 5 months ago on 14 June 2018 09:13 (A review of Baby Driver)

Since I kept hearing some great things about this movie, I was really eager to check it out. Well, even though this movie has been hailed as many as being the best movie released in 2017, to be honest, I thought it turned out to be a decent watch but not much more than that. Sure, it was very well directed and visually really neat with a killer soundtrack and the damned thing was just really fun, no doubt about it, but the story was nothing really amazing after all. What bothered me the most was the fact that Baby was actually a nice kid who was involved in these robberies against his will. In my opinion, it would have been much more interesting and entertaining if the guy would have had a darker edge and would have actually loved what he was doing. Indeed, during the very first scene, you can see that Baby was having so much fun and, as a result, it was the best scene of the movie. When you discover that he was actually coerced to get involved in these robberies, you get such an annoying tension between the fact that the main character doesnā€™t want to be there at all and the fact that the viewers donā€™t want to see anything else than him getting involved in some chaotic heist. Furthermore, even though the characters were decent enough, I didnā€™t thinkĀ  that anybody was really fascinating. Anyway, it was still an entertaing flick and it has been a while since I have seen such amazing car chases. To conclude, in my opinion, this movie is actually rather overrated but it is still pretty good and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre or if you are interested in Edgard Wrightā€™s work.Ā 



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An average movie

Posted : 6 years, 5 months ago on 13 June 2018 08:05 (A review of Dracula: Dead and Loving It)

To be honest, I wasnā€™t expecting much from this flick but since it was the last movie directed by Mel Brooks, I still wanted to check it out. Well, as I expected, it turned out to be pretty lame and it is rather sad that Mel Brooks would end a rather prestigious directing career with such a weak feature. I mean, the concept did have some potential and it made sense that Brooks would spoof the vampire genre at some point but it just didnā€™t work. Of course, the fact that I didnā€™t care much for Mel Brooksā€™s work in general (except for ā€˜The Producersā€™ which I really loved) didnā€™t help. Eventually, even though it seemed to be a good idea to unite the most famous spoof director with the most famous spoof actor, I think it was a mistake to have Leslie Nielsen playing the lead. In my opinion, it would have worked much better with a more ā€˜seriousā€™ actor like Tom Cruise or Tom Hanks as they were not so closely associated with this genre. Anyway, the biggest issue was above all the fact that the most of the jokes were pretty weak and you should know you are in trouble when most of the ladies involved are really good looking with some nice cleavage. Anyway, to conclude, this movie turned out to be seriously weak and I donā€™t think it is really worth a look, even if you are interested in Mel Brooksā€™s work.



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A good movie

Posted : 6 years, 5 months ago on 12 June 2018 08:29 (A review of Shock Corridor)

I wasnā€™t really sure what to expect from this movie but since it was added on theā€™ 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die listā€™, I was quite eager to check it out. First of all, I always had a weak spot for movies about mental institutions and this movie is probably the oldest one I have seen dealing with this subject. Well, I was surprised by how good it turned out to be. Indeed, what I enjoyed the most was the explanation they gave about how these patients ended up in this place. Indeed, the fascinating theory developed in this movie is that nobody is really born crazy. In most cases, for most people, after having a terribly stressing or even traumatizing experience, their brain apparently could handle these tremendous pressure and it just snapped. It displayed that we are basically all on the edge of insanity and this idea was also further developed by what eventually happened to the main character. To be honest, Iā€™m not sure I really cared about the murder investigation though. I mean, I do understand that they needed an excuse to have the main character going there but I think it would have worked better if they went instead for an investigation on how mental instutions were working at the time. Anyway, to conclude, I really liked this movie and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.



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A good movie

Posted : 6 years, 5 months ago on 10 June 2018 06:41 (A review of Wuthering Heights)

I wasn't really sure what to expect from this movie but since it was included in the '1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die', I thought I might as well check it out. To be honest, I'm usually not a huge fan of romantic costume dramas but I was actually surprised by how much I actually enjoyed this one. Indeed, it must be one of the gloomiest doomed love stories I have ever seen and, as a result, it was much more entertaining than most of the other movies in this genre. Basically, it is one of the most famous love stories but what made it so interesting was that the two main characters, Heathcliff and Cathy, never could make up their mind if they should passionately love or hate each other and, eventually, they basically destroyed one another and also the people that happened to be around. On top of that, the cast was really strong, especially Laurence Olivier who was at the top of his game back then. There were still a couple of things that slightly bothered me like the fact that Cathy's brother provided a very convenient villain or how easily Heathcliff went to America and came back as a rich man. Anyway, to conclude, I wonder if this movie was a good adaptation and I might read the famous book it was based on at some point but I really enjoyed this flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like theĀ  genre.Ā 


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An average movie

Posted : 6 years, 5 months ago on 10 June 2018 11:44 (A review of The Cloverfield Paradox)

In 2018, Netflix pulled off with this movie the biggest marketing stunt of the year. Indeed, during the Super Bowl, they finally released the first trailer but, above all, they announced that the movie would be directly available after the game which was something obviously never done before. Seriously, it was a genius move because it turned a rather weak feature into one of the most talked about movies over the year. Unfortunately, the day after this marketing stunt, pretty much everyone was universally complaining how lame this flick actually was and, indeed, it turned out to be pretty weak. I mean, they had the best cast ever seen in a Cloverfield feature (Gugu Mbatha-Raw, David Oyelowo, Daniel BrĆ¼hl, Ziyi Zhang, Elizabeth Debicki) and the concept actually had some potential if it would have been properly developed. Basically, even though it could have been a thought provoking SF flick, it was just very lazily written giving us a succession of rather generic supposedly scary scenes. Some of them were not bad (like the one when they discover Elizabeth Debicki's character) but there was not one moment when any of the character said and did anything remotely interesting regarding the events they had to face. It was also really weak to add some crazy conspiracy theorist predicting exactly what would happen later on. At least, with 'Cloverfield'Ā  and '10 Cloverfield Lane', they left the viewers in the dark which was much more effective. Finally, it was pretty obvious that the whole thing didn't have anything to do with this franchise as they just added some rather random scenes to tie it up with the other installments. Anyway, to conclude, from a marketing point of view, this feature was quite impressive but the movie itself wasĀ  actually pretty weak and I don't think it is actually really worth a look.Ā 


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A classic

Posted : 6 years, 5 months ago on 8 June 2018 09:44 (A review of My Man Godfrey)

I wasn't really sure what to expect from this movie but since it was included in the '1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die', I was quite eager to check it out. To be honest, I have to admit that I'm not a huge fan of such classic screwball comedies. Indeed, even though some of them are still really popular, in my opinion, they usually didn't grow old very well. However, this movie was actually an exception and I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. Obviously, it had all the trademarks of the genre but, even though it might seem really frivolous like the other movies in the genre, I thought it was actually quite sharp and so much satiric. Indeed, in such movies, we are supposed to care about the so-called difficult life of the Rich or Aristocrats but, here, they were all portrayed are completely hysterical and seriously dim-witted and the homeless seemed to be much more sensible. I also liked the idea that if we stopped complaining about our little problems and simply gave the people in need a chance, they would actually grab it with both hands. To be honest, I think it would have better worked if Godfrey didn't come from the same social class as his 'masters' and I didn't care much for the ending which was some typical screwball silly nonsense. Still, to conclude, I really enjoyed this movie and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.Ā 


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An average movie

Posted : 6 years, 5 months ago on 6 June 2018 09:31 (A review of Delivery Man)

To be honest, I wasn't expecting much from this flick but since it was on TV, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, at first , it seemed to be another rather lame comedy starring Vince Vaughn. Indeed, he was playing his usual character who has become more annoying than actually entertaining after all these years. Furthermore, even though Chris Pratt was pretty good and much funnier than Vince Vaughan,Ā  I really hate it in US comedies when they try to convince the viewers that to have some children is just terrible and that it would mean the end of your life. The way the main character would first meet his kids without telling them his identity was also a terrible idea and such a poor way to handle this material. And, yet, from the moment he met the whole gang, I have to admit that the damned thing actually slowly won me over. Indeed, there was actually something touching about them, about the way they decided to create this community sharing the same desire to find their genetically roots. It was so well done that I came to the conclusion that to give your sperm might be actually something beautiful. Of course, it was still nothing really amazing and the whole plan about the main character trying to pay his debts was just a poor way to create a bogus conflict. Anyway, to conclude, I have to admit that it turned out to be better than I expected and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.Ā 


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An average movie

Posted : 6 years, 5 months ago on 5 June 2018 08:33 (A review of Wild Target)

I wasn't sure what to expect from this movie but since I have a weak spot for Emily Blunt, I thought I might as well check it out. In fact, I did see 'Cible Ć©mouvante', the French movie it was based on, ages ago and even though it was nothing amazing, I thought it was miles better than this British version. It's too bad because they had such a strong cast but the whole thing just bored me very fast. The best part was when it was starting with only Bill Nighy who was just spot on even though the guy can't hold a gun properly because he apparently suffers of Dupuytren's contracture, which means he can't straighten the ring and little fingers on each hand. Concerning Emily Blunt, even though she was just as lovely as usual, she tried to be whimsical but it didn't really work and her character turned out to be more annoying than actually entertaining. On top of that, these 2 characters didn't have any chemistry whatsoever. Concerning Rupert Grint, his character was even less interesting as he played some kind of stoned spineless version of Ron Weasley. Anyway, to conclude, even though the whole thing was rather harmless, it didn't really work for me and I don't think it is really worth a look.Ā 


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