Posted : 6 years, 5 months ago on 4 June 2018 09:34
(A review of
Unsane)
Since I always had a weak spot for Steven Soderbergh's work and since this movie was dealing with an interesting subject, I was quite eager to check it out. Unfortunately, even though I did like this movie, as usual with Soderbergh's recent movies, it was still rather half-baked, I'm afraid. I would blame this on Soderbergh's usual rushed production process as this movie was released less than a year after 'Logan Lucky', his previous directing effort. Basically, this time, he tried to mix a really interesting insurance scam with a rather boring stalking thriller. Seriously, everything involving this stalker was just rather tedious but, also, it didn't make much sense. Indeed, if I understood it correctly, the guy killed and took over the identity of another man called Georges Shaw but who was Shaw? He couldn't have been someone already working at this mental hospital because his co-workers would have noticed that someone else completely different was showing up for work but why then bother killing him and taking his identity? In this case, how did he manage to get a job there just when the main character would haven been interned? In my opinion, they should have removed this part of the plot and focus more on the unstable state of mind of the main character. It would have worked so much better in combination with this frighteningly realistic insurance scam which displayed how completely rotten the health system has become in the US. Furthermore, I have to praise Claire Foy who delivered such a strong performance. Indeed, she was quite fascinating to be behold and she displayed something so completely different than what she delivered in 'The Crown' and I will definitely check her future work. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of it flaws, it was still a decent watch and I think it is worth a look even if, as usual with Soderbergh, it could have been so much better.
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Posted : 6 years, 5 months ago on 3 June 2018 05:18
(A review of
Red Riding Hood)
Even though this movie seemed to be pretty lame, for some reasons, I was still eager to check it out. Well, even though I had some rather low expectations, the damned thing turned out to be even worse than I expected. Indeed, Catherine Hardwicke had been heavily and, in my opinion, unfairly criticised for 'Twilight' when, in fact, it became the highest grossing movie ever directed by a woman (at least, at the time). Well, this follow-up turned out to be so much worse. Seriously, it was supposed to be a really misguided mix of the classic Red Riding Hood with some werewolves and pretty much nothing worked. At least, the lovely Amanda Seyfried was a good choice to play the lead but that would probably be the only positive thing I could think of. I mean, once again, Hardwicke gave us another seriously ugly CGI werewolf and even this village looked terribly fake. Then, as I mentioned before, the whole concept was just misguided and, above all, terribly boring. To make things worse, Hardwicke gave us another terribly tedious love triangle involving 3 teenagers. Basically, it seems that she took the worst elements of 'Twilight' and mashed them up with this classic tale which was barely recognisable. Anyway, to conclude, I think I have been rather generous with my rating, the whole thing was just seriously weak and I don't think it is worth a look at all.
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Posted : 6 years, 5 months ago on 2 June 2018 10:31
(A review of
How Green Was My Valley (1941))
Eventually, this movie will be mostly remembered for winning the Best Picture Academy Award at the expense of 'Citizen Kane' but I was still eager to check it out to see if it was actually any good. Well, while the reputation of 'Citizen Kane' has only increased through the years and it is usually considered by most as one of the greatest movies ever made, this movie on the other hand didn't grow old very well, I'm afraid. I can imagine that it had been a big commercial and critical success at the time when it was released but, nowadays, it seems terribly cheesy, at least, that's what I felt like watching the damned thing. I mean, I have to admit that it was well made with some solid performances so it turned out to be OK but not much more than that. Sure, it was dealing with some nice and decent people but, as far as I'm concerned, I would rather have instead the complexity displayed in 'Citizen Kane'. At least, it was very neat to see the lovely Maureen O'Hara who must have been one of the most gorgeous actress ever. Anyway, to conclude, even though this movie has a decent reputation, I actually struggled to get into the damned thing but I still think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.
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Posted : 6 years, 5 months ago on 1 June 2018 09:49
(A review of
The 15:17 to Paris)
This movie didn't get much love when it was released, in fact, according to the IMDB ratings, it is apparently Clint Eastwood's weakest directing effort so far. Since I always been a big fan of his work, I was still eager to check it out though. Well, after 'American Sniper' and 'Sully', Eastwood decided for the 3rd time in a row to tell another true tale about some other American heroes but, unfortunately, it turned out to be so terribly weak and not much better than the garbage you can see on the Lifetime channel. I mean, the first scenes dealing with the main characters when they were kids were not bad but they still didn't reach the level of something like 'Stand by Me'. Then, the actual guys who were involved during these events actually played themselves which wasn't a bad idea and I don't think they did such a terribly bad job but the whole thing started to become rather abysmal at this point. Basically, they gave us a whole bunch of meaningless scenes with no entertaining or informative value and it seems, since the tragic event in the train would last only 15 mins, that they had to fill in the running time with something. The worst part was definitely when these guys went backpacking in Europe. Seriously, it felt like watching 'The Real World' from MTV or some other crappy reality TV program. At least, the scenes in the train did work but everything else was just so tedious and rather poorly put together. To conclude, even if I'm not sure if it is really Clint Eastwood's worst movie, it is certainly one of his weakest and I don't think it is really worth a look.
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Posted : 6 years, 5 months ago on 31 May 2018 08:13
(A review of
Based on a True Story)
Even though this movie didn't get much love when it was released, since I have always been a huge fan of Roman Polanski's work, I was still really eager to check it out. Unfortunately, even though it was a decent watch, I still turned out to be one of the weaker efforts from the Polish master, I'm afraid. Polanski has very often made such minimalist pictures in the past and this movie was basically focusing on only 2 characters which wasn't a bad idea but, even though the first 20 minutes were intriguing, very soon, I started to loose interest in the whole thing. Eventually, I won't blame Emmanuelle Seigner and Eva Green would did what they could but the material was just rather weak. The biggest issue was that it didn't make much sense that Delphine wouldn't drop Elle after she displayed such an annoying invasive stalking behavior. It was just so obvious and happened way too soon after they barely met each other. Especially in the case of such a famous writer, to late someone invade her life like this so easily was just rather unbelievable. On top of that, Elle was such a fake character, in every possible way, and it made her even more annoying. I have to admit that I didn't see the twist ending coming but it felt rather lazy (on top of that, how did she get to the country house by car on her own with a broken leg?). Anyway, in spite of its flaws, I still think it is worth a look, if only to see Eva Green for once showing up in a French movie.
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Posted : 6 years, 5 months ago on 30 May 2018 09:32
(A review of
Black Sea)
I wasn't really sure what to expect from this movie but since I have a weak spot for Kevin Macdonald's work, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, it turned out to be a decent submarine flick mixed up with the heist genre and even some treasure hunting. On top of that, Just Law gave here one of his best performances, even if his accent was actually really confusing. Indeed, at first, I thought he was Russian but he turned out to be English after all so I don't really get why he went for such a thick accent but he was still really convincing as he really disappeared in this character. Concerning the story itself, even though it was fairly entertaining, they still really struggled to bring up some conflicts though. Of course, I understand the need to have something happening on this submarine but it should have been more organic. I mean, even though Ben Mendelsohn is a solid actor, ever since he got his breakthrough with 'Animal Kingdom', he keeps playing some similar psychopathic characters. As a result, in this movie, his character not once but twice randomly killed another crew member for some seriously dubious reasons just to move on the plot and it was obviously the result of some rather poor writing. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, the whole thing looked pretty good, 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, 5 months ago on 29 May 2018 08:27
(A review of
Train to Busan)
Since I kept hearing some pretty good things about this movie, I was quite eager to check it out. Well, eventually, I don’t think it was nothing really groundbreaking. However, I have to admit that it was still a really solid zombie flick though. Basically, it turned out to be pretty much a Korean version of ‘The Walking Dead’ but, to be honest, even though the fans might argue otherwise, I don’t think it didn’t add anything really new to the genre though. I mean, sure, I have to admit it was clever how they managed to set most of the action on this train but, still, I don’t think it was really ground-breaking. On the other hand, there is no doubt that the whole thing was very well made and it was definitely a really entertaining ride. Furthermore, even though the characters were all rather stereotypical, they still worked though and, for some reasons, I had a weak spot for Soo-an thanks to Su-an Kim who gave here a solid performance. Above all, this cute little girl reminded me somehow of a (girl)friend I had in high-school who was born in South-Korea and had been adopted by a French couple. Concerning her father who was basically the main character, his evolution was actually rather generic and predictable but it was still effective. On top of that, I did appreciate how they displayed that, by always focusing and even obsessing on wealth and social status, we are often losing track on what’s actually really important in life. Concerning the director Sang-ho Yeon, I haven’t seen anything else from this guy but since it seems to be his best movie so far, maybe I didn’t miss much. Anyway, to conclude, even if it didn't completely blow me away, it was still a decent watch and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.
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Posted : 6 years, 5 months ago on 28 May 2018 08:00
(A review of
Cool Hand Luke)
Since I’m a big fan of Paul Newman and since this movie is one of his most famous movies, I was really eager to check it out and I had some really high expectations. Well, eventually, even though I did like it, to be honest, I didn’t really blow me away after all. I mean, sure, it was well made and quite entertaining but, in my opinion, the whole thing was just too conventional. I don’t know, maybe I have seen too many movies about the same subject that were released afterwards. Still, there is no doubt that Paul Newman gave a really strong performance and he is probably the reason why this movie has such a great reputation. Indeed, at first, you might think that he is going to be your typical macho hero but he went much beyond that delivering a complex and really conflicted character. Basically, from the beginning until the end, you are never really sure what’s the deal with this guy. I could relate with him in the sense that I never cared about discipline and rules myself and I always got in trouble at school and, to a lesser extent, even at work, but the big difference between me and Luke is that I always had a rather healthy survival instinct. As a result, I usually knew when to stop in order to prevent some completely unfixable damages. On the other hand, Luke didn’t seem to care much about anything and displayed a total lack of self-preservation and, in spite of his awesome charisma, Newman managed to deliver one of the most destructive anti-hero I have seen. Anyway, to conclude, even though the movie itself was nothing really amazing, Paul Newman was just terrific and, only for him, the damned thing is definitely worth a look.
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Posted : 6 years, 5 months ago on 26 May 2018 09:53
(A review of
Detour (1945))
I wasn't really sure what to expect from this flick and the main reason why I wanted to check it out was because it is included in the '1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die'. Well, even though this movie has a very good reputation, it turned out to be a decent watch but not much more than that. I mean, sure, it was a solid film noir, no doubt about it, but there are some much better movies in this genre, at least, that's my opinion. Eventually, nothing much really happened through the whole thing and it was basically about the unluckiest main character I have ever seen or maybe, as it was argued by some critics, just a thief telling a bunch of lies to the audience but I think it would be giving this movie too much credit. Eventually, I was actually more interested in Vera thanks to Ann Savage who gave such a strong performance. In my opinion, she completely stole the show from the moment she got involved. Anyway, to conclude, even if it didn't really blow me away, it was still pretty good and it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.
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Posted : 6 years, 5 months ago on 25 May 2018 09:55
(A review of
Sansho the Bailiff (1954))
Since this movie is a classic, I was quite eager to check it out, especially since it is included in the '1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die' list. Well, to be honest, even though I did like it, I have to admit that I did struggle a little bit to get into this movie. I mean, it is a beautiful but terribly tragic tale and, sometimes, it felt like a sad poem using film instead of words. Sometimes, I also had the feeling that I was watching a Japanese version of 'Gladiator', except that they removed all the action scenes and replaced them with some really dramatic scenes. Anyway, the best way to describe this movie would be the scene involving the suicide of Anju. Indeed, it is probably the most famous and powerful moment in this movie and it was equally heartbreaking and unforgettable to behold but, to be honest, while watching it, I also felt that it was rather over-the-top. I mean, did it really make sense that she stayed behind and killed herself? Her argument was that Zushiô had more chances to escape without her but she then made him carry a dying woman. Wouldn't it then make more sense to go together and leave the poor woman behind? I guess that's what slightly bothered me with this movie, the fact that everything was quite theatrical but I won't deny that it was still quite mesmerising nonetheless. Anyway, to conclude, even though I think it is an acquired taste, it still definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.
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