Posted : 7 years, 2 months ago on 23 December 2017 09:20
(A review of
King Arthur: Legend of the Sword)
Even though this movie turned out to be a box-office flop, since I have seen all the other movies directed by Guy Ritchie, I was still eager to check it out. Well, eventually, I didn't care much for the damned thing, I'm afraid. Indeed, first of all, it was such a misguided idea to make yet another movie about King Arthur. I mean, seriously, there have been already so many movies about this story and its character and, even though Ritchie did manage to recycle Sherlock Holmes (which was in fact slightly overrated), he obvisously didn't succeed here in providing anything new or really interesting about this classic tale. In fact, I have to admit that the first 30 minutes were actually not bad, at least, it was better than I expected but, as soon as Arthur got his hands on Excalibur, the damned thing became increasingly boring. The biggest mistake they made, in my opinion, is that the whole thing took itself so seriously. Indeed, everytime they brought some humor, it became slightly more entertaining but all this was buried under some seriously underwhelming action scenes combined with way too many CGI. Concerning the overdose of GCI, sometimes, I did lok decent but, for some other scenes, it felt like watching a video game. Regarding the cast, even though Charlie Hunnam and Jude Law were not bad, the rest was actually pretty weak, especially Astrid Bergès-Frisbey who got on my nerves through the whole thing. To conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was watchable but the damned thing was still pretty much a waste of time for all the people involved.
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Posted : 7 years, 2 months ago on 22 December 2017 08:55
(A review of
The Grifters (1990))
It’s another movie I wanted to watch for so many years, I think at least 15 years, so I was really eager to check it out and I had some rather high expectations. Well, to be honest, even though I always had a weak spot for movies dealing with con artists, I still struggled to really get into this story. While watching this movie, I was thinking that the tricky thing with this genre is that you never can trust a con artist and, as a result, it is actually rather difficult to invest yourself in a such a tale. I mean, when do you know when they are on the level? As a result, during the whole thing, I was expecting one of the characters or maybe all of them to be running some kind of long con but, eventually, it wasn’t the case at all. In fact, towards the end of the movie, they simply tried to steal each other like some common thiefs. So, I wasn’t really sure what to think of these characters, especially the one played by Annette Bening, and I was constantly expecting them to be something else that they actually were. Still, there is no doubt that it was a good movie. Indeed, the main cast (John Cusack, Anjelina Huston, Annette Bening) gave some really solid performances and I really enjoyed the neo-noir mood delivered by Stephen Frears. Anyway, to conclude, even though it didn’t really 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 : 7 years, 2 months ago on 20 December 2017 06:05
(A review of
Thunderbolt and Lightfoot)
Even though Michael Cimino had been blacklisted throughout most of his career, I always had a weak spot for his work so I was really eager to check his directing debut. Well, eventually, the whole thing was just too damned random and chaotic to ever really work but its massive randomness was also quite appealing. For example, you only need to see the insane way the main characters meet up at the beginning of this film. Still, it was all rather hit and miss, there were some scenes that felt seriously pointless and I didn't care much for this downbeat ending, even if it was a daring choice. Anyway, the best thing about this movie was to have Clint Eastwood and Jeff Bridges together and they made a really neat duo. Eventually, even though Eastwood did try to shake up his image for his movie, he never really succeeded but he was still pretty cool as usual. On the other hand, I was really impressed by Jeff Bridges who pretty much stole the show (eventually, he would even be nominated for an Academy Award for his performance). To conclude, even though it wasn't a masterpiece, it was a still a solid directing debut and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.
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Posted : 7 years, 2 months ago on 18 December 2017 11:23
(A review of
Super)
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, to be honest, it took me a while to get into the damned thing. First of all, with 'Kick-Ass', we already had a dark comedy about a major loser trying to become a super-hero and this movie didn't seem to provide any new or interesting ideas about the genre. Furthermore, it was rather ridiculous to try to make us believe that a girl looking like Liv Tyler would end up with such a pathetic loser, even if she was a recovering addict. Fortunately, the whole thing got much better as soon as Ellen Page got really involved. To be honest, it still rather sad that Page seems to be stuck playing Juno over and over again but I have to admit that her character pretty much saved this movie. Indeed, from the moment she decided to join the Crimson Bolt in his demented crusade, the whole thing then became so much more messed up and also way more intriguing. In the contrary to 'Kick-Ass' which made the whole concept look really cool, in this case, they displayed how completely misguided and deranged it actually is. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was still a decent watch and it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.
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Posted : 7 years, 2 months ago on 18 December 2017 10:09
(A review of
Crimes and Misdemeanors)
Even though I have seen more movies directed by Woody Allen than any other director, except Alfred Hitchcock, to be honest, it has been at least a decade since the guy delivered something that really impressed me. Since this movie is considered as one of his best movies, I had some high expectations and I was really eager to check it out. Well, even though I did like it, to be honest, I was still not really blown away by the damned thing, even if it was miles better than his recent output. Basically, this time around, Allen went for 2 different stories which were both linked to adultery. The first story with Martin Landau was obviously heavily inspired by ‘Crimes and Punishment’ while the second story was just another tale about Woody Allen feeling miserable in his marriage and trying to cheat on his wife. As you can guess, it didn’t care much about the second tale and they could have dropped it as far as I was concerned. Concerning the part involving Landau, even though it was intriguing, it still felt too predictable to me. Eventually, what made this movie really work was its surprisingly bleak ending. I have to admit that I didn’t get it while I was watching this movie but, later on, I understood that the whole thing was basically about the idea that there is actually no God or if there is a God, what’s the point in believing in him since people can get away with such terrible acts? It was an intriguing idea but it was maybe too subtle for me. Anyway, to conclude, even if it didn’t really blow me away, it was still pretty good and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Woody Allen’s work.
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Posted : 7 years, 2 months ago on 16 December 2017 10:44
(A review of
Of Mice and Men)
That's another movie that I wanted to watch for so many years. First of all, even if I probably should have, I have to admit that I haven't read yet the classic novel written by John Steinbeck. Concerning Gary Sinise, like other actors such as Vin Diesel, Sam Neill or Billy Bob Thornton, he actually launched his career by directing a few movies before focusing solely on acting. Coming back to our main feature, to be honest, even though it was a decent story with a strong performance by John Malkovich, I thought it was actually rather predictable. I mean, you can guess every dramatic event occurring miles ahead and, as a result, I have to admit that I wasn't exactly blown away. Eventually, what really sold me was its ending, because it was so bleak, so heartbreaking and, in the contrary to the rest of the movie, it actually took me by surprise. I mean, when I think about it, it really made sense but I was expected that Lennie and George would have simply run away, like they always did but, instead, Steinbeck chose such a more powerful way to end his tale which I won't forget for quite some time. Anyway, to conclude, it was a really solid drama and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.
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Posted : 7 years, 2 months ago on 13 December 2017 09:04
(A review of
Rodney King)
To be honest, I really had no idea what to expect from this movie but since it was directed by Spike Lee, I thought I might as well check it out. First of all, even though I knew obviously what happened to Rodney King, I have to admit that I didn't really remember much of the details on how it all went down at the time so, only as a reminder, this movie was already quite valuable. Seriously, after hearing how this case was handled, it is rather difficult to still have faith in the American justice system. But, eventually, the whole thing was not only about telling the simple facts which were very often seriously heartbreaking and Roger Guenveur Smith went way beyond that and delivered a rather chaotic, surreal but very often spellbinding performance. Basically, as pointed out on a regular basis during this show, it wasn't only about what happened to Rodney King but it was more about how the African-Americans have been traumatized by decades, even centuries, of unfair mistreament and how difficult it is to cope with this legacy. To conclude, even though it was maybe missing something to become really amazing, it was still a really interesting one-man show and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.
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Posted : 7 years, 3 months ago on 12 December 2017 09:24
(A review of
Soof 2)
To be honest, I didn’t expect much from this flick but since my wife really liked the 1st instalment and since this movie was available on Netflix, I thought we might as well check it out together. Well, I have to admit that I was actually positively surprised by this sequel and, in my opinion, it actually worked better than it predecessor. The main issue with ‘Soof’ was that, in spite of the fact that the concept had actually some potential and even though Lies Visschedijk was just so charming and charismatic, the damned thing was unfortunately rather poorly written. Well, with this movie, it really worked better though. Indeed, the biggest improvement was that they managed to get the tone right this time, smoothly switching between light comedy and light drama. Furthermore, the makers stopped to shamelessly copy some other romantic-comedies and, this time around, it felt more like something original than just another copycat. Eventually, the only thing preventing this movie from really convincing me was the fact that it was still too random above all because there was just too many supporting characters involved. And, yet in spite of its randomness, the damned thing was still too predictable as well. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, I have to admit that it was still a decent watch and it is actually worth a look, at least if you really like the genre.
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Posted : 7 years, 3 months ago on 10 December 2017 10:43
(A review of
A Passage to India)
Since it was David Lean's last directing effort, I was really eager to check it out. Well, even though it was pretty good, I can't say it reached the level of other Lean's masterpieces such as 'Lawrence of Arabia' and, to be honest, I was rather surprised that Roger Ebert loved it so much. I suspect that Ebert eventually loved this movie more than I did mostly because he had read the classic novel written by E.M. Forster. Obviously, I didn't read the book and, quite often, I was quite struggling to understand what this movie was getting at and the whole thing felt rather messy and confusing to me. I mean, was there actually a main character? There was more or less a plot but it was still rather murky to me. It doesn't mean that I didn't like this movie though. Indeed, Judy Davis, who apparently didn't get along at all with David Lean, was really good and it gave a good idea on why the English and the Indian didn't manage to get along during the time that India was still a colony and why it didn't work. It displayed also that India, which I have never visited, seems to be a country which is equally fascinating but also so disturbing for us coming from the West. Anyway, to conclude, even though I don't think it is really a masterpiece, it was still an interesting watch and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in David Lean's work.
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Posted : 7 years, 3 months ago on 10 December 2017 08:47
(A review of
Paddington)
Even though I heard about Paddington, I have to admit that my knowledge of his character didn't go beyond a set of coffee mugs that my wife brought in when we went to live together. Anyway, even though this movie turned out to a big commercial and critical success, to be honest, I didn't really care much about the damned thing, I'm afraid. At least, I have to admit that it was miles better than some similar movies also dealing with some CGI animated animals like 'Garfield', 'Alvin and the Chipmunks', 'Hop' or 'Yogi Bear'. Eventually, that was pretty much my main issue, the fact that even if Paddington himself was really cute and charming and even though this movie was probably the best one in this genre, it remains after all such a tedious genre nonetheless. I guess it didn't help either that I didn't grow up reading the stories involving the famous little bear. Still, if you look at the story slightly more carefully, you would notice that it is in fact really generic and predictable after all. Anyway, to conclude, even if I wasn't really impressed by the damned thing, I have to admit that it was still a solid family feature and it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.
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