Posted : 7 years, 6 months ago on 1 October 2017 06:38
(A review of
Mother!)
Following the polarizing responses towards this movie, I wasn't really sure what to expect but since I have always been a fan of Darren Aronosfky's work, I was still really eager to check it out. Well, I have to admit it, it was a difficult movie to read as the whole thing was just so bizarre and chaotic and I can imagine that not everyone might be able to connect with this picture. But that was also the real beauty of it, the fact that you could give it pretty much any meaning you want. Indeed, someone might think that it is a story about motherhood, some others might say it is about how chaotic our society and way of life have become. As far as I was concerned, it felt like a fascinating and endless nightmare, the way everything seemed familiar and yet odd at the same time and the way the main character seemed to be a mere spectator with no control over the events happening in front of her. Their world kept shifting, unfolding and exploding with some continuous random small or big events which felt really reminiscent to a nightmare, at least, to me, and this process was quite spellbinding to behold. Anyway, even though it might not be Darren Aronosfky's best movie so far, I thought it was still quite fascinating and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in experimental movies
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Posted : 7 years, 7 months ago on 29 September 2017 07:15
(A review of
The Last Days of Emma Blank)
Since it was the last movie directed by Alex van Warmerdam that I had to see, I was really eager to watch the damned thing. The first thing I enjoyed was how van Warmerdam had improved as a director. Indeed, this movie was very well directed, especially visually speaking, and it seemed that the guy had finally reached his top in this area. The other thing I enjoyed was that, even though it was still really abstract, I wouldn't expect anything else from this director, he still seriously toned down his usual weirdness which made the whole thing much more accessible. And, yet, even if I enjoyed this movie, to be honest, it was still not much more than a decent watch. I don't know, with his director, I always end up with the feeling that he spends too much time creating a weird asburd mood and not enough on the characters who always seem to be stuck more or less against their will in his sick little tales. Still, van Warmerdam remains a very interesting director and one of the very few, or maybe even the only Dutch director, who has managed to create his very own style. Anyway, to conclude, even if the whole thing didn't completely blow me away, it was still pretty good and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in this director.
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Posted : 7 years, 7 months ago on 28 September 2017 08:01
(A review of
Hot Pursuit)
I wasn't expecting much from this flick but since I have a weak spot for Reese Witherspoon, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, it turned out to be seriously weak, that's for sure. Basically, they went for some kind of lame female remake of 'Midnight Run', a classic from the 80's which I already barely enjoyed. To be honest, I don't think that anything really worked in this movie. First of all, I do believe that Witherspoon is a decent actress but she was actually rather weak here. I mean, the OCD aspect of her character was not so bad but she played one of the least convincing cops I have ever seen or maybe it was just that her character was rather poorly written. Eventually, I think it would have worked better if she would been a really great cop. Anyway, if eventually Sofia Vergara ends up being the one giving the better performance, you should know you are in trouble. I mean, she wasn't great at all but, at least, she was more convincing than Witherspoon. Should I also mentioned that none of the supporting characters was entertaining at all? Anyway, I think I'm being rather generous with my rating here, it was a rather lame comedy and I don't think it is worth a look at all.
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Posted : 7 years, 7 months ago on 27 September 2017 08:13
(A review of
The Score)
I already saw this movie but since it was a while back and since I had it on DVD, I thought I might as well check it out again. I remember very well when I first heard of this movie. Indeed, I thought it sounded really awesome and I was just so excited to see a flick starring 3 acting giants, Robert De Niro, Edward Norton and Marlon Brando. Of course, at the time, it had been at least 2 decades since Marlon Brando had done anything remotely interesting (except maybe 'A Dry White Season' which I haven't seen yet) but De Niro and Norton were still at the top of their game so I was hopeful. Unfortunately, the damned thing turned out to be one of the most generic heist movies I had ever seen. I mean, sure, it was rather well made and watchable but it was also completely unoriginal and predictable and they didn't even try to come up with an inspiring title. Of course, at the end, they gave us a twist but anyone could have guessed it so it had pretty much zero impact and entertaining value. To conclude, in spite of its flaws, I still think it is watchable, if only to see all these great actors in one room acting together but the damned thing was definitely a waste of great talents.
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Posted : 7 years, 7 months ago on 27 September 2017 09:16
(A review of
Waiter (2006))
Since ‘Grimm’ turned out to be rather disappointing, I did lower my expectations for this movie. Fortunately, Alex van Warmerdam made a nice come-back with this movie and, even though it was still far from being his best movie, I still enjoyed most of it. Basically, it all started as a rather average tale about an average guy who was working as a waiter but, apparently, van Warmerdam was aware that this tale was pretty weak so he added a layer of metafiction on top of it. Well, even though the meta thing was pretty neat, the whole thing became seriously random and, with these scenes, it was rather hit and miss, to be honest. For example, sure, it was pretty neat that the writer would get involved in his own story but his girlfriend as well? Furthermore, even though I have a weak spot for the lovely Thekla Reuten, I thought it was pretty cheap that they still managed to show her completely naked for no good reason whatsoever. Finally, the whole relationship between Edgar and Victoria was just rather annoying and frustrating and went completely nowhere. Still, there were some really funny bits here and there and it was really neat that Alex van Warmerdam himself was again playing the lead. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was still a decent watch and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in this director.
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Posted : 7 years, 7 months ago on 25 September 2017 07:27
(A review of
Gaga: Five Foot Two)
To be honest, I have never been really interested in Lady Gaga and I was surprised when my wife said she wanted to watch this documentary since she never mentioned this singer before. The reason why she wanted to watch the damned thing was because Lady Gaga had cancelled her last concert tour because she was suffering of fibromyalgia, a disease my wife has been dealing with for decades. Well, eventually, it turned out to be a decent watch but, to be honest, not much more than that. I mean, it was pretty neat to see her while working on her last record and, even though I still don't care much about her music, she definitely has some skills. Furthermore, I think it is rather sad that she spent so many years building up this over-the-top image, obviously only to get more attention and this movie displayed that she was finally ready to put the focus more on her music and her actual work than in her extravagant public image. Still, eventually, I didn't really have the feeling that I learned so much about her after all. Anyway, to conclude, all in all, it was not bad and I guess it is worth a look but probably only if you are really interested in this singer.
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Posted : 7 years, 7 months ago on 24 September 2017 06:22
(A review of
Coal Miner's Daughter)
To be honest, I have to admit that I had actually never heard of Loretta Lynn before watching this movie but since this movie seemed to have a pretty decent reputation, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, first of all, even though I'm not a huge fan of Country music, the songs written by Loretta Lynn were really good and it was quite impressive that Sissi Spacek did her own singing, even live for most of the scenes. And, of course, it was an incredible story, even if some elements were not completely true (for example, Loretta Lynn herself apparently lied for decades about her age and she was in fact sixteen years old when she got married). Still, even if the whole thing was well made and the actors involved were all pretty good, especially Spacek who won an Academy Award for her performance, it was still a fairly straightforward music biopic. Indeed, especially from the moment she was discovered and became famous, it became seriously generic and the whole thing went into auto-pilot until the very end. I was also surprised that there was no comment at the end telling us what happened during the following years in her life (basically, she made a successful come-back and remained one of the biggest Country singers). Anyway, even if it was nothing really groundbreaking, 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, 7 months ago on 23 September 2017 07:44
(A review of
IT)
In fact, I had planned for quite some time to watch the remake in the movie theater but, at the very last moment, Nick, my step-son, chickened out and we went to see something else after all. Instead, I decided to watch this first version and, I must admit it, it really deserves its solid reputation. Indeed, usually, I have a hard time to care about Stephen King's fantastic and horror stories, in fact, I even thought that 'The Green Mile' was rather overrated. However, this was absolutely a great story, easily one of King's best, and I might even consider reading the book at some point. Unfortunately, even if the story itself was pretty awesome, on the other hand, the directing was only merely adequate, I'm afraid. Basically, it was not really much better than these countless average horror movies they made in the 80's and you can only wonder what such great directors like Stanley Kubrick or Frank Darabont could have done with this material. Concerning the acting, well, it was actually even worse. Indeed, except for Jonathan Brandis and Seth Green who were not bad, all the kids were rather weak but their grown-up versions were actually even worse. Indeed, they were all just so uncharismatic and their performances were all rather wooden and completely forgettable. Of course, it doesn't include Tim Curry who was just downright impressive and he delivered here one of the most unforgettable bad guys ever. Anyway, to conclude, even if not everything did work in this movie, it was still a fascinating tale and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.
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Posted : 7 years, 7 months ago on 22 September 2017 08:23
(A review of
Allied)
Since I have a weak spot for Brad Pitt and Marion Cotillard and since this movie was directed by Robert Zemeckis, I was quite eager to check it out. Well, to be honest, even though it was a decent watch, I actually had a hard time to really care about the damned thing. I mean, I did like the 1st act in Casablanca but it was unfortunately slightly ruined by the fact that Brad Pitt wasn't convincing at all as a French native speaker. Sure, they tried to explain his poor accent with the fact that his character was Canadian but this explanation was rather weak. I mean, a top spy, at this level of the game, should show up with an almost flawless accent. Then, the rest of the movie was not bad but still nothing really amazing. I mean, let's assume that Marianne Beauséjour was indeed a German spy, how the hell did she get her info? Indeed, at this point, she had become a housewife, without any direct access to some sensitive information, and it was rather unlikely that Max Vartan would bring some classified files at home or discuss the details of his missions at the dinner table. Finally, even though Brad Pitt was fine as an experienced cool top spy, he wasn't really amazing as a man falling deeply in love, ready to risk everything for the love of his life. On the other hand, Marion Cotillard was once again quite impressive and she was pretty much pitch-perfect through the whole thing. Anyway, even if the whole thing didn't really work for me, it was still rather well made and fairly entertaining and it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.
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Posted : 7 years, 7 months ago on 22 September 2017 07:40
(A review of
The Prince)
I wasn’t expecting much from the damned thing but since there was a decent cast involved, I thought it might as well check it out. Well, from all the lame direct-to-DVD features starring Bruce Willis I have seen recently, this must have been the worst one so far. As usual, Willis was displayed prominently on the promotional material and, as usual, he wasn’t even playing the lead character but that wasn’t even the biggest problem with this movie. Indeed, the biggest issue was that the story was just so generic and tedious. Basically, it was some kind of rip-off of such movies like ‘The Equalizer’ or ‘John Wick’ about an average guy who seems to have a dark past and happens to be an actual killing machine. Well, I have never been a huge fan of the genre and to see such a weak movie in this genre was just terribly tedious. To be honest, I’m trying to think if there was anything that really worked in this movie but, no, I can’t think of any redeeming feature. Anyway, to conclude, the whole thing was just a waste of time and you should definitely avoid it, even if you are a big fan of Bruce Willis.
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