Posted : 7 years, 8 months ago on 2 July 2017 08:22
(A review of
Dead Man Down)
I wasn't really sure what to expect from this movie but since I have a weak spot for Colin Farrell and Noomi Rapace, I was quite eager to check it out. Well, they started with something really tricky as they started the movie completely in the middle of the story. It was a bold move that you don't see very often and that can be really awesome if done properly like in 'Silent Hill' for example but, unfortunately, it didn't work very well with this movie. The reason why they made this choice was, I believe, because they were mixing 2 tales of revenge so they made this jump to save some time but the end-result was rather awkward. Another bigger issue was that the plot about Colin Farrell's character was just so unoriginal and it didn't help that it was about some engineer who managed in just 2 years to infiltrate the mob with pretty much the same set of skills displayed by Jason Bourne. I mean, they were not dealing with a soldier who trained for years to get those skills, they were dealing with some freaking engineer. So, obviously to spice up an otherwise seriously generic revenge thriller, they added up Noomi Rapace's character with her one sub-plot. In fact, it could have actually saved this movie as Farrell and Rapace were both pretty good here and they had some nice chemistry. Indeed, the whole thing could have been interesting if they had dropped all the boring Jason Bourne B.S. and focused instead on this average gangster falling for a damaged girl. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, thanks to the actors involved, I still think it is worth a look but there is no doubt that it could have been so much better.
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Posted : 7 years, 8 months ago on 2 July 2017 04:52
(A review of
Despicable Me 3)
To be honest, I wasn't exactly dying to see this movie but, like any other kid, my youngest daughter really wanted to watch the damned thing. Well, eventually, I hope it will be the last installment because, even if it was still watchable, the whole concept, which was already never properly developed even in the first movie, has started to seriously show its limitations, I'm afraid. Eventually, the biggest problem with this movie was the fact that it was such so over-crowded that they really struggled to give everyone something to do. Indeed, with each movie, they keep adding some new characters and, this time around, each character of group of characters got involved with their own very short and really half-baked subplot. As a result, the whole thing felt seriously random, much more than its predecessors. The biggest victim, aside Dr. Nefario who would be only displayed for a few seconds for some kind of Star Wars joke, would be Lucy. Indeed, she was pretty awesome in the previous sequel but, here, she barely had anything to do and, even though it was a good idea of having her struggling with motherhood, it was given so little time and it was rather difficult to take it really seriously. Anyway, to conclude, I have to admit that the whole thing looked pretty good and some of the jokes were decent and most of the kids will probably love it but, to be honest, I'm pretty much done with this franchise by now.
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Posted : 7 years, 8 months ago on 30 June 2017 08:27
(A review of
Bronson)
Since I kept hearing some really good things about this flick, I was really eager to check it out. Well, for once, I wasn't disappointed, that's for sure. I mean, a couple of years ago, Nicolas Winding Refn released 'Drive' which turned out to be a major cult-classic at the time but, to be honest, I thought it was a decent watch at best but the guy definitely displayed some potential and this movie was much more superior in my opinion. Indeed, it was such an intense mad piece of mayhem and I really loved the surrealistic bits he put from time to time. Of course, I was also impressed by Tom Hardy who gave here a star-making performance. In my opinion, this movie also displayed how useless the prison system actually is. Indeed, someone weak or half-way decent will be probably completely destroyed in such environment and someone bad like Bronson would only become even worse so what's the whole point then? Eventually, even if they didn't really glorify Bronson as some might think, I'm still not sure if the guy was in fact so interesting after all but Winding Refn and Hardy managed to get most of this material. To conclude, I was really impressed by this movie and it is definitely worth a look.
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Posted : 7 years, 8 months ago on 29 June 2017 09:07
(A review of
The Rite)
I wasn't really sure what to expect from this movie but since I always had a weak spot for Anthony Hopkins, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, the first disappointing thing was that, even though the damned thing was obviously sold as a Anthony Hopkins vehicle, the guy had actually had only a supporting part and he got finally involved with the proceedings only after about 40 minutes. Then, I have to admit that the whole thing had some potential and I liked the fact that they tried to tackle more or less seriously the subject of exorcism. Unfortunately, they only tried but never succeeded, I'm afraid. Basically, even though they gave some space to discuss the fact that someone supposedly possessed might actually have some psychological issues which was interesting, it was unfortunately ruined by the usual over-the-top theatrics that you always get with this genre. As a result, any legitimate doubts displayed by the main character became obsolete which was too bad. Indeed, if they could have made the whole thing slightly more subtle so that the viewers could make up their own mind about what they saw, it would have been much more interesting. Anyway, to conclude, even though it was watchable, it was still a really generic and forgettable horror flick and I don't think it is really worth a look.
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Posted : 7 years, 8 months ago on 29 June 2017 07:59
(A review of
Star Trek Beyond)
[Link removed - login to see]Since I have seen all the movies from this franchise, of course, I had to watch at some point this last instalment. Apparently, it did underperform at the box-office which is too bad because, in my opinion and according to many critics, it was actually the best instalment since they did reboot this franchise. Of course, it looked pretty spectacular and it shows that this franchise works much better nowadays thanks to the current technology, at least, that’s my opinion. Furthermore, even though it did take me a while to get into this tale, it still worked better than its predecessors mostly because ‘Star Trek: The Future Begins’ had a disadvantage of being an origin tale and because ‘Star Trek Into Darkness’ was just too similar ‘Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan’. With this movie, they finally came up with something really new and it worked fine, at least, most of the time. I especially liked the fact that they spread out the crew in small groups so, even though the cast was pretty big, they all got something to do. The only issue was that they maybe had too many huge action scenes. As a result, each of these action scenes would take about 20 minutes of the running time leaving barely no time to develop the plot and even less time to develop the characters. Anyway, even though it was maybe not a masterpiece, it was still a really entertaining blockbuster and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.
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Posted : 7 years, 8 months ago on 26 June 2017 08:28
(A review of
Paterson (2016))
Since I had seen all the movies directed by Jim Jarmusch except for this one, of course, I was really eager to check it out. Well, the thing I enjoyed the most about the damned thing was the fact that Jarmusch gave the viewers barely any hints at all about what he was thinking or what he wanted to achieve with this movie. For example, he gave us a really cute couple who were obviously deeply in love. However, they seemed to have only such meaningless and tedious conversations such as 'Oh dear, you write such great poems, you really should have them published' 'Thanks, honey, and, by the way, your cupcakes are just amazing!'. Were we seriously to envy them? I'm not so sure. Another thing I liked about this movie was the fact, since it was so minimalistic, I started to notice such trivial details like the fact that there was no television, no computer and only 2 very quick moments with a smartphone. Seriously, was it really realistic to believe that literally no one would be on their smartphone when they take the bus? But maybe it was more about how Jim Jarmusch sees the world (I bet you that the guy doesn't have a smartphone). So, it was definitely an intriguing movie but, to be honest, I never thought it was fascinating either. I mean, Paterson was an interesting guy but while his girlfriend was really pretty, she definitely had nothing interesting to tell and I'm not sure if I really cared about their monotonous life. Or maybe the director wanted to show us that everyone has the potential to be a poet, even a bus driver. Anyway, to conclude, even if it didn't really blow me away, it was still a decent directing effort from Jarmusch and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in this director.
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Posted : 7 years, 8 months ago on 26 June 2017 07:17
(A review of
Song to Song)
To be honest, since ‘Knight of Cups’ already turned out to be a disappointment, I had already lowered down my expectactions concerning this movie. Well, unfortunately, even though it turned out to be slightly better, once again, I still had a hard time to care about the damned thing. I mean, as usual with this director, the whole thing looked awesome thanks to award-winning cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki, even if they made an excessive use of wide angle lenses. Furthermore, even if this movie didn’t really find an audience, it was obviously a treat for all the actors involved to work following Malick’s unique way of shooting movies. Eventually, one of the biggest issues with this movie was that its concept and ideas were already heavily used in ‘To the Wonder’, a movie which barely worked already, and ‘Knight of Cups’ which was his first really disappointing directing effort. Furthermore, ‘To the Wonder’ had the advantage to be dealing with only one love triangle while this movie had to deal with no less than 3 love triangles involving 5 different couples (Ryan Gosling + Rooney Mara, Rooney Mara + Michael Fassbender, Michael Fassbender + Natalie Portman, Ryan Gosling + Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara + Bérénice Marlohe) which was obviously way too much. I mean, as a result, you get to see some random couple having some random conversation and, of course completely at random, they switch to another couple having as well a random conversation and it goes on like this for more than 2 hours. Eventually, I think the movie could have actually worked if they had removed about 45 mins of random stuff and if they had focused only on the love triangle Ryan Gosling-Rooney Mara-Michael Fassbender. Anyway, to conclude, even though this movie has a rather lame reputation, I still think it is worth a look though, especially if you are interested in Terrence Malick’s work but it is pretty obvious that the guy needs to move on with something else now.
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Posted : 7 years, 8 months ago on 25 June 2017 07:26
(A review of
Exorcist: The Beginning)
I didn't expect much from this flick but since Renny Harlin's movies have always been a guilty pleasure of mine, I still wanted to check it out. First of all, you have to keep in mind the convoluted production for this movie. Indeed, at first, Paul Schrader was supposed to direct it but then, when he was done, the studio didn't like his version so they hired Harlin to re-shot 90% of the whole thing so there was a fair chance that Harlin's version could or should have been totally worthless. Well, to be honest, even if it was nothing really amazing, I didn't think it was one of the worst movies made by Harlin, in fact, everything he made afterwards, except for 'Cleaner', was so much weaker than this movie. Indeed, the whole thing looked fine (except for some very dated and poor looking CGI effects) and the beginning was actually pretty solid. Eventually, it was from the moment that these hyenas showed up that I started to loose interest in the damned thing. Indeed, from that point, they kept throwing at the viewers some rather non-sensical and boring horror scenes but I still believe that the whole thing had some potential. By the way, since this version turned out to be a flop, they eventually released Schrader's version later on as well but even though it was better received, it was a still a flop as well so you could say that Morgan Creek invested a lot of money in this project but didn't get much in return. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its rather lame reputation, I don't think it was such an awful movie but it was still pretty weak and I don't think it is really worth a look.
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Posted : 7 years, 8 months ago on 24 June 2017 12:27
(A review of
Dark Tide)
To be honest, I didn't expect much from this flick but since I have a weak spot for Halle Berry, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, unfortunately, it turned out to be really weak and, at this point, you wonder if she will ever showed up in something really worthwhile. At least, she still looks insanely gorgeous, even at 50 years old, but I'm afraid that it was the only thing this movie had to offer, the fact that you get to see Halle Berry in a wet suit. Seriously, ever since 'Jaws' became the highest grossing movie ever made, they have tried to make some other thrillers around this dangerous animal but these movies always turn out to be pretty lame and this movie was not an exception. Eventually, I'm not sure what bothered me the most, the fact that the story was just so generic and boring or that the dialogues were extremely weak. I mean, even Olivier Martinez was just annoying with his French accent. Does he really talk like that in English or did he make that up? Eventually, the most notable thing about this movie would be that, during this shoot, Halle Berry and Olivier Martinez became a couple, they even got married later on but they still got divorced only 3 years later so the whole thing was definitely a big waste of time for everyone involved. Anyway, to conclude, I think I have been actually really generous with my rating here and the damned thing is really not worth a look.
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Posted : 7 years, 8 months ago on 22 June 2017 08:38
(A review of
Hours)
To be honest, I wasn't expecting much from the damned thing but since it was on the TV, I thought I might as well check it out. At first, I wondered if it was really appropriate to make a generic thriller taking place during such a tragedy like Katerina but I have to admit that the whole thing actually really had some potential. Indeed, I always had a weak spot for minimalist movies focusing only on one character and the late Paul Walker gave here easily the most solid performance of his career. Unfortunately, the makers made one crucial mistake that pretty much ruined the whole thing for me. Indeed, right from the moment the incubator started to show some battery issues, they set the lifetime of the battery to only 3 minutes which was just way too short. Right then, I wondered how they would manage to keep the plot going on if the guy would need to go back every 3 minutes to crank up the god damned thing but, eventually, well, they pretty much cheated. Indeed, about 80% of the time the main character went away to do wathever he had to do, he was gone for way too long which was just silly and annoying. It could have been helped easily by setting the time to 15 or even 10 minutes at first but, no, they went for something completely unbelievable that ruined an actually solid feature. Anyway, to conclude, if you can forget this huge mistake, it is actually watchable but, otherwise, I don't think it is really worth a look.
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