Posted : 7 years, 10 months ago on 5 May 2017 08:55
(A review of
Me, Myself and Mum)
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. Well, to be honest, the first time around, I had no idea what to expect from this movie but since it did win the CĆ©sar of the Best French movie of the year, I had to watch it at some point. When I first heard about the concept, I have to admit that I had some serious doubts and I was afraid it could turn out to be something like āMrs. Doubtfireā or āThe Nutty Professorā. Fortunately, it was something completely different and I was actually quite impressed by what Guillaume Gallienne did with this material. Indeed, even though it was indeed actually pretty dark and gloomy, Gallienne still managed to deliver somehow a comedy which was sometimes quite hilarious. Itās like the mother who was a really tricky character. Seriously, she was described as someone really cold and terribly unlikeable but the guy still loved and admired her which was quite intriguing. In fact, itās something that my ex-wife never really understood, it is not because some French people are complaining all the time or are even mean to the people they love that they are completely worthless, in the contrary. In fact, this woman actually reminded me of my mother (she is also French) who can be so grumpy but, unfortunately, I never felt the same fascination with her that Galienne apparently had with his mother. It was also an interesting study about the difficulty to find your own identity when you are a marginal, even in a society where homosexuals might seem to be accepted. To be honest, even if I did like it, this movie was still what you could call in French 'Le summum du nombrilisme'. Basically, it was only about Galienne's thoughts and feelings and it had absolutely nothing else to offer so the scope was seriously limited. Anyway, to conclude, even if it was maybe not a masterpiece, I really had a weak spot for the damned thing and I think it is definitely worth a look.Ā
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Posted : 7 years, 10 months ago on 3 May 2017 07:56
(A review of
The Good Lie)
To be honest, I had no idea what to expect from this movie but since I have a weak spot for Reese Witherspoon, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, even though the damned thing was sold as a Witherspoon vehicle (just check the poster), in fact, she only had a supporting part and the movie was actually dealing with 4 refugees from Sudan. Furthermore, even though they made it seemed that it was a true story, in fact, it was some fiction based on the tragic history of Sudan and its refugees. As a result, many of the most dramatic events taking place during this movie were actually made up so they could give the whole thing some typical generic Hollywood flavor. Still, even so, I thought it was a decent watch. Indeed, it did help that 3 of the 4 actors were some actual Sudanese refugees (the 4th one was still a son of refugees). Furthermore, I liked the fact that the American people were displayed as being pretty much just as ignorant as the refugees. Finally, considering that the biggest part of Europe has been dealing with a major refugee crisis for a couple of years, it was a great reminder that we shouldn't be scared of jeopardising our luxurious lifestyle and we should welcome these refugees who would otherwise properly perish in some terrible circumstances. To conclude, in spite of its flaws, I thought it was pretty good and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested by this subject.
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Posted : 7 years, 10 months ago on 3 May 2017 07:35
(A review of
The Limits of Control)
Even though this movie didnāt get much love when it was released, since it was directed by Jim Jarmusch, I was still quite eager to check it out. For some reasons, somehow, it took me almost 10 years to see the damned thing. Well, I wish I could say it was worth the wait but, unfortunately, it turned out to be the weakest movie delivered by this director so far. Indeed, for 2 long hours, you get to see some mysterious black guy wandering the streets in some Spanish towns basically doing nothing at all. From time to time, he did have some conversations with some random characters who mostly spoke Spanish, a language which the main character of course didnāt speak. I mean, it could have worked with a 10-15 minutes short movie but to see this for almost 120 minutes was just so tedious. My guess was that Jarmusch wanted to go for something even more experimental than usual but it seriously backfired. I mean, it was visually quite appealing and Isaach De BankolĆ© did what he could with a Ā seriously limited character but I really had a hard time to care at all for the damned thing. To conclude, I think I was rather generous with my rating here but I guess it might be worth a look, only if you are a die-hard fan of Jim Jarmuschās work.Ā
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Posted : 7 years, 10 months ago on 1 May 2017 07:32
(A review of
Timbuktu)
To be honest, I had no idea what to expect from this movie but since it had won the CĆ©sar of the Best French movie of the year, I was quite eager to check it out. Well, it turned out to be a rather heartbreaking tale about how the life in Timbuktu Ā has been completely shattered by the local jihadists. While watching this movie, I actually came to the conclusion that the guys from IS are pretty much the fascists of our time. Indeed, for some reasons, they think they are better than everyone else and they cripple the liberty of others by forcing women to cover their heads, to wear some gloves and forbidding cigarettes, music and even football. You might wonder why the Western leaders don't try to stop them like they did with the Nazis during WWII. I guess, they just don't care much for such places like Timbuktu, I'm afraid. Still, even though it was a decent watch, I have to admit that I wasn't completely sold. What bothered me the most was that the whole thing was very often a random mess. Indeed, you keep jumping from one little story to another and, as a result, nothing was actually properly developed. Still, in spite of its flaws, it was a very interesting watch, even an important movie, showing the dreadful situation of the people living under the Islamic State and it is therefore definitely worth a look.
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Posted : 7 years, 10 months ago on 30 April 2017 05:35
(A review of
The Boss Baby)
When I saw the trailer for this movie, it seemed pretty weak but my daughter thought it looked pretty neat so we still ended up watching the damned thing in the movie theater together. Well, eventually, I wasn't positively surprised by this movie, I'm afraid. Seriously, is it me or are the concepts delivered by Dreamworks Animation becoming only more and more pathetic? I mean, there was something pretty neat about this idea of a young boy trying to deal with with the arrival of his new baby brother (After all, Pixar already displayed with 'Inside Out' that you can make a great movie Ā about a kid going through some huge life changing event) but, eventually, everything else was just so lame. I mean, seriously, a baby wearing a suit and talking like Alec Baldwin, trying to stop some complot from a puppy company? That was their brilliant idea? When we got home, my daughter was not even able to tell exactly what it was about to my wife, even though we just finished to watch the damned thing only 10 minutes before. On the other hand, I have to admit that she really liked this movie though. Eventually, like 'Home', it was something really childish that could be enjoyable for the young kids but I don't think many grown-ups will have a good time watching this flick. I sure did not.
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Posted : 7 years, 10 months ago on 29 April 2017 05:56
(A review of
Pan)
Right now, Disney is having another huge box-office hit with 'Beauty and the Beast' showing that the audience is apparently really eager to watch more of these live-adaptations of their most famous fairy tales. Obviously, this new trend didn't go unnoticed by the competition and Warner Bros decided to deliver another adaptation of 'Peter Pan'. Unfortunately, their plan backfired and the whole thing turned out to be one of the biggest flops released in 2015. The first issue was that it was, in my opinion, Ā a rather misguided idea to tell the origin of this classic character. Indeed, one of the major appeals about him was in fact the cloud of mystery around his background. Anyway, even if you would be open for this concept, it doesn't change the fact that the whole thing was just a mess. Indeed, why did it start during WWII? Why was Neverland suddenly a floating island with some flying pirate ships all over the place? Why on Earth would they all sing a Nirvana song out of the blue? There was a big fuss at the time that Rooney Mara was playing an Indian but I was actually more bothered by the fact that she and Captain Hook were about the same age which didn't make any sense. I mean, either you make the decision that you can't grow old in Neverland which wouldn't work since Blackbeard's whole plan was about becoming immortal or Tiger Lily should have been much younger, about Peter Pan's age. Eventually, the only interesting idea was to show that Peter Pan and Captain Hook were actually friends at first but even this idea was rather poorly developed. Anyway, I think my rating might be too generous here but I guess it might be, after all, actually enjoyable for its target audience, the (very) young kids, but, as far as I was concerned, I didn't care much for the damned thing.
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Posted : 7 years, 10 months ago on 29 April 2017 07:17
(A review of
Evil Dead)
Recently, I have been re-watching the whole trilogy directed by Sam Raimi and, even though I don't think I'm a huge fan, I enjoyed all these movies so I thought it would be pretty neat to end up with this remake, especially since it was rather well received when it was released. Well, to be honest, I really had a hard time to care about the damned thing. I mean, sure, it was technically well done, I also appreciate the fact that they wanted to go into a really different direction than with the original movie and it was pretty neat to see all these nods to the original trilogy but, eventually, the whole thing turned out to be really boring. It comes down to what would you get if you would remove the humor and Ash from 'The Evil Dead'? Basically, a rather typical and tedious slasher flick. Indeed, these 2 elements were what madeĀ 'The Evil Dead' stand out among the other horror flicks so to remove these ingredients might have been an interesting idea but it didn't really work for me, I'm afraid.Ā On top of that, I didn't help that I didn't care for any of the characters involved. At first, I was also rather worried by the fact that they added this cold turkey sub-plot which sounded really generic but, then, it did help to explain Mia's erratic behavior. Still, even this gimmick worked only for 5 minutes. Anyway, to conclude, my rating might be a little bit harsh but I thought it was just really tedious Ā and I don't think it is really worth a look.Ā
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Posted : 7 years, 10 months ago on 28 April 2017 07:41
(A review of
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2)
I already saw this movie but since I just bought a brand new awesome TV, I thought I might as well check it out again. I have to admit it, the first time around, I was actually rather disappointed by the damned thing. Indeed, like anyone else, I really enjoyed a lot āGuardians of the Galaxyā so , as a result, I had some really high expectations with this sequel. Well, Iām glad I gave it a second chance because, even if it was clearly a step down from the previous instalment, it was still not bad at all. Still, even if it was entertaining, I still had a hard time to care about the story though. Indeed, I have to admit it, the idea of reuniting Peter Quill with his father had some potential but the outcome was rather predictable and this plot was nothing really mind-blowing after all. An issue is that it was pretty obvious that there was something fishy about this character right from the start (his name was obviously a massive giveaway). Eventually, it seems that the makers put so much effort in the first movie to properly introduce these really obscure characters that, since this bunch of misfits became so popular, they didnāt have to bother to come up with something really groundbreaking to please the fans this time around. Still, while re-watching this movie, I have to admit that I did appreciate more the dynamic in this group during this sequel. Indeed, I could really feel the bond between them which was pretty neat but itās too bad I didnāt care much about the story they were involved in. Anyway, to conclude, even though it didnāt live up to my expectations, I have to admit that 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, 10 months ago on 26 April 2017 08:06
(A review of
Lay the Favorite)
Since this movie didn't get much love after its release, I didn't expect much but since I have a weak spot for Stephen Frears's work and since there was a decent cast involved, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, it definitely turned out to be pretty weak, in fact, I'm pretty sure it is the weakest movie I have seen from Frears so far. I mean, it was basically one of these movies starting with a very lame introduction and, after the first 5 minutes, I already knew the whole thing was pretty much hopeless. In fact, I do believe that gambling is a fascinating subject but, for one thing, they completely messed up the tone. Basically, they went for some kind of manic quirky comedy which was just completely misguided. Seriously, if you would believe this movie, in case you would lose 10 thousands of dollars with a bad gamble, you shouldn't need to worry as nobody will come up to break your fingers if you don't pay. Instead, your bookie will provide you with a plan to pay up your debts or, even worse, will help you to make an ever bigger gamble to cover your debts (both things actually happened during this movie ). I felt above all sad for the charming and seemingly talented Rebecca Hall who, for once, had the opportunity to play the lead but it turned out to be some rather clueless stripper version of Erin Brockovich. On top of that, her character was just so poorly written, Ā she somehow completely changed after she was (rightfully) fired for flirting with her married boss. Anyway, to conclude, I think I was actually rather generous with my rating here, Ā the damned thing was a just really weak comedy and I don't think it is worth a look.
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Posted : 7 years, 10 months ago on 25 April 2017 08:46
(A review of
Like Father,Like Son)
Since this movie had been very well received, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, the first tricky thing about this movie was that even though it was partially dealing with the genetical links involved in a family, in fact, since the 2 boys were obviously some actors, they didn't have any biological link with either families so it felt somehow as if they were in fact switching some adopted children. I know, it doesn't sound really doable or practical but I think it would have worked better if they had somehow managed to cast some actors with their actual own children. Furthermore, the 'rich' dad was such a douchebag, it was actually rather difficult to swallow. I mean, seriously, from the moment he was told that he might have another son, he started to act as if he could make it 'right' this time around which was just so infuriating. And, yes, even with his biological son, the end-result turned out to be rather disappointing which demonstrated that the guy was after all just a lousy father. Still, the whole thing was quite heartbreaking with some nice and sober directing and some really strong performances. I also enjoyed the ending which displayed that there was still an alternative to make sure that both families were not completely torn apart. Anyway, even though the whole thing didn't completely work for me, it was still a solid drama and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.
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