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CollectionsBefore this movie was released, there was a decent buzz about this movie and many hoped that it would become the best adaptation of Stephen King’s famous book. Unfortunately, just before it was released, it was apparently butchered by the studio (allegedly , they would have removed up to 45 minutes of footage) and it was pretty obvious when you watched the damned thing. Indeed, the whole thing felt rather out of balance and while the prom scene took at least a 1/3 of the whole running time, there was barely any development of the characters. Above all, I wish they developed more Carrie White’s background. Indeed, at the beginning, you only get some awkward volleyball game to set up her situation and her relationship with her classmates. Well, it was simply not enough to explain why she would be considered as a freak by the whole school. I mean, she seemed to be a lonely girl but not much more than that. Anyway, to be honest, even if this movie would have been longer, I’m not sure I would have really enjoyed it. Indeed, after reading the book and watching 2 movie adaptations (1976 and 2013), I still don’t think it is one of the best stories written by Stephen King. Anyway, at least, Chloë Grace Moretz was not bad at all to (at least, she was an actual teenager), Julianne Moore was a great choice to play the mother and the iconic prom scene was still quite impressive. To conclude, even though it felt like a failed opportunity, I guess it might still be worth a look, especially if you like the genre.
An average movie
Posted : 7 years, 11 months ago on 21 March 2017 08:44
(A review of Carrie)
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A very good movie
Posted : 7 years, 11 months ago on 19 March 2017 06:37
(A review of Room)Since I kept hearing some really good things about this movie, I was quite eager to check it out but, to be honest, I thought it would be just another drama about a young woman held in captivity. Well, what I didn't expect is that it would turn out to be the best movie in this genre. Indeed, the whole thing was just so intense and heartbreaking and I'm pretty sure I will keep thinking about it during the next days. I have to admit it, at first, I kept wondering, like many other viewers I presume, why she didn't try to escape during these 7 long years. Well, first of of all, it is easier said than done. Indeed, she would have to miraculously find a code that a kidnapper could easily change on a regular basis and, apparently, there was also another door that could be opened only from the outside. But, most of all, she made the choice to survive, to stay alive, instead of risking it all with some hazardous escape attempt. Then, when her son was born, to care for him and to protect him became obviously a priority and it's only when she realized that he couldn't stay any longer that she finally came up with a plan which was still extremely dangerous. But this movie goes so much beyond that, it shows how they managed to live in confinement for all these years, how this mother still managed to give her boy a life when she was completely hopeless and how they both struggled to get back into the 'real' world. Especially for this young kid who never knew anything else and, suddenly, within minutes, his world was completely torn apart and the end-result was just crushing to behold. Anyway, to conclude, even though it was an old story, I'm really impressed by how deep they managed to go into this material, it was quite spellbinding to behold and it is definitely worth a look.
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A good movie
Posted : 7 years, 12 months ago on 16 March 2017 08:46
(A review of Anomalisa (2015))Since I kept hearing some really interesting things about this movie, I was really eager to check it out. Well, it gave me pretty much the same feeling I had while watching 'Mary and Max', another very original and very well received animated feature. Indeed, with this movie, just like with 'Mary and Max', while I really admired the work done, I still had a hard time to really connect with the damned thing. The biggest obstacle, at least, as far as I was concerned, was the fact that the main character was such a tedious and unpleasant guy constantly complaining about everything. To make things worse, while the dude was on a business trip, after he failed to hook up with his ex after he dumped her 10 years before without any explanation, the very same evening, he still managed to cheat on his wife with some random guest at his hotel. I mean, sure, it was refreshing that the main character was not one of the usual pretty faces with a perfect behavior but I can't say I really cared about him and what he was going through. And, yet, like the rest of the work delivered by Charlie Kaufman so far, it was something so weird and original, it was still quite spellbinding to behold. Indeed, my take is that we are all like Michael Stone, we all believe that we are special and unique while all the others around us are just some boring clones. When we fall in love, for a rather short periode of time, we believe we have finally found someone else also unique and wonderful but it doesn't last very long and, eventually, this new love turns out to be just as boring and underwhelming as everyone else in the world. The crushing reality and the dilemma faced by the main character is that we are all the same but we are also all completely different at the same time which was apparently something impossible to handle for this guy. Anyway, to conclude, even if I wasn't completely sold by the damned thing, it was still an interesting watch and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in some more experimental features.
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A good movie
Posted : 7 years, 12 months ago on 15 March 2017 10:26
(A review of Snowden)Not so long ago, I already watched 'Citizenfour' and I thought it would be pretty neat to see also this dramatized version directed by Oliver Stone. By the way, isn't it a little bit crazy that all these events took place only a couple of years ago and, yet, they have already released 2 major movies about the subject? To be honest, it gives the feeling that this story might be huge right now but nobody will really care about the whole thing over a couple of decades. Furthermore, even though Edward Snowden said that his quest was not about him, by getting a movie named after him and about his life, it shows how much the guy has become worldwide famous in the process. Anyway, it was pretty neat to see this movie after the documentary as it gave some interesting background about Snowden himself and what he went through. It was also interesting to see the notorious tools used by the NSA and the CIA actually in action. Eventually, instead of the far-fetched action scenes you get in the Bourne franchise, some supposedly more realistic spy movies, they showed us what spying is really about nowadays and the impact it might have on our everyday life. To conclude, even though it wasn't really amazing, it was still a decent watch and I think it is definitely worth a look.
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An average movie
Posted : 7 years, 12 months ago on 15 March 2017 08:27
(A review of London Boulevard)I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this movie but since I have a weak spot for Colin Farrell and Keira Knightley, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, even though this movie looked decent and the cast was pretty neat, I really had a hard time to care about the damned thing. Basically, the whole thing was just a mess. First of all, even though the poster was not bad, it was completely misleading. Indeed, never during the whole movie do you get to see those 2 actors together in this fashion and it gave the feeling that Colin Farrell might be Keira Knightley’s bodyguard which wasn’t the case at all. Anyway, this movie turned out to be some kind of British remake of ‘Carlito's Way’ which wasn’t necessarily a bad idea but, unfortunately, they went for a quirky tone which was a rather misguided choice. To make things worse, they added way too many half-baked sub-plots and barely developed characters and the way this former gangster and this former film star got acquainted was never convincing whatsoever. I mean, there were some good ideas, here and there, but most of this movie just didn’t work at all. To conclude, even though I have seen worse, the whole thing was eventually pretty weak and I don’t think it is worth a look.
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A good movie
Posted : 7 years, 12 months ago on 14 March 2017 04:11
(A review of Southpaw)There was in at first a pretty good buzz about this movie before its release and Jake Gyllenhaal was especially praised for another really strong performance. Well, I have noticed that, eventually, it didn’t make so much waves when it came out but I was still quite eager to check it out. Indeed, once again, Gyllenhaal was really strong and, after checking the damned thing, I have to agree that all the praise was really deserved. Unfortunately, I can’t say that the movie itself really blew me away. I mean, sure, it was a decent boxing drama but the makers seriously used all the clichés in the genre. Indeed, you had the champion losing everything but making a mighty come-back, the evil manager and the evil opponent, the wise trainer who doesn’t want his boxer to go to the big fight, the training montage … I mean, if you are familiar with the genre, especially the ‘Rocky’ franchise, there won’t be anything really surprising for you if you watch this flick. Fortunately, Gyllenhaal was really awesome, not only physically, as he was really ripped but it was also pretty neat to see how deep he went into the psychology of his character. To conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was still a decent watch though, thanks to Jake Gyllenhaal, and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.
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An average movie
Posted : 8 years ago on 12 March 2017 07:54
(A review of Quiz)About a year ago, I saw 'Sint', Dick Maas's previous directing effort, and even though the concept seemed to be promising, the whole thing turned out to be massively disappointing. Well, since Dick Maas is probably, after Paul Verhoeven, the most successful Dutch film director, at least, commercially speaking, I was still eager to see what he would do next, even if I was rather cautious this time around. Well, fortunately, he managed this movie to deliver a decent thriller. Indeed, once again, he came up with a neat concept, some kind of mix between 'The Game' and 'Slumdog Millionaire' and there was definitely some potential. Eventually, the main issue was that the scope was just too small, I'm afraid. I mean, basically, try to imagine if 'The Game' would take place only on one location or if in 'Slumdog Millionaire', each time they would ask a question, the main character would simply give us his answer without providing a flashback to show us exactly what happened. I wish they also removed most of the humor (the Italian restaurant owner for example was rather cringe-inducing). To conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was still a decent watch, at least it was much better than most of the recent movies directed recently by Dick Maas and I think it is worth a look, especially if you are interested in Dutch movies.
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An average movie
Posted : 8 years ago on 11 March 2017 08:00
(A review of The Greatest)I wasn't really sure what to expect from this movie but since there was a really nice cast involved, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, this movie provided, on one hand, one of the sweetest and saddest love stories I have ever seen and, on the other hand, a solid depiction of 2 parents losing their child with some strong performances by Susan Sarandon and Pierce Brosnan. So, the material was pretty good but, unfortunately, Shana Feste, in her directing debut, never really managed to mix these 2 stories together. Indeed, for some reason, she basically forced these parents and this pregnant teenage girl to live together but it never worked. I mean, how are we supposed to believe that a high-school student really have no one to support her at all? It was never clearly explained throughout the whole thing and it felt really awkward. There was also another sub-plot involving the younger brother falling in love with a girl but they should have dropped this story-line or further develop it. Finally, to make things worse, towards the end, everything seemed to be solved somehow and this happy ending was also rather hard to swallow. Anyway, to conclude, even though there was a lot of stuff that didn't work in this movie, it was still a decent drama though and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.
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An average movie
Posted : 8 years ago on 10 March 2017 11:44
(A review of Kong: Skull Island)To be honest, this movie was not really a high priority for me but Nick, my step-son, was quite eager to check it out. Well, eventually, I have to admit that it was not bad at all after all. Indeed, it was an interesting choice to set the action in the 70's and, as a result, it really stood out from it predecessors and it was easily the funkiest version of King Kong I have seen so far. It was also pretty neat that, right from the moment that they came to Skull Island, you actually get to see Kong in a massive fight which was quite unexpected as, usually in this genre, you have to wait forever before something really exciting actually happens. Still, when I think about it, the story was not really strong after all. Indeed, basically, the characters go into quite some trouble to get to this island and, yet, from the very minute they get there, they decide that they actually have to escape. At some point, Samuel L. Jackson even became a bad guy for some rather dubious reasons and the whole thing from this point pretty much lost me. To make things worse, there were maybe 10 or 15 characters and none of them, except maybe John C. Reilly, was properly developed and the biggest victims were Brie Larson and Tom Hiddleston, two of the most interesting actors at work nowadays, who really had nothing to do, except looking really attractive. To conclude, in spite of its flaws, I have to admit that it was a still decent watch and it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.
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A very good movie
Posted : 8 years ago on 9 March 2017 10:55
(A review of Jodorowsky's Dune)A couple of weeks ago, I was in France on holiday and my brother gave me as gift the collector's edition of this movie. Obviously, I had already heard about this movie and even my father, who's usually really hard to please, really loved the damned thing so I was really eager to check it out. Well, I wasn't disappointed as the whole thing turned out to be a fascinating documentary about a potential masterpiece that was actually never made. Of course, it was equally frustrating to see such a visionary director gathering all these great talents together when in fact we will never have the opportunity to see the damned thing. Still, while watching this movie, I was rather amazed that all the people involved actually believed that this movie was actually doable, especially at the time. Furthermore, I was also wondering actually how it actually all ended and, to be honest, I'm rather surprised that those guys thought that they could to go to Hollywood with their ambitious but also really insane project and expect that they would been given at least 15 millions dollars which was a huge sum at the time. Why didn't they try in Europe or why didn't they try to finance it independently? Anyway, eventually, Jodorowsky would turn to comic-books, a much more flexible Art form in which money doesn't play such a huge part like in the movie business, creating some amazing masterpieces like 'L'Incal' which is my all-time favorite comic-book. To conclude, I really liked the damned thing and, if you are into science-fiction, it is definitely worth a look.
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