Login
Home
588 Lists
7855 Reviews
CollectionsA very good movie
Posted : 10 years, 1 month ago on 7 May 2015 11:34
(A review of Winged Migration)In the mid-90âs, Jacques Perrin produced the amazing âMicrosmosâ which was an impressive critical success and it has became since then a deserved cult-classic (if you havenât seen it, you should absolutely check it out). 5 years later, Perrin came back with another ambitious animal documentary and, this time, he was not only producer but also director. I even had the pleasure to see this movie in the movie theater when it was released in France. Anyway, even though it didnât turn out to be a unique masterpiece like âMicrosmosâ, it was still pretty awesome to behold and I really liked the damned thing very much. Indeed, this time, we follow migratory birds going through thousands of kilometers during their journey sometimes even from pole to pole. Visually, it was just downright impressive. Indeed, they managed to film right next to the birds and, like âMicrosmosâ, there wasn't any annoying comment which was a real blessing. At the end of the day, the concept was maybe not really ground-breaking but the approach was just perfect and there was something quite poetic about the whole thing. To conclude, even though it might be completely forgotten nowadays, I think it is a very good documentary and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.
0 comments, Reply to this entry
A good movie
Posted : 10 years, 1 month ago on 6 May 2015 11:54
(A review of The Closet)Even though French comedies are sometimes massively successful, Iâm not a huge fan of the genre and, for example, I still have to see âBienvenue chez les Ch'tisâ which is, just behind âTitanicâ, the biggest box-office success ever in France. So, with this in mind, I wasnât really expecting much from this flick as it seemed to be another typical comedy but, to be honest, I thought it was not bad at all and actually quite entertaining. Back in the 80âs, Francis Veber made a trilogy of highly successful comedies starring GĂŠrard Depardieu and Pierre Richard (âLa chèvreâ, âLes compèresâ, âLes fugitifsâ) and, after all these years, Veber was finally working with Depardieu again. Basically, it is a rather straightforward comedy dealing with our prejudices towards gay people and even though it was nothing deep or groundbreaking, I thought it was actually quite efficient and rather fun to behold. On top of that, beside GĂŠrard Depardieu, there was a pretty neat cast (Daniel Auteuil, Thierry Lhermitte, Michèle Laroque, Jean Rochefort) and they all delivered some decent performances. To conclude, even though it wasnât really amazing, I thought it was a solid comedy and it is worth a look, especially if you are interested in French movies.
0 comments, Reply to this entry
A good movie
Posted : 10 years, 1 month ago on 6 May 2015 08:10
(A review of Les portes de la gloire)Basically, it is once again one of these really obscure French movies that almost no one has seen here on listal. No, let me correct this. Iâm actually the only one who has seen this movie so far on this website and it must be the 2nd time only that something like this happened to me! To be honest, even though I know it was far from being a huge comedy, I didnât expect it to be so obscure though. Anyway, back in those days, Benoit Poelvoorde was quite famous in France thanks to some hilarious TV shows he was involved with and, at the end of the 90âs, he was expanding his career to the silver screen. I was quite a fan of Poelvoorde so I tried to catch all his movies and I think I rented this one at the time. Eventually, I have to admit it that this flick was nothing really amazing but I still think it was quite entertaining and actually better than most of the other comedies involving Poelvoorde like âLe vĂŠlo de Ghislain Lambertâ for example. Indeed, basically, it is a really dry and dark comedy involving some door-to-door salesmen and I thought it was some perfect material for the Belgian actor. To conlcude, even though it is one of the most obscure movies I have ever seen and even though it is not really a masterpiece, I still think it is worth a look, especially if you are interested in French comedies.
0 comments, Reply to this entry
An average movie
Posted : 10 years, 1 month ago on 5 May 2015 07:33
(A review of Tell Tale)I wasn't really sure what to expect from this flick and, to be honest, I thought the ratings were much higher before watching the damned thing. Anyway, it sounded intriguing so I still wanted to check it out. At first, I actually had a rather hard time to get into this story. Indeed, basically, it was one of those paranormal thrillers (apparently, it was based on a short story written by Edgar Allan Poe which makes it instantly more interesting), a genre I'm not really a huge fan of. Indeed, how can I take it seriously when everything going on is so ridiculous? Here, it was even worse because you were dealing with some real people, living some real lifes and also having some real diseases but, then, it would stop every 10 minutes to show something really preposterous. And, yet, I have to admit it, slowly, the damned thing managed to grab me. Indeed, thanks to some solid performances by Josh Lucas and Brian Cox and some really efficient directing, I must confess that it was actually quite entertaining. There were still too many loose-ends and plot holes to make it completely satisfying but they managed somehow to make it work. To conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was not bad at all and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.
0 comments, Reply to this entry
A good movie
Posted : 10 years, 1 month ago on 4 May 2015 02:26
(A review of Le poulpe)Basically, it is once again one of these really obscure French movies that almost no one has seen here on listal. Even though I have seen this movie like ages ago, I still remember it quite well and Iâm pretty sure I saw it in the movie theater when it was released in France at the time. Back in those days, I had a real weak spot for Jean-Pierre Darroussin. You probably have never heard of the guy but, in France, the guy was and still is one of the best character actors and, at last, with this movie, he was getting a well-deserved leading role. To be honest, the whole thing was pretty much a standard murky film noir and the plot was probably a little too far-fetched but I still think it was quite entertaining, above all thanks to Jean-Pierre Darroussin. Indeed, the guy was basically born to play a character like this, some seasoned smart-ass private investigator, and his delivery was just spot-on from the beginning until the very end. To play his love interest, you had the lovely Clotilde Courau who seemed to have a really bright future but it all pretty much stopped when she married some Italian prince. Anyway, to conclude, even though it is nothing really ground-breaking, I still think it is a solid film noir and it is definitely worth a look.
0 comments, Reply to this entry
A good movie
Posted : 10 years, 1 month ago on 4 May 2015 10:29
(A review of Pleasantville)I already saw this movie but since it was ages ago, I was really eager to check it out again, especially since it has somewhat reached a cult status. Well, I'm glad I gave it second chance. Indeed, the first time around, I actually ended up with some mixed feelings about the whole thing. I mean, sure, I thought it was pretty good and quite clever but, back then, I canât say I was really blown away by this tale. However, after rewatching it after all these years, I finally understood what was so good about this movie. Basically, it is the answer to all this people thinking that everything used to so much better in the past. Well, as displayed in this movie, things were maybe different but it was certainly not better. Furthermore, it shows that even though we should look for happiness and harmony, life is also about chaos and diversity. Concerning Reese Witherspoon who was just 22 years old at the time, this movie is a fine example of how interesting her career was right from the start (see also 'The Man in the Moon', âFreewayâ, âElectionâ, âAmerican Psychoâ). To be honest, even though the whole thing had a nice edge, it was still too simplistic for my taste, especially how Jennifer would completely change after reading one book. In fact, it was probably the main problem with this movie, the way they struggled to show how Jennifer and David would be affected by their adventure and the choices they made (David becomes a hero and Jennifer becomes a bookworm) were rather disappointing. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, I still already enjoyed the damned thing and it is definitely worth a look.
0 comments, Reply to this entry
An average movie
Posted : 10 years, 1 month ago on 4 May 2015 08:29
(A review of Maid in Manhattan)Honestly, I wasnât expecting much from this flick but I still ended up watching it. I mean, right from the start, it sounded like a rather odd project. I mean, who thought it would be a good idea to make a romantic-comedy with Jennifer Lopez and Ralph Fiennes? Concerning Ralph Fiennes, he is probably one of the best actors of his generation and even though he has done pretty much everything in his career, this genre is probably the only one he hasnât mastered so far. Concerning Jennifer Lopez, she has a pretty lousy reputation as an actress but I donât think she is so bad. Unfortunately, she always picks up such bland projects like this one and if she ever wants us to take her seriously as an actress she will really have to take some risks at some point but I donât see it happening anytime soon. For Wayne Wang, I thought this movie was quite a stepdown from his impressive work from the 90âs (âThe Joy Luck Clubâ, âSmokeâ, âBlue in the Faceâ). At the end of the day, it is difficult to pinpoint what was the biggest issue with this flick. Anyway, you can either blame the lack of chemistry between the two leads or the fact that the plot was terribly weak and predictable. To conclude, I have seen worse but it is a really average romantic-comedy and I donât think it is really worth a look.
0 comments, Reply to this entry
A very good movie
Posted : 10 years, 1 month ago on 2 May 2015 10:08
(A review of The Incredibles)Nowadays, Marvel is pretty much ruling the box-office with their massive super-hero features but more than 10 years ago, Pixar did manage to get some pretty impressive commercial and critical success with their own super characters. Man, back in those days, Pixar used to be pretty amazing, all their productions were top quality, they had an amazing trackrecord and this movie definitely belongs to their classics. For Brad Bird, it was a big revenge as his directing debut, 'The Iron Giant', was a solid effort and eventually a cult-classic but it was barely seen when it was released. Anyway, 10 years later, this flick still holds pretty well. Indeed, they managed to give a really interesting twist to the genre, something even Marvel is still struggling with. Indeed, what if a super-hero would get a middle life crisis? What if the population got fed up of super-heros and their way of destroying everything? Is it even possible for a super-hero to live a regular life? Like the best work delivered by Pixar, not only it was pretty gorgeous to look at and completely entertaining, it went actually pretty deep which made the whole thing even more rewarding to watch. To conclude, I still think it is a very good animated flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.
0 comments, Reply to this entry
An average movie
Posted : 10 years, 1 month ago on 2 May 2015 04:35
(A review of Home)Honestly, I wasn't expecting much from this flick but since my youngest daughter was really eager to watch it, we went to see the damned thing in the movie theater. Well, eventually, it was not bad at all, even if it was a really typical DreamWorks effort. Indeed, the animation looked pretty good and the story was fairly entertaining but, like most of their productions, the whole thing still felt pretty lazy. I thought it was also seriously oriented towards very young children and I'm pretty sure most parents will be rather bored by the whole thing. Sure, there was a morality, but it was so obvious, so predictable, rather boring and unoriginal to be honest and I really had a hard time to care about what was going on. There was one detail that really impressed me though. I know, it might sound silly but I thought that the hair of Tip, the main character, looked just amazing. I mean, the animation in general was pretty good but her hair which was really curly and thick was just really impressive. Anyway, if you start paying attention to such trivial details, it is never a good sign and it means that there is definitely something wrong with your story. To conclude, even though I didn't like it much, I still think it is worth a look though, especially if you need to entertain your kids.
0 comments, Reply to this entry
A good movie
Posted : 10 years, 1 month ago on 1 May 2015 08:12
(A review of The Prince of Egypt)I already saw this movie in the movie theatre when it was released but since it was a while back and since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out again. In fact, I remember it very well, before this movie was released, there was quite some buzz about it. Indeed, back in those days, Disney was pretty much ruling the animation world without any real competition and the brand-new studio DreamWorks had decided to become their new challenger which was definitely a risky move. Eventually, even though they would make a name with their CGI animated features, most of their first productions were actually hand-drawn and, even more interesting, one of their very first project was actually definitely adult-oriented which was really a bold move considering that most animated features were and still are focusing on kids. That was really intriguing and an obvious move to take some distance from Disneyâs trademarks. I think it also had to do with the fact that Disney had already pretty much covered all the most famous tales (Snow White, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Pinocchio, Peter Pan, Tarzan,âŚ) and the only real famous tales left over were from the biblical kind, a genre Disney has always kept its distance from for some rather obvious reasons. Still, you can feel that the whole thing was quite experimental and the tone was rather uneven with some superfluous songs and lighter scenes to make sure that the parents could still bring their kids along. I still think itâs a real shame that DreamWorks eventually didnât continue in this direction and they actually never made something like that again. Anyway, even though Iâm not a religious man, the story was actually quite entertaining and some bits were even downright spectacular but, above all, I especially did appreciate the intense love-hate relationship between Moses and Rameses. The animation was also quite gorgeous. To conclude, even though it was not a masterpiece, it was still the best hand-drawn animated feature produced by DreamWorks and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.
0 comments, Reply to this entry