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CollectionsI already saw this movie but, since it was a while back, I thought I might as well rewatch it with my wife. I remember it fairly well, back then, 2011 was supposed to be huge for Channing Tatum but, eventually, all the movies he made were either some critical or some commercial failures ('The Dilemma', 'The Eagle', '10 Years' and 'Haywire'). However, he got his revenge in 2012 when he really ruled the box-office. Indeed, before '21 Jump Street' and 'Magic Mike' got some solid reviews and became fairly successful at the box-office, it actually all started with this romantic feature which scored better than everyone expected at the time. Well, I was pretty sure my wife would like the damned thing but I have to admit I was actually surprised by how much more I enjoyed it the 2nd time around. Indeed, the whole concept was interesting and I thought it was actually fairly well developed. Another thing I enjoyed was Leo himself who was probably one of the nicest male characters I have seen in such a romantic drama and I think Channing Tatum probably gave here his best performance so far. Rachel McAdams was also pretty good and they had a lot of chemistry together. And yet, the masterstroke with this movie was that, even though this couple was extremely cute, even though Tatumâs character was really patient and obviously still completely in love, she didnât miraculously recover her memory and, as a result, the only option was that they eventually broke up which was sad but so much more realistic. Sure, the damned thing was still not perfect though and the whole idea of the 'evil' parents was a rather weak. In fact, I think the whole thing would have been fine without this unnecessary twist. I mean, right from the start, she was asking why she got so mad with her parents in the first place and while it could have been explained much earlier, they conveniently waited to tell this for as long as possible until it was needed to move on the plot. Anyway, to conclude, even if it was maybe nothing great, I thought it was still a decent romantic feature and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.
A good movie
Posted : 10 years, 4 months ago on 15 February 2015 06:33
(A review of The Vow)
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An average movie
Posted : 10 years, 4 months ago on 14 February 2015 06:50
(A review of Big Hero 6)I already saw this movie but since it was a while back and since it was available on Disney+, I thought I might as well check it out again. Back then, when this movie was released, Disney was going through another renaissance and even though it is quite unlikely that they will top soon the popularity of 'Frozen', they continued their winning strike with this movie which was very well received and which was another success at the box-office. With this in mind, I had some rather high expectations but, to be honest, I had some rather mixed feelings about the whole thing. I mean, sure, it looked really amazing and, nowadays, Disney has managed to pretty much reach the level of their colleagues of Pixar in this area. On top of that, Baymax was just awesome, easily one of the best characters created by Disney. And yet, I wasn't completely blown away though. The main issue I had is that even though the story had some really nice moments here and there and, a few times, I thought it was finally starting to really take off but, unfortunately, it never really reached its full potential. Indeed, in my opinion, the story was not really strong, in fact, I thought it was really too similar to 'How to train your dragon', already a decent but also seriously overrated animated feature. Basically, if you would remove Baymax, none of the other characters were really interesting or entertaining and the story in general turned out to be fairly generic and predictable. Anyway, to conclude, even though I was expecting more, 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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An average movie
Posted : 10 years, 4 months ago on 14 February 2015 09:13
(A review of Anonymous)From time to time, you get a director above all known for one genre who would direct something completely different (the best example would be Wes Craven, famous for his horror movies who did make 'Music of the Heart' which couldn't have been more different than his usual work). Now, it was Roland Emmerich's turn to direct something else than his usual action flicks. Indeed, this time, he went for a very elaborate costume drama which he financed on his own. Eventually, while his action flicks were usually pretty dumb, I thought this one was actually rather complicated, probably too much. Indeed, if you don't have a good knowledge of the time periode, it will be rather difficult to keep track of who is who and what was their relationship with the rest. On top of that, I thought that Emmerich couldn't really make up his mind about the actual subject of his movie. Indeed, was it a hommage to the great genius of William Shakespeare's writings (even if it might have been actually written by someone else) or was it about the numerous political intrigues at the time? Eventually, it kept awkwardly switching from one to the other with a slightly underwhelming end-result. And yet, the whole thing looked great, the actors involved provided some nice performances and while it was focusing on the power of those magic words, it did work really well so I think it is definitely worth a look, in spite of its flaws.
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An average movie
Posted : 10 years, 4 months ago on 13 February 2015 11:42
(A review of Rogue Trader)Honestly, it has been a while since I have seen this movie but I remember it quite well. It is actually pretty osbcure and I wonder why it never got much love. Indeed, it deals with a fascinating true story and the lead character was played by Ewan McGregor, probably one of the best actors of his generation, so it definitely had some potential to be really great. Unfortunately, I have to admit it, it never managed to be really spellbinding after all. I mean, I still believe that it was entertaining and McGregor delivered once again a solid performance but it is always the issue with a tale like this one, the viewers already know at the beginning how it will end so how do you manage to still make it exciting or interesting? In this case, they only partially succeeded and the whole thing was just too predictable to become really remarkable. Years later, some other movies about the same subject like âMargin Callâ or âThe Wolf of Wall Streetâ would work even though the outcome was known from the start. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it still is an interesting feature and I think it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested by this subject.
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A good movie
Posted : 10 years, 4 months ago on 12 February 2015 10:29
(A review of The Rock)To this day, it is still the most popular movie directed by Michael Bay. I mean, the transformers flicks have been highly successful financially but they are also despised by many movie viewers (including myself) whereas this movie has always been genuinely respected. Indeed, even though I'm not exactly a die-hard action movie fan, I certainly enjoyed this one and it is a definite milestone for many players involved. For Bay and Bruckheimer, it was a step forward following their previous effort but it was not yet as preposterous as their following productions like 'Armageddon' for example. For Sean Connery, it would be the last time we would see him play such a bad-ass character, some kind of awesome older version of James Bond, his most iconic part. For Nicolas Cage, for good or bad, it was the start of his action movie career. Even though his recent action flicks were pretty terrible, his first outing was actually pretty cool. Back in those days, even for something really weak, Cage would do his best to deliver a solid performance and, here, he delivered all his lines in such an hilarious way, it's really too bad he has lost his touch. To conclude, at the end of the day, it is nothing mind-blowing and rather preposterous but it remains a very well made and terribly entertaining action flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.
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A very good movie
Posted : 10 years, 4 months ago on 12 February 2015 12:40
(A review of Wild Reeds)I already saw this movie but it was ages ago and, since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out again. Even though this movie seems to be nowadays pretty much forgotten, I remembered very well when it was released in France. Indeed, in my my home country, it was a massive critical success (it even won the CĂ©sar of the Best French Film of the year) and there was a huge hype around the whole thing. For AndrĂ© TĂ©chinĂ©, it was again another critical hit following the already heralded âMa saison prĂ©fĂ©rĂ©eâ and âJ'embrasse pasâ but, above all, it was the introduction of a new generation of talented French actors (Ălodie Bouchez, GaĂ«l Morel, StĂ©phane Rideau). Well, I have to admit that I didn't remember anything about this movie but, eventually, with this rewatch, I was so impressed by the damned thing, probably even more than the first time around. Indeed, when I first watched it, I was actually around the same age as the characters involved and, even if I did appreciate it at the time, I'm afraid it was too subtle for me. However, to watch it again almost 30 years later was actually quite emotional and even overwhelming. Indeed, I think it's a movie for a mature audience but, for me, it was also a whole word of recognition. Sure, I was born in the 80's but I was also born in a very small village in the French countryside and the everyday life and mood still looked quite similar. Furthermore, this time, I could really identify with this group of teenagers and with the complex feelings they struggled with. Indeed, TĂ©chinĂ© managed to create a fascinating mood and those characters were all really 3 dimensional and felt so genuine. Anyway, to conclude, the damned thing was so good, it is probably the best movie directed by AndrĂ© TĂ©chinĂ©, and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in French movies.
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An average movie
Posted : 10 years, 4 months ago on 11 February 2015 02:27
(A review of Warm Water Under a Red Bridge)It has been a while since I have seen this flick, in fact, I have even seen it in the movie theater when it was released and, to be honest, I wonder how I actually ended up watching this feature. I think I went to see this flick above all because Shohei Imamura had a really good reputation but I didnât know at the time that it would be his last directing effort (I donât count â11'09''01 - September 11â since it was just a short feature with many other directors involved). Anyway, eventually, it turned out to be a rather tough watch and even though I admired the work done, I canât say I was really blown away by the whole thing. Indeed, like many Asian features, there is a lot of symbolism but not only it went rather above my head, to be honest, Iâm not sure I really cared for it. Basically, I really liked the characters and I thought the actors involved delivered some solid performances but their behavior was so weird, it made the whole thing rather alienating. To conclude, I think it didnât get this flick but there was still something really artistic about the whole thing and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.
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A very good movie
Posted : 10 years, 4 months ago on 11 February 2015 12:12
(A review of Scarecrow)It has been a while since I have seen this flick and maybe I should check it again at some point. Basically, it is a really obscure flick but since I always had a weak spot for Al Pacino and Gene Hackman, I was really eager to check it out. Back then, Al Pacino just got his breakthrough with âThe Godfatherâ and that was the first movie he made afterwards. Unfortunately, even though it was actually a very good drama, it didnât get much love at the time and it didnât become a classic like pretty much everything else involving Al Pacino in the 70âs. In fact, I was actually quite impressed by this flick and I thought it worked really well with some great performances by Pacino, obviously at the top of his game at the time but also from Gene Hackman. Indeed, Hackman himself would say that it was his favorite performance and he was really disappointed that this movie turned out to be a flop. Basically, it is about 2 guys wandering and it reminded me of âMidnight Cowboyâ which was released a few years before. To conclude, even though it is nowadays pretty much forgotten, it is actually a really good flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in those 2 actors.
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An average movie
Posted : 10 years, 4 months ago on 11 February 2015 11:19
(A review of Parker)Oh my God⊠By now, I have grown so tired of Jason Statham⊠I mean, he is actually a decent action star but, man, he always plays the very same character in every single movie and it has become so old, he really needs to take some more risks. At least, this one seemed to have some potential but I thought it was ultimately thoroughly disappointing. Indeed, it was based on the famous character from the books written by Donald Westlake which were also the inspiration of some other solid features like âPoint Blankâ and âPaybackâ and it seemed to be some perfect material for Stathamâs acting style. Eventually, the first heist was nothing really original but it was still well done and fairly entertaining. However, as soon as the main character got to Florida, the plot got terribly murky and inconsistent and I really had a hard time to care about the damned thing. Maybe I missed something, but why on earth was the guy pretending to look for a house?!? Also, Jennifer Lopez (who finally showed up after 45 minutes) was supposed to be his sidekick but, honestly, what did she really do to help him out? Not much, Iâm afraid⊠Finally, even though Statham and Lopez were the big stars here, they didnât end up with each other as they added a girlfriend, played by some unknown chick whose character was completely under-developped. To conclude, I was amazed about how poorly the whole thing was and I donât think it is really worth a look.
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An average movie
Posted : 10 years, 4 months ago on 10 February 2015 02:12
(A review of Saving Grace)Honestly, it has been a while since I have seen this flick but, at the time, I thought it was not bad at all. I saw it back then when I was smoking a lot of hash and since it was dealing with this dear subject, I probably ended up watching the damned thing. Anyway, even though âSecrets & Liesâ was already released 4 years before, Brendan Blethyn was still surfing on her newfound popularity (she was quite the late bloomer with a breakthrough at 56 years old). Basically, it is one of those rather harmless and fairly entertaining British comedies with a realistic background. Unfortunately, even though the background was quite realistic, the whole plot was rather silly and I had a rather hard time to really care about the whole thing. At least, the characters were funny enough but I still believe that they could have done more with this concept ( the fact that they spent so much time growing this fine looking weed to just burn the whole thing at the end was also rather annoying and disappointing ). To conclude, even though it is nothing really amazing, it was still a decent comedy and it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.
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