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Posted : 10 years, 5 months ago on 12 January 2015 10:59
(A review of Sidewalks of New York)I remember it very well, back in the 90ās, I had seen āThe Brothers McMullenā and I was really impressed. Indeed, it was very well received critically (it even won the Grand Jury Prize at the 1995 Sundance Film Festival) and it seemed that Burns had a bright future as a director. Unfortunately, after the more commercially oriented āSheās the Oneā, none of his movies made a big impression and they have been more and more obscure. From these rather obscure features, this movie was probably my favorite one though. To be honest, the whole thing was not really original and it was basically a rather basic romantic feature linking several love stories together. Still, there was a pretty neat cast (Edward Burns, Rosario Dawson, Heather Graham, Brittany Murphy, Stanley Tucci) and I really liked a lot the mood created by Burns. Indeed, pretty much like with his directing debut, there was something quite organic about the whole thing, there was something really genuine about these characters and the whole thing was as a result really nice to behold. To conclude, even though the whole thing was nothing ground-breaking, I thought it was pretty good and it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.
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A very good movie
Posted : 10 years, 5 months ago on 11 January 2015 10:13
(A review of Temple Grandin)Usually, I wouldnāt care for a TV production like this one but since it received some really good reviews, I thought I might as well give it a try. On top of that, it was dealing with autism which is a very dear subject to me. Well, it definitely deserved all the praise it has received and I would even say it is definitely one of the best movies about this subject. Indeed, even though they put again the focus on some genius autistic person which is apparently the only way they can manage to deal with it, which is something really sad in my opinion, they still managed to show many other things about the autistic world which were just spot on and quite spellbinding to behold. Furthermore, there is no denying that the life of this woman was just quite fascinating and it is difficult to imagine how it must have been for her to grow up in these dark ages when most people, even scientists or psychiatrists, were just plain ignorant about the damned thing. At the center of this tale, you have a very strong performance by Claire Danes who just disappeared behind her character. To conclude, I thought it was a very strong biopic and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested by this subject.
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A classic
Posted : 10 years, 5 months ago on 11 January 2015 03:20
(A review of The Lion King)Disney is right now going through another renaissance and the peak of this renaissance will probably be 'Frozen' (it is rather improbable that they would improve on this performance anytime soon). However, 20 years ago, they were also going through another glorious period like the current one and, at the time, this movie was their biggest one and, for many years, it had been the highest grossing animated feature ever made. Back then, I saw it in the theater when it was released and it was pretty neat to re-watch it after all these years. Anyway, to be honest, I'm not exactly a huge fan and, from the same era, I think that 'Aladdin' (which was also a huge success when it was released but it has always been overshadowed by this classic) was actually much better. I mean, sure, it is definitely a solid feature, the animation was top-notch and, for once, Disney was creating something rather dark (the reason why my wife never really connected with this movie) almost creating a Shakespearean tragedy ('Hamlet' was a big inspiration for this tale). Still, somehow, I had a hard time to connect with the whole thing. Maybe because I didn't really like the combination of musical songs side by side with some rather dramatic material (the songs were also not really amazing) or maybe it was because it was taking itself too seriously? Still, even though it is not among my favorites, it remains a classic and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.
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An average movie
Posted : 10 years, 5 months ago on 10 January 2015 11:11
(A review of Family Way)I wasn't really expecting much from this flick but since I have a weak spot for Carice van Houten, I was still eager to check it out. Eventually, I find it rather difficult to judge this movie. Indeed, the beginning was honestly rather weak and I didnāt find any of the characters likeable except for Charlie. But, then, very slowly, they managed to make this family more interesting and, after a while, I started to care a little more about what they were going through. And, suddenly, towards the end, Carice van Houten's character fell in love with her brother-in-law (who also happened to be her sperm donor but she didn't know that until much later) honestly out of nowhere and, somehow she just switched from one brother to another. While watching these events unfolding, I was seriously rolling my eyes in disbelief. I mean, it was really poorly constructed and from a rather boring idyllic family, we ended up with something pretty messed up and rather unbelievable. Concerning Carice van Houten, she was just as charming as usual and she did a decent job but it was difficult to care for her character who was pretty much an arrogant bitch. To conclude, my rating might be a little bit generous but I still think it is worth a look, especially if you are interested in Dutch movies.
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An average movie
Posted : 10 years, 5 months ago on 9 January 2015 11:30
(A review of Shining Through)Since this movie did receive some rather abysmal reviews when it was released, I wasn't expecting much but since I always had a weak spot for Michael Douglas, I was still eager to check it out. To be honest, I think the whole thing definitely had some potential and the original set-up was really interesting but, unfortunately, it was really poorly developed. First of all, the whole gimmick of the interview was really weak and unnecessary. The other issue I had is that I didnāt think that Melanie Griffith was really convincing. I mean, pretty much like in 'Working Girl', even if she did look like a bimbo, she was supposed to be actually really smart but I certainly didn't buy it. Griffith was definitely charming but she canāt even really pretend to be someone smart. But, even with these flaws, I still believed that it was a strong story, it's just too bad that, as soon as she arrived in Germany, the whole plot became increasingly unbelievable and during the last 20 minutes, it barely made sense at all. Anyway, to conclude, there was probably a good movie hidden there somewhere but they picked up the wrong actress and they certainly messed up the story which was, for the most part, a big joke.
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An average movie
Posted : 10 years, 5 months ago on 9 January 2015 10:52
(A review of Sitcom)I already saw this movie 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, I actually saw this movie in the movie theater at the time. Back then, there was a lot of buzz because it was FranƧois Ozonās directorial debut. To be honest, I had never heard of the guy before but, apparently, he had built up a solid reputation by directing many acclaimed short features. Anyway, I was curious about this flick but, eventually, I really didnāt like it at all. However, nowadays, even if this debut is rather obscure, it has still managed to reach a cult-status in France. Well, after all these years, I have to admit that it was not as bad as I remembered. First of all, I was actually surprised by how much I remembered it even though I saw it only once 25 years ago and didnāt like it at all at the time. Still, to be honest, the damned thing was only slightly better though. Indeed, there was actually some potential but, from the moment Sophie jumped out of the window for no reason whatsoever, the whole thing became just so random, weird and, above all, rather tedious to behold. I mean, I do like black humor and I really donāt mind when a movie is dealing with some controversial stuff but I just really didnāt connect at all with this flick. Above all, even though it was supposed to be funny, the characters were rather obnoxious. Anyway, to conclude, even if it might not be as bad as I thought it was, the damned thing was still pretty weak though and I donāt think it is really worth a look, except maybe if you are a die-hard fan of FranƧois Ozonās work.Ā
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A good movie
Posted : 10 years, 5 months ago on 8 January 2015 10:53
(A review of The Angels' Share)I wasn't really sure what to expect from this flick but since I have been following Ken Loach's work for almost 20 years by now, I was still eager to check it out. Once again, Loach gave us his usual grim vision of the working class in the UK but, as usual, it was always as gripping as it was back then in the 90's. Indeed, instead of glamorizing those characters, you get a much more realistic approach. At least, Ā this social background was very dark and rather depressing but also quite spellbinding to behold, at least, thatās my opinion. Loach has also a talent to find some raw talents and I thought that Paul Brannigan, in his first role, was really charismactic. Unfortunately, it seems that Ken Loach has turned a little bit soft through the years as here, like in some other of his recent works, he felt that he had to add some humor but that didnāt really work for me. I mean, sure, it was fairly entertaining but so unrealistic and also, somehow rather misguided. Indeed, for those delinquents, apparently, the only way out was to steal something really expensive. To conclude, even though it wasnāt really great, it was still a decent watch and I think it is worth a look, especially if you are interested in Ken Loach's work.
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A good movie
Posted : 10 years, 5 months ago on 8 January 2015 09:15
(A review of Ash Wednesday (2002))I remember it very well, back in the 90ās, I had seen āThe Brothers McMullenā and I was really impressed. Indeed, it was very well received critically (it even won the Grand Jury Prize at the 1995 Sundance Film Festival) and it seemed that Burns had a bright future as a director. Unfortunately, after the more commercially oriented āSheās the Oneā, none of his movies made a big impression and they have been more and more obscure. This movie is a perfect example. Indeed, it is quite unknown (In the US, it was only released in two theaters and grossed less than $3,000) and I bumped into it by accident at my dvd rental shop. To be honest, it was nothing really amazing but I still thought it was a decent gritty drama. Indeed, Burns, once again, managed to create a believable and interesting world (rather alien to me) and I thought that he delivered a decent performance as well. Eventually, the weakest point in this movie was in fact Elijah Wood. Indeed, even though he was an interesting casting choice, I thought he was actually not really convincing. Still, all in all, I thought it was a decent flick and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.
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An average movie
Posted : 10 years, 5 months ago on 7 January 2015 10:37
(A review of Pompeii)Honestly, I wasn't expecting much from this flick but since Nick, my step-son, was really eager to check it, I bought the dvd to watch the damned thing with him. Well, it definitely had some potential and there is no doubt that they could make a great movie about this historical event but this movie was obviously not the one fulfilling those expectations (in fact, at some point, not so long ago, Roman Polanski was working on his own version starring Orlando Bloom and Scarlett Johansson but he had dropped this project because of a possible screen actors guild strike at the time. Now, that's a movie I would have been really interested in). Anyway, as already pointed out by other critics, it was pretty much a mix of 'Gladiator' with 'Titanic', even with a dash of 'The Horse Whisperer'. Indeed, you get once again an impossible love story and suddenly, everything is turned upside down by some massive disaster. How original... On top of that, I canāt believe they used again the whole gimmick of the slave-turned-gladiator who turns out to be some kind of super warrior. I mean, seriously, they couldn't come up with something else?!? To conclude, at least, the eruption of the Mount Vesuvius did look good but that was the only interesting thing about this flick and I don't think it is really worth a look.
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An average movie
Posted : 10 years, 5 months ago on 7 January 2015 12:44
(A review of Drop Dead Gorgeous)Honestly, I find it rather hard to judge this flick. Indeed, on one hand, I really liked the concept a lot, it definitely had some great potential and I have no doubt that this movie could have been pretty awesome. However, on the other hand, I have to admit that the whole thing was actually rather half-baked. Indeed, some details just didnāt add up to start with. For example, I found rather stupid that Kirsten Dunst and Denise Richards were playing characters supposedly of the same age when Richards was obviously much older than Dunst. I mean, it was so obvious and I thought it was some rather poor casting but that was just a small thing. Above all, they pretty much messed up the tone. Indeed, sometimes, it was pretty dark and thatās when the whole thing would become really interesting but then, they would switch to something much lighter and rather underwhelming. Still, I thought that there was a nice cast (Kirsten Dunst, Ellen Barkin, Denise Richards, Kirstie Alley, Brittany Murphy, Amy Adams) and there was some very nice bits here and there. To conclude, even though I thought it was slightly disappointing, I still think it is a decent watch and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.
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