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Posted : 10 years, 4 months ago on 13 November 2014 09:37
(A review of Last Night)Since I had this dvd for so long (almost 2 years), I thought it was really time to watch the damned thing. First of all, there was a really nice cast (Keira Knightley, Sam Worthington, Eva Mendes and Guillaume Canet) and they all gave some solid performances. I mean, I really did believe that all these people were either attracted or in love with each other. Except though for the couple Knightley-Worthington. Indeed, right from the very first scene in their appartment, you could feel that there was something off between them. Later on, they gave us some really nice and cosy moments between those two but I wasn't really convinced. With this in mind, it became rather difficult to care about their supposed struggle since they seemed much more infatuated with their possible lovers. On top of that, I didn’t really care about the gimmick about having both spouses more or less cheating each other pretty much at the same time. Indeed, both love affairs were pretty intense but they would have worked better on their own, especially with such a short running time. Still, in spite of its flaws, I still enjoyed the directing and the mood created, it was a decent watch and I think it is worth a look.
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A bad movie
Posted : 10 years, 4 months ago on 12 November 2014 09:47
(A review of 2001: A Space Travesty)Obviously, I wasn't expecting much from this flick but it managed to be even worse than I expected. To be honest, I have never been a huge fan of parodies in general but this one was just awful and probably the worst one I have ever seen. Of course, you had Leslie Nielsen once again involved as he was apparently incapable of doing anything else and he provided his usual oblivious and obnoxious character. I suppose it was to be expected that they would try to make a SF parody with this guy at some point which wasn't a really bad idea but they couldn't possibly deliver something even more underwhelming. Personally, I never really understood his appeal but, by now, it was just getting really tiresome. Ophélie Winter, a famous French bimbo at the time, ended up here and probaby hoped that this movie would launch an international career but since it was a massive flop, nobody really noticed her. What could I add? The jokes were just terrible and there were even a bunch of pathetic look-a-like celebrities towards the end with no real purpose whatsoever. To conclude, it has been a while since I have seen such a bad movie and it is definitely not worth a look.
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A good movie
Posted : 10 years, 4 months ago on 12 November 2014 04:27
(A review of Titan A.E.)At the end of the 70’s, Don Bluth decided to leave Disney and, right away, he went to direct his own animated features. In the 80’s, he had some major success with ‘The Secret of NIMH’ and, above all, with ‘An American Tail’ and ‘The Land Before Time’. Unfortunately, after those movies, he kept making some underperforming features. He did make a slight come-back with ‘Anastasia’ at the end of the 90’s but this movie was a huge box-office flop and it pretty much ended his career which is a terrible shame. Since I always had a weak spot for Don Bluth’s work, I was really eager to check it out and, eventually, I thought it was actually pretty good. Indeed, as usual with Bluth, the animation was really nice but, I guess, with the rise of the CGI animation at the time, the audience didn’t care much for something like this. On top of that, I thought that the story was also fairly entertaining even if it was rather pedestrian and nothing really mind-blowing. To conclude, I think it is actually a decent SF animated feature 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 12 November 2014 12:42
(A review of Tequila Sunrise)I don’t know why exactly but I always thought that this movie (especially its title) sounded really cool. On top of that, there was a really nice cast (Mel Gibson, Kurt Russell, Michelle Pfeiffer) and I always had a weak spot about movies dealing about 2 best friends on both sides of the law, even though it is actually a rather far-fetched premise. So, you had here all the ingredients for a very nice neo-noir feature and it was indeed fairly enjoyable but I can’t say I was really blown away by the whole thing. Basically, they paid a lot of attention towards the details and the mood which were fine but I thought that the story was just a little too convoluted for its own good. At the end of the day, I’m not really sure I really cared about the characters involved and what they were going through. Anyway, it was quite successful at the box-office and it is rather surprising that it took Robert Towne 10 years to finally come up with a directing follow-up (‘Without Limits’ which I haven’t seen yet). Anyway, even though I wasn’t completely impressed by the whole thing, it is still a decent flick and I think it is definitely worth a look.
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An average movie
Posted : 10 years, 4 months ago on 12 November 2014 09:32
(A review of Tess)Honestly, it has been a while since I have seen this flick and I should probably re-watch it at some point to make up my mind for good about the damned thing. Anyway, back then, it was Polanski's first film since his arrest for rape in 1977 and it is actually rather surprising that he managed to make another movie so soon after such a huge scandal. At the time, it was the most expensive movie made in France and it turned out to be a financial success and it was well received by both critics and the public. As a result, Polanski even won the César Awards for Best Picture and Best Director and the movie was even nominated for the Best picture Academy Award. Personally, I have to admit it, I didn't really like this flick very much though. I mean, sure, it was well made and the whole thing looked really terrific, that's for sure, but, to be honest, I never really cared about the main character or what she was going through. To conclude, even though I didn’t really connect with this movie, I still believe it is worth a look though, especially if you are interested in Roman Polanski’s work.
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An average movie
Posted : 10 years, 4 months ago on 11 November 2014 09:49
(A review of Sa majesté Minor)To be honest, it is a really obscure movie (I'm only the 3rd user who has rated this movie on this website) but since I always had a weak spot for Jean-Jacques Annaud's work, I was quite eager to check it out. Indeed, Annaud is one of the very few French directors who has managed to have quite an impressive career abroad and, with this movie, it was the first time in 20 years that he made a movie in French. The thing I always enjoyed about this director is that he has always been willing to take some risks and, once again, he made something really original here. Unfortunately, it's such a pity that the end-result was so underwhelming. Indeed, he tackled a time period (ancient Greece just after the prehistory but way before the Romans of Ancient Greece) which we actually never see but, even though he managed to reach something really mesmerizing with 'La Guerre du Feu', here, you really wonder what he was trying to achieve. Basically, he spent way too much time on some pigs and the only scenes which really worked were the ones involving Vincent Cassell has a satyre. Anyway, to conclude, even though the whole thing had some potential, it was eventually rather misguided and even seriously boring to watch and I don’t think it is really worth a look.
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A good movie
Posted : 10 years, 4 months ago on 11 November 2014 01:41
(A review of Shoot the Piano Player)Since I was a huge fan of ‘Les quatre cents coups’, I was really eager to check François Truffaut’s following directing effort. To be honest, it is not one of his most prestigious work and it definitely belongs to his more obscure work but I still think it was quite enjoyable. Basically, the tone was more frivolous and the whole thing was actually rather unfocused. Indeed, even though it is supposed to be a thriller/film noir, it is obvious that Truffaut didn’t really care much about the plot and he wanted to rather focus on the colorful characters and there was also some fixation towards women, a trademark in François Truffaut’s work. It was also rather fun to see Charles Aznavour, a very famous singer in France, playing the main character. Anyway, eventually, even though it was rather well received by the critics, it was actually a box-office flop and, following this failure, Truffaut decided to drop the New Wave directing style based mostly on improvisation to some more traditionally structured dramas. To conclude, even though it is not really a masterpiece, it is still a pretty good flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in François Truffaut’s work.
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A bad movie
Posted : 10 years, 4 months ago on 10 November 2014 10:14
(A review of Breakfast of Champions)Even though this movie had received some really pathetic reviews, since I always had a weak spot for Bruce Willis, I was still eager to check it out. Eventually, it turned out to be a really weird, even completely insane flick. I know, it might sound appealling when you read it like this, I myself enjoy a really far-out movie from time to time, but watching this movie was like having a very bad dream, like a nasty nightmare and when you finally wake up, you're just glad it is finally over. How could I describe this flick? Well, you could say that it was like 'American Beauty' running on acids. I mean, there was so much weird and unpleasant stuff going on here, I wouldn’t know where to start. I can imagine that all the interesting actors involved (Bruce Willis, Albert Finney, Nick Nolte, Barbara Hershey, Lukas Haas, Omar Epps, Owen Wilson, Michael Clarke Ducan) thought they would be involved in something really artistic but it seriously got out of hand here. Sure, it doesn’t really matter that there was no plot but the fact that none of the characters was either likeable or interesting made it nearly impossible to root for the whole thing. To conclude, I thought it was pretty bad and I don't think it is really worth a look whatsoever.
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A classic
Posted : 10 years, 4 months ago on 10 November 2014 01:24
(A review of Touch of Evil)Even though he did manage to direct arguably the greatest movie ever made, Orson Welles did have one very tumultuous career but some of his other directing efforts were still pretty damned amazing and this flick was definitely one of them. Like many other movies directed by the great master, he had once again some major issues with the studio producing this picture and they tempered with the end-results without consulting Welles who was fired during the post-production. Fortunately, at the end of the 90’s , the movie was re-cut following his wishes with some tremendous results. To be honest, I’m not so sure the story was really amazing, it was pretty much a dark and murky film noir but it was definitely entertaining and, above all, the directing was really impressive. Indeed, it has one of the best openings ever, a legendary 10 minutes take, something only a director like Welles could pull off. Seriously, if only to see this marvelous scene, it is already worth watching the damned thing. On top of that, you have Charlton Heston playing a Hispanic character which was a rather weird but interesting choice. To conclude, it is a really entertaining and a very well made flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Orson Welles’s work.
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A good movie
Posted : 10 years, 4 months ago on 10 November 2014 10:34
(A review of Treasure Planet)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. First of all, through Disney’s illustrious history, they did have some rather dark periods (the 80’s were especially disappointing) and this movie was one massive flop for them (in fact, it is often listed as one of the most expensive box office flops of all time). Back then, the CGI animation was already pretty much ruling the market (above all thanks to Pixar also owned by Disney) and, for them, it was pretty much their last attempt to deliver a massive epic hand-drawn feature and since it was a failure, they dropped the technique all-together which is a terrible shame (the underperforming ‘Brother Bear’ and ‘Home on the Range’ only confirmed this trend). Basically, this movie was not only really expensive, it was also probably their most experimental project so far, some kind of weird mix of ‘Treasure Island’ with ‘Star Wars’. Even though trying anything new was pretty neat from a studio which has been stuck following the same formula over and over again, you could argue that the whole translation of this classic story to a Science-Fiction environment was rather misguided. Indeed, what did it really add to the plot? Not much in fact and a more traditional adaptation might have been more popular. Still, this movie was actually not bad at all and the whole thing certainly looked terrific. Furthermore, Jim Hawkins was a charismatic but still insecure main character. On top of that, I was actually quite amazed by his complex relationship with the bad guy who actually became some kind of surrogate father to him. As a result, even though he is nowadays pretty much forgotten, John Silver turned out to be one of the most interesting and complex villains ever delivered by Disney. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, I actually liked the damned thing and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.
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