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All reviews - Movies (7698) - TV Shows (10)

A good movie

Posted : 1 year, 4 months ago on 11 August 2023 12:44 (A review of The Goat)

I have finally started to dig into Buster Keatonā€™s work only recently but, since then, I have seen my share of movies starring the classic comedian and, by now, I think I have a good understanding of his work. In this case, I think it is the oldest movie I have seen starring the legendary actor and, at first, I was wondering why it was called ā€˜The Goatā€™ but I think it was probably some kind of abbreviation of ā€˜scapegoatā€™. Anyway, this short apparently does have a solid reputation but, even though I have to admit that it was pretty good, I donā€™t think it was one of his best shorts though. I donā€™t know, it felt really random but I have to admit that it is inherent to the genre. The concept was also rather preposterous, the fact that nobody checked who was actually on this picture before printing it out all over the place. Still, Keaton was just a great comedian and, obviously, one of the greatest stuntmen that ever lived so, in spite of its flaws, the damned thing was seriously entertaining. Anyway, to conclude, even though the material was maybe too slight, it was still a really solid silent comedy and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.



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A very good movie

Posted : 1 year, 4 months ago on 10 August 2023 10:13 (A review of Alice in Wonderland)

Recently, I have been focusing on older movies and this one is one of the oldest I have seen so far. In fact, the day before, I actually watched ā€˜Rescued by Roverā€™ which was also directed by Cecil M. Hepworth and while ā€˜Rescued by Roverā€™ surprised me by its simplicity, I was amazed by how complex this movie turned out to be, at least, for a vintage feature made 120 years ago. It is mostly famous for being the very first adaptation of this iconic tale and I was wondering how they could tell this story in less than 10 mins (in fact, there is only one copy left of this movie and it is apparently missing some parts). Well, the end-result turned out to be some kind of supercut, jumping from one famous scene to another. To be honest, the damned thing was actually borderline incomprehensible, especially if you are not familiar with this story, and yet, I thought it was quite fascinating somehow. Indeed, the sheer ambition, especially considering the technical limitations back then, was just so inspiring and most of it was actually visually pretty neat. Anyway, to conclude, I do believe that this movie was quite a milestone and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in film history.



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A good movie

Posted : 1 year, 4 months ago on 9 August 2023 09:22 (A review of Rescued by Rover)

Recently, I have been focusing on older movies and this one is one of the oldest I have seen so far. To be honest, the version I saw on YouTube was pretty nasty but itā€™s understandable since this movie is now more than 100 years old. Sure, it might all seem quite rudimentary but it was in fact at the time a big box office success and I can understand why. Indeed, it was probably one of the first movies with an actual plot and, in spite of its sheer simplicity or actually because of it, it worked surprisingly well. Itā€™s also important to note that, even though it might look easy when you watch this movie, working with animals is usually considered as one of the hardest things when you make a movie. Anyway, this dog was pretty awesome and you wish they could have developed more the characters involved but, with a running time under 10 mins and no dialogues or title cards, I guess you shouldnā€™t expect much in this area. Anyway, to conclude, even if it was nothing really mind-blowing, I still think it was pretty neat and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in film history.



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An average movie

Posted : 1 year, 4 months ago on 8 August 2023 08:45 (A review of Life Of An American Fireman)

Recently, I have been focusing on older movies and this one is one of the oldest I have seen so far. To be honest, I still wonder what this first scene was all about. From a technical point of view, considering how old this movie is, it was pretty neat but Iā€™m not sure what it was supposed to mean after all. Anyway, coming back on the movie itself, the end-result turned out to be some kind of hybrid feature. Indeed, since there was no plot, it wasnā€™t a fiction but, since everything was staged, Iā€™m not sure if it should be considered as a documentary either (it probably is though). Especially when these firemen went to this house to put out this fire, it looked so fake. Itā€™s too bad they didnā€™t go for something bigger regarding this fire but you should probably lower your expectations after watching for decades some massive Hollywood blockbusters with complex special effects which obviously didn't exist at the time. It was also rather funny to see a seemingly endless succession of vintage fire trucks driving in the streets when it turned out to be such a small fire after all. Anyway, to conclude, even if it didnā€™t really impress me, it was still a decent watch and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in film history.



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An average movie

Posted : 1 year, 4 months ago on 5 August 2023 07:26 (A review of Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City)

I can't say I was really dying to see yet another movie adaptation of this video-game but, since it was on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out anyway. Well, to be honest, I don't think it was bad at all after all. Indeed, above all, they chose a completely different approach than the movies starring Milla Jovovich and the end-result was therefore much more faithful to the video-games which was really neat. Back then, I especially loved the very first game which I finished so many times on the PlayStation One and to see so many references to this game was pretty cool. However, I think it was a mistake to also include the storyline of the second game (which I also played and finished but only once though). I mean, both storylines were decent enough but they kept going back-and-forth between the two which was not really satisfying and, above all, they had to squeeze the two stories to fit the running time and they felt just too rushed which was too bad. In my opinion, it would have been much more effective to keep the storyline of the second game for a possible sequel. Concerning the cast, Kaya Scodelario and Hannah John-Kamen were both quite charismatic but they didn't look look like Claire Redfield and Jill Valentine at all but, at least, Robbie Amell was quite perfect to play Chris Redfield. Still, the characters and dialogues were not really impressive, I'm afraid, but I guess you shouldn't hope for too much from a video-game movie adaptation. Anyway, to conclude, even if it was maybe not a box-office success like the franchise starring Milla Jovovich, I actually preferred this version and I think it is worth a look, especially if you are a big fan of the video-game like I used to be.Ā 


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An average movie

Posted : 1 year, 4 months ago on 4 August 2023 07:11 (A review of Les blagues de Toto 2 - Classe verte (2023))

To be honest, it's not the kind of movies I would normally watch, especially not in the movie theater. In fact, it was a sequel from a movie I never saw which was based on a comic-book I never read but I don't think that my lack of familiarity with the material was the reason why I didn't like this movie at all. But how did I end up watching the damned thing in the first place? Well, it's fairly simple, I was on holiday in France, visiting my relatives, but the weather had been terrible the whole week so, instead of staying (again) inside, I decided to bring the kids to the movie theater. Since almost all foreign movies are dubbed in French, I decided to watch at least a French movie (I can't stand dubbed movies). On the other hand, maybe I should have chosen 'Yannick' by Quentin Dupieux but I'm not sure if my nephew and niece would have been really pleased with Dupieux's usually weird movies. Anyway, coming back to our main feature, well, the damned thing was definitely lame, I'm afraid. Indeed, the plot was completely predictable and tedious and the jokes were usually rather pathetic. Concerning the cast, they didn't even bring back the same boy to play the main character but, at least, this new kid did seem slightly more charismatic than his predecessor. Still, I can't say I was really impressed by his acting skills but, on the other hand, I have to admit that he wasn't helped with the poor material he was provided. Anyway, to conclude, even though I have to admit that the damned thing was rather harmless, I thought it was seriously weak and you should probably avoid it, except maybe if you want to entertain some very young French children.Ā 


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A good movie

Posted : 1 year, 4 months ago on 2 August 2023 02:43 (A review of Mary Jane's Mishap)

Recently, I have been focusing on older movies and this one is one of the oldest I have seen so far. Sure, it might all seem quite rudimentary but you have to keep in mind that, at the time, all the basic rules and techniques of filmmaking didn't exist yet so they had to experiment and figure out pretty much everything on the spot. In this case, there was no real plot but I was surprised by how much they managed to tell in just 4 mins. Eventually, the thing I enjoyed the most was Laura Bayley's hilarious performance. Indeed, way before Charles Chaplin and Buster Keaton, this woman came up with some amazing slapstick comedy, of course, with no sound or dialogues at the time. Furthermore, even though the jokes were funny enough, they also added some nifty visual tricks. To round it up, they concluded with a fairly dark but still funny ending which worked fine as well. Anyway, to conclude, it was probably too short to become really amazing but, as one of the first comedies (maybe the very first one?), it was still pretty neat and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in film history.


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An average movie

Posted : 1 year, 5 months ago on 27 July 2023 08:42 (A review of Man Hunt)

I wasnā€™t really sure what to expect from this flick but since it seemed to have a decent reputation (it is included in the ā€˜The Best 1,000 Movies Ever Madeā€™ list selected by the New York Times, among other things), I thought I might as well check it out. First of all, the historical background around the making-off this movie was quite intriguing. Indeed, it was based on a book written before WWII actually started and even though the action was taking place in Germany and in the UK, it was actually made in the US while the war was raging in Europe. At the time, the US were still isolationist but most Hollywood studios were supporting the involvement of their country in the war resulting in such movies. Well, in spite of all this, to be honest, this movie didnā€™t really impress me though. I mean, I really enjoyed the first part which was taking place in Germany and during which this man hunt was actually quite thrilling. Unfortunately, as soon as the main character got back to England, it was much less effective though. Indeed, they basicallyĀ chased the guy all the way to his home country just to have him sign some confession? It did sound rather far-fetched. To make things worse, the whole thing was completely derailed from the moment Thorndike met Jerry Stokes. I donā€™t blame Joan Bennett, she actually gave a solid performance but it didnā€™t make sense that her character would tag along for so long with Thorndike who was basically a wanted man. I mean, I understand that they wanted to give the main character some kind of love interest (nothing much happened between them after all though) but it's as if they tried to combine a thriller with a romantic comedy which wasnā€™t really the greatest idea. At least, I have to admit that Walter Pidgeon who was channeling some kind of combination of James Bond with George Clooney was really good here. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, I have to admit that it was still a decent watch though and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.Ā 



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An average movie

Posted : 1 year, 5 months ago on 26 July 2023 08:25 (A review of Paris Can Wait)

To be honest, I wasnā€™t really sure what to expect from this flick but since it was starring Diane Lane, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, it seems that everybody in the Coppola family has to direct at least one film during their lifetime so why not Francis Ford Coppolaā€™s wife as well? Of course, there was something pretty meta about this charming woman struggling to get the attention of her workaholic husband who was constantly being consumed by some obscure movie projects. However, this movie mostly focused on some seemingly endless road-trip from Cannes to Paris and, well, this movie didnā€™t have much else to offer, Iā€™m afraid. Eventually, how much you will enjoy it will depend on how much you enjoy French culture, in particular ridiculously expensive fancy French food, like the two characters involved in this movie. The fact that Iā€™m French probably made me skeptical and Iā€™m afraid I never felt the same obsession as Jacques displayed with my own culture. Eventually, it seems that Eleanor Coppola tried to lean into a ā€˜Before Sunriseā€™ vibe and I must admit that she almost pulled it off. However, the big difference between Linklaterā€™s marvelous trilogy and Coppolaā€™s directorial debut was the fact that Linklater always put the focus on the two characters and never on their surroundings and, with Coppolaā€™s harmless but after all rather empty movie, it was actually the other way around. The end-result then did feel like more like some pretty postcard than an actual movie. I was also missing some background info. I mean, both characters were acting like they didnā€™t know each other but Jacques and Anneā€™s husband had been business partner for quite some time apparently. Furthermore, French or not, Jacquesā€™s behavior was pretty weird and even actually quite predatory. Anyway, to conclude, even if it was nothing really amazing, the damned thing was still cute and harmless and I think it might be worth a look, at least, if you really like the genre.Ā 



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An average movie

Posted : 1 year, 5 months ago on 25 July 2023 07:44 (A review of Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One)

Iā€™m not a huge fan of the ā€˜Mission: Impossibleā€™ franchise but Nick, my step-son, was quite eager to check it out and I have to admit that it was a pretty cool idea to see an action flick together instead of the usual super-hero feature. Well, to be honest, even though this movie was apparently very well received, I actually a hard time to care about the damned thing after all. The circumstances were not ideal though. Indeed, I was actually exhausted when I watched this movie and, during the last hour, I really struggled not to fall asleep. Still, did this story really require more than 5 hours of running time? I mean, this movie was the longest installment so far and it was only the first partā€¦ Furthermore, the whole gimmick of the AI going rogue and threatening mankind might seem topical but, as far as I was concerned, it was just a typical MacGuffin which had been used so many times before. Another thing that bothered me was the fact that, instead of bringing some new faces, especially with such an extensive running time, Ethan worked again with Luther, Benji and Ilsa, exactly the same team he has been working with for almost a decade which felt like a missed opportunity. At least, the always charismatic Hayley Atwell was a nice addition and she had a pretty good chemistry with Tom Cruise. Furthermore, I think itā€™s pretty cool that Cruise does have the right age now to play Ethan Hunt and I hope he will keep making more of these for many years, even though they also say that these two parts might be the end of this franchise. Eventually, I think I will re-watch it again next year before watching part two and, hopefully, I would have this time a good night rest before. Anyway, to conclude, even though I donā€™t really understand why this franchise is so beloved, even by the critics, I have to admit that this installment was still a solid action flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.Ā 



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