Login
Home
586 Lists
7823 Reviews
CollectionsI wasn't sure what to expect from this flick but since I have 3 kids, I always watched many family features. Honestly, I'm always skeptical when dealing with this kind of movies because I always find them terribly condescending towards children which is something really annoying in my opinion. Not this one though. Indeed, the two main characters, very well played by Josh Hutcherson and AnnaSophia Robb, were really interesting and felt genuine. Eventually, they must face some dramatic events which was something that didn't belong to a kids feature according to some viewers who didn't believe it belonged in this kind of movie but I don't agree. Children are able to face drama in real life and should be able to face it a movie as well (of course, they don't need to watch 'Schindler's list' or something like that). Furthermore, I thought it was pretty neat visually speaking. Eventually, the main issue I had with this flick is that the story was interesting but nothing really mind-blowing and, above all, I thought the marketing was just really bad. Indeed, like many other viewers, I was expecting something like 'Chronicles of Narnia' or 'The Spiderwick Chronicles', but it is actually something really different which is not really bad in fact but I could have enjoyed it more without all the misleading marketing strategy. To conclude, it is nothing really mind-blowing, it remains a well made family feature and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are looking for something to watch with your kids.
A good movie
Posted : 12 years, 7 months ago on 17 October 2012 09:39
(A review of Bridge to Terabithia)
0 comments, Reply to this entry
An average movie
Posted : 12 years, 7 months ago on 16 October 2012 09:31
(A review of Starsky & Hutch)I already saw this movie but since Todd Phillips had recently a major critical and commercial success with āJokerā, I thought I might as well give this movie a 2nd chance. Indeed, the first time around, I really hated the damned thing and, as far as I was concerned, it was easily one of the worst TV adaptations I had seen. I mean, I didnāt even have some huge expectations about this flick Ā back then but even so it ended up being a disappointment. Well, after all these years, I have to admit that it wasnāt such a complete disaster after all. However, it was still nothing great though. First of all, I never really liked this trend of taking a respected, gritty TV show and transform it in some kind of big farce. Sure, ā21 Jump Streetā was a surprise success back in 2012 but it is an exception and, in general, I just donāt care much about the whole concept. Above all, when I was a kid, I thought Starsky and Hutch were really badass so I was not really pleased with what they did with these characters. At least, I must admit that the cast was pretty spot on (Ben Stiller as David Starsky, Owen Wilson as Ken Hutchinson and Snoop Dogg as Huggy Bear). Above all, the first time around, I thought it was really not funny at all but just only seriously annoying. However, after rewatching the damned thing, I have to admit that it was actually rather harmless after all. I still donāt think it was really hilarious though. Anyway, to conclude, even if I donāt think it is one of the worst TV adaptations I have seen anymore, it is still rather weak though and I still donāt think it is really worth a look.Ā
0 comments, Reply to this entry
An average movie
Posted : 12 years, 7 months ago on 16 October 2012 09:06
(A review of Repo Men)I wasnāt expecting much from this movie since it was a flop when it was released but since I always had a weak spot for Science-Fiction, I still wanted to check it out. Eventually, I must admit it, I actually enjoyed many things about this flick. Indeed, I thought it looked nice. I mean, sure, it wasn't a very original vision of the future but it looked convincing. I also enjoyed the tone which was really dark and satiric. Finally, there was a decent cast (Jude Law, Forest Whitaker, Alice Braga, Liev Schreiber, Carice van Houten, RZA, John Leguizamo) and they all delivered some pretty good performances, especially Law, Whitaker and Schreiber. Still, even though the whole concept was rather interesting, the end result was still not really satisfying. The biggest issue was, in my opinion, that the story went along for way too long and after a while and it kind of lost its edge. Furthermore, they shouldnāt have added all those twists. Finally, I thought that the romantic intrigues (indeed, they were 2 of thoseā¦) were both poorly developed and they dragged the story down. I mean, basically, Carice van Houten, the best Dutch actress nowadays, had a very thankless job and she only looked pissed during the couple scenes that she showed up, thatās it. Still, in spite of its flaws, it remains a decent and entertaining SF flick and I think it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.
0 comments, Reply to this entry
A bad movie
Posted : 12 years, 7 months ago on 15 October 2012 07:13
(A review of Fear and Desire)Eventually, I gave in and watched the damned thing... Until recently, I thought it was nearly impossible to see this movie but even though it didn't seem to be the case, I didn't think I would watch it. However, I was given a link with a streaming version so I still ended up watching it... Eventually, it was one of the least rewarding watching experiences of my life. Indeed, the copy was terrible, the dubbing was audible but very badly made, the acting was just non-existent and it was just plain and simply a terrible movie. I think the whole thing had some potential but the end-result was just a endless bunch of voice overs. Honestly, even if you are a die-hard Kubrick fan like me, do yourself a favor, don't watch this. Kubrick made it clear that this movie was a mistake and the greatest film maker was after all a human being and I think we should actually respect his wish. Since then, this movie has actually been restored and you can now watch a much better version on Youtube, however, since I didnāt like it at all the first time around, I donāt think I will give it another try, even with a better version. Anyway, to conclude, I believe that watching this flick is a terrible waste of time and it is really not worth a look at all.Ā
0 comments, Reply to this entry
A good movie
Posted : 12 years, 7 months ago on 15 October 2012 09:38
(A review of De kleine blonde dood)Since I have been living in the Netherlands, I have always been interested in Dutch movies. Even though this one is completely unknown here in Listal (Iām not the only who rated it so farā¦), it was actually a huge success in the Netherlands when it was released and it even won the Golden Calf of the best Dutch movie of the year. For Antonie Kamerling, who killed himself a couple of years ago, it was a breakthrough performance and everybody was surprised that a guy who only showed in a soap opera could be deliver such a heartfelt performance. I thought it was pretty good but I also thought it followed too much the pattern of similar Dutch movies, patterns which has been set ever since āTurks Fruitā came out (sex, full frontal nudity, drugs, destructive and anti-social characters,ā¦). Still, it remains a heartbreaking story with some terrific performances by Kamerling and by the young boy portraying the title character. To conclude, even though it is not really a masterpiece in my opinion, it remains a very well made drama and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Dutch movies.
0 comments, Reply to this entry
An average movie
Posted : 12 years, 7 months ago on 15 October 2012 08:24
(A review of The Crazies )To be honest, I wasnāt really expecting much from this flick but since there was a decent cast involved, I thought I might as well check it out. First of all, I have noticed that Romero's flicks are a favorite by remakers. Indeed, this is already his 4th movie remade and since the original zombie trilogy have already been remade (sometimes even several times), they are apparently looking now for his more obscure movies. As I mentioned before, I wasn't really sure what to expect from this one but I must admit that I was actually pleasantly surprised. Indeed, I always had a weak spot for this kind of virus themed features and I thought it was actually well made with a few scary moment here and there. Of course, it was still nothing amazing though. The first issue was that there was not much consistency in the behavior of the infected people. Indeed, at first, they acted like some rather standard brainless zombies but, at some point, they started to form gangs, talk and even hunt people. Above all, I thought the whole thing was still too pedestrian and they really didn't add anything new to the whole genre. Still, in spite of its flaws, it remains a well made flick and it is actually worth a look, especially if you like the genre.
0 comments, Reply to this entry
A good movie
Posted : 12 years, 7 months ago on 14 October 2012 11:54
(A review of Katie's Passion)I have always been interested in Paul Verhoeven's work and since I have been living in the Netherlands, I had easy access to his older work, his Dutch movies. Honestly, I'm not a huge fan of this one but it was pretty neat to see Paul Verhoeven directing a costume drama for a change (at least, you have to admit he is rather versatile). It was Verhoeven follow-up feature after his breaktrough masterpiece 'Turks fruit' and he worked again with the same actors, Rutger Hauer and Monique van de Ven. Honestly, I thought it was pretty obvious that Paul Verhoeven was not really comfortable with the material. Furthermore, he experienced huge pressure to come up with a worthy follow-up for his critically and commercially successful 'Turks fruit' and he clashed repeatedly with producer Rob Houwer over the screenplay and didn't get the budget to make the film on the epic scale he had intended. He has even been quoted as saying that if he could ever redo one of his movies, it would be this one. So, as usual with Verhoeven, the whole thing is pretty sleazy but I still think it is a well made drama, I really enjoyed it and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Verhoeven's work.
0 comments, Reply to this entry
An average movie
Posted : 12 years, 7 months ago on 14 October 2012 11:47
(A review of War Horse)I wasn't expecting much from this flick but even though I'm not a huge fan of Spielberg, I must admit that his work is always worth a look. Furthermore, my wife is a huge fan of horses (we even used to have 3 of them in the past...) so it was a must see for us. Basically, it was a decent WWI feature but nothing really mind-blowing. I mean, it was visually really impressive but I wouldn't expect less from Spielberg. I also really enjoyed the way they managed to make the horse shows his feelings and communicate with the other characters. I mean, it never felt phony but rather genuine. Still, even though it was pretty uplifting, I thought the story was rather pedestrian. I mean, it was not bad at all but many events were really far-fetched, especially the ending and, to be honest, I never really cared about the whole thing. Furthermore, even though the events took place during the hell of one of the worst wars, there was still some room for a happy ending and some fluffy sentimentality but that's unfortunately a trademark inherent to Steven Spielberg's work. To conclude, in spite of its flaws, it remains a very well made war feature and I still think it is still worth a look, especially if you like the genre.
0 comments, Reply to this entry
An average movie
Posted : 12 years, 7 months ago on 12 October 2012 07:46
(A review of Virtuosity)A movie starring Russell Crowe and Denzel Washington should be worth a look, right? No, I'm not talking about 'American Gangster' which was definitely a pretty good flick, I'm talking about that other movie they made together more than 10 years before. Back then, Russell Crowe didn't breakthrough yet and it will take him 2 more years, thanks to 'L.A. Confidential', to become a household name. Anyway, it is jsut some pretty average stuff here. Indeed, they tried to mix some Science-Fiction with some action stuff but the end-result was pretty disappointing. Denzel Washington delivers his usual performance and was allright but not really interesting and Russell Crowe was actually not bad at all as the bad guy and it would be interesting to see him play such a part in a better movie. In my opinion, the important thing when you are dealing with SF is that even though you may use your fantasy, it still has to make sense somehow. Unfortunately, this time, the whole thing was pretty idiotic and rather laughable. Without Russell Crowe, I'm afraid it would have been even worse. To conclude, even though it was nice to see those guys together, it still remains a very average flick and it is not really worth a look, I'm afraid.
0 comments, Reply to this entry
A forgotten gem
Posted : 12 years, 7 months ago on 12 October 2012 09:32
(A review of Slam)If I remember correctly, I saw this one when it was released in the theaters. I know it was pretty obscure but not that much actually. Anyway, with this kind of movies (a real Hip-Hop artist portrays a guy who aspires to become a Hip-Hop artist), there is always a risk that the whole thing wonāt work or that it wonāt be taken seriously arguing that there is no actual acting since the actor in question is actually portraying himself. In this case, it never crossed my mind. Indeed, Saul Williams gave a very heartfelt performance and I thought he was very convincing. There were also some pretty amazing rap-poetry battles not only by Saul Williams but also by Sonja Sohn. Furthermore, the directing was also pretty solid. Above all, I thought the grim tone and look really fit the subject and it was also appreciated that they didnāt provide any simple answer at the end. I mean, thatās one of the biggest issues with this genre, is that, coming from the gutter, the main character usually ends up with a record contract and becomes a huge star. Even though it does happen sometimes, most of those aspiring artists remain in the gutter and I think that makes a much more compelling story. To conclude, I thought it was a very good movie, probably the best in this genre, and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Hip-Hop.
0 comments, Reply to this entry