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Posted : 12 years, 5 months ago on 30 August 2012 08:06
(A review of I, Robot)I have already seen this flick a few years back but I thought it was time for a rewatch with Nick, my step-son. And, once again, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Indeed, I'm a huge fan of 'Dark City' and it was pretty cool to see Alex Proyas directing a big-budget SF flick. First of all, the whole thing looked pretty awesome (it did help that I watched it on my new purchased HD TV and even newer HD recorder. Good times!). Furthermore, I thought it was a rather smart blockbuster. Obviously, it doesn't reach Bergman's level but I thought it was pretty decent for a commercial feature. Indeed, I though that there were some interesting ideas about robots and their supposedly lack of consciouness. Still, they get side-tracked pretty often by some action scenes which were pretty awesome but I was personally more intrigued by the psychological side of the story. Anyway, this movie is another piece of evidence that Will Smith knows how to pick up his projects. Indeed, even though they are usually blockbusters and makes some huge money, they are almost always interesting (ok, 'Wild Wild West' didn't work very well but everybody is entitled to make a mistake once in a while). To conclude, I thought it was a decent and entertaining SF blockbuster and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.
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A good movie
Posted : 12 years, 5 months ago on 29 August 2012 08:23
(A review of Three Lives and Only One Death)Raoul Ruiz is not really well known here in listal but he is actually a quite interesting director. He actually died in 2011 but he had a productive career, directing more than 100 movies. Even though he was Chilean, most of those movies were made in France as he fled his home-country from Pinochet's dictatorship. Anyway, I heard a lot about the guy so I was really intrigued by his work and when I finally got the opportunity to get acquainted, I was rather thrilled. Even though I don't think this movie was really amazing, I still think it was pretty good. Indeed, first of all, you have a very good cast (Marcello Mastroianni, Melvil Poupaud, Chiara Mastroianni, Arielle Dombasle, Smaïn) and I especially enjoyed the late Marcello Mastroianni who was definitely one of the best actors ever. I also enjoyed the story which was pretty surrealistic, a trademark in Ruiz work. Still, even though the story was all right, I missed a lot of the symbolism (I'm not smart enough, I guess...) and I thought the pacing was rather sluggish but it is inherent to the genre, I'm afraid. To conclude, it is a pretty good surrealistic flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.
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A very good movie
Posted : 12 years, 5 months ago on 29 August 2012 08:00
(A review of The King of Comedy)When is the last time you saw a good movie starring Robert De Niro? I keep watching most of his new movies but most of it is just crap and after all this disappointment, it was time to rewatch a good old flick to redeem the guy. Among all the masterpieces De Niro and Scorsese made together, it is one of the least appreciated ones and it was a flop when it came out which is not really surprising. Indeed, it is a comedy but the whole thing is just so dark, so sardonic, it can't be compared to your average commercial comedic feature. That's probably why I enjoyed it whereas I usually don't care much about comedies. Once again, the directing was really awesome with here and there some pacing issues but nothing major and some amazing performances (Robert De Niro, Jerry Lewis, Sandra Bernhard). It is also gives a grim and, I'm afraid, realistic view on the whole fandom/stalker concept. The great thing about this movie is that you never know if you should laugh or be afraid by the whole thing which is probably why the average audience dimissed it and it is exactly why I actually enjoyed it so much. Still, I'm not so sure about the ending. On one hand, it is really fascinating and provides a great twist to the whole thing, blaming Langford, the audience, everybody and shows how ridiculous the whole system is. On the other hand, where they make sure during the whole thing that Pupkin is displayed as a maniacal incapable moron, suddenly, with this ending, he becomes some kind of genius and a great comedian. Still, it is another great movie by the great duo Scorsese/De Niro and it is definitely worth a look.
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An average movie
Posted : 12 years, 5 months ago on 28 August 2012 12:18
(A review of That Day (2003))Raoul Ruiz is not really well known here in listal but he is actually a quite interesting director. He actually died just last year but he had a productive career, directing more than 100 movies. Even though he was Chilean, most of those movies were made in France as he fled his homecountry from Pinochet's dictatoship. Anyway, I heard a lot about the guy so I was really intrigued by his work and when I finally got the opportunity to get acquainted, I was rather thrilled. Eventually, even though most of his work is pretty obscure, I'm pretty sure this movie belongs to his most obscure ones. As a result, I can't say I really enjoyed this flick. I mean, the acting (above all by Bernard Gireaudeau and Elsa Zylberstein) was really good and I also enjoyed the rather surealistic directing reminiscent of Bunuel's work. Still, I thought the whole thing was pretty alienating and barely entertaining. To conclude, even though it was not entirely satisfying, I still think it is worth a look though, especially if you like the genre.
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An average movie
Posted : 12 years, 5 months ago on 28 August 2012 11:14
(A review of Amelia)Even though Hilary Swank managed to snatch 2 oscars which she both deserved, I'm afraid she has never done anything else really impressive. With this flick which she produced, it seemed that she picked up a better project, a high-profile biographical drama but it was still not really a success, I'm afraid. In fact, Swank shouldn't be blamed though as she gave a pretty good performance. Furthermore, the whole thing looked pretty good and it gave a good feeling of the time period. Still, it was not really satisfying though. I don't know, but when Mira Nair makes movies about Indian people or Indian immigrants ('Salaam Bombay!', 'Monsoon Wedding', 'The namesake'), the end result is always quite amazing but when she deals with another culture ('Vanity Fair' and this movie), the end result is usually rather disappointing. In this case, the main character was actually pretty fascinating but the whole thing was still rather bland. For example, there was something about the dialogues which were sometimes rather fluffy and some scenes which didn't work very well. The best example was the scene with the plane race when her husband tried to force an opponent to let her win. As a result, they made him look like a bad guy but the whole thing wasn't developed at all during the rest of the movie. What was the point of this scene then? It was probably supposed to tell us something about Georges Putmanbut since it didn't come again at all, it was rather pointless. Still, it remains a well made drama and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.
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A good movie
Posted : 12 years, 5 months ago on 27 August 2012 08:36
(A review of The Brothers Grimm)Since Terry Gilliam is one of the most interesting directors alive, I was definitely eager to check this one out. It is pretty obvious that it is one of his least personal projects and that there was some major studio interfering during the production and as a result, many Gilliam fans tend to dismiss this flick. Personally, even I tend to agree that it is a minor effort, I still think it is actually pretty enjoyable. Indeed, I thought it was a real cool concept to make a movie about the Grimm Brothers, Matt Damon and Heath Ledger were great choices and delivered some solid performances and the whole thing looked pretty awesome which is always expected when watching a Gilliam's features. Of course, I have to admit, when watching this, you get the feeling that the plot is rather pedestrian and, that somewhere, there is actually a great movie hiding but I thought it was a fun movie to watch, better than your standard studio production and not as alienating as some other movies made by Gilliam such as 'Tideland'. To conclude, even though it has a bad reputation, I think it is actually pretty good and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Gilliam's work.
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An average movie
Posted : 12 years, 5 months ago on 27 August 2012 08:19
(A review of Ghosts of Girlfriends Past)Honestly, I wasn't expecting much from this flick but since there was a pretty good cast involved, I thought I should check it out anyway. And, indeed, eventually, it was just another average and rather boring romantic comedy starring Matthew McConaughey. I don't know if you have noticed but McConaughey has made a come-back recently starring in a bunch of interesting flicks ('The Lincoln Lawyer', 'Bernie', 'Killer Joe', 'Magic Mike', 'Mud', 'The Wolf of Wall Street, 'Interstellar') but, before that, he was mostly known for his fluffy romantic comedies starting with 'The Wedding Planner' back in 2001. Personally, I think the guy always had some talent but those flicks were just so lazy, so unoriginal, so uninteresting, it is a real bore to watch them, even if I do have a weak spot for the genre. Like I said before, the supporting cast was actually nice (Jennifer Garner, Michael Douglas, Breckin Meyer, Lacey Chabert, Robert Forster, Anne Archer, Emma Stone) and I especially enjoyed Michael Douglas who is always so convincing when portraying a sleaze bag but the story was just inane and I never believed in the chemistry between McConaughey and Garner. To conclude, it was just another average and boring romantic comedy and it is not really worth a look, even if you like the genre like I do.
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An average movie
Posted : 12 years, 5 months ago on 26 August 2012 08:40
(A review of The Skeleton Key)What happened to Kate Hudson? After 'Almost famous', she was predicted a bright future by many people but in the following decade, she starred mostly in disappointing and boring romantic-comedies (pretty much like her mother, as a matter of fact). Anyway, from time to time, she tries something else and this time, it was a paranormal thriller. I must admit that it was eventually not bad at all. Indeed, the directing by Iain Softley was pretty solid and the whole thing had a good mood, there was a very good supporting cast (Gena Rowlands, John Hurt, Peter Sarsgaard, Joy Bryant). And what about the plot? It was entertaining enough, absolutely, but it still remains within the boundaries of the genre and it was not challenging or original enough to be really satisfying, at least for me. Take the ending, for example. Many people didn't see it coming and thought it was pretty impressive, but honestly, even though I didn't predict the whole thing, it was pretty obvious that it will end up with a twist which only purpose is to surprise the audience but, at the end, it merely remains an overused plot device. Still, I thought it was a well made and entertaining thriller and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.
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An average movie
Posted : 12 years, 5 months ago on 26 August 2012 08:00
(A review of Dragnet)I wasn't really sure what to expect from this flick but since it was one of the few movies starring Tom Hanks I hadn't seen yet, I thought I should give it a try anyway. First of all, it was rather fun to see Hanks when he was younger this movie was basically one of his typical comedies he made in the 80’s before becoming a 'serious' actor. Well, eventually, to be honest, I didn't like the damend thing. I have to admit it, I have never seen the original TV show but I have understood that it was not really faithfull but that's not really surprising. Above all, I thought that the whole thing was just boring and most of the jokes were in fact rather lame. Even the voice-over by Dan Aykroyd which was pretty funny at first became pretty annoying after a while. It’s too bad because that the whole thing actually had some potential though. Indeed, Dan Aykroyd and Tom Hanks did have some good chemistry together so it could have been a fun buddy cop movie but the plot was just way too tedious for me. To conclude, it was a rather average action comedy and it is not really worth a look.
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A bad movie
Posted : 12 years, 5 months ago on 25 August 2012 12:08
(A review of Flodder 3)First of all, I have to admit that I never understood the appeal of 'Flodder'. I'm pretty sure that the damned thing is actually unknown in the rest of the wold but, in the Netherlands, it was really popular, resulting in 3 movies and a TV show which has lasted 5 seasons. The first movie was above all a huge success, one of the most successful Dutch movies ever made. I always find this statement rather worrying about the status of the Dutch culture... Anyway, coming back to our, main feature, well, this sequel turned out to be rather abysmal. Indeed, the jokes were terrible, the characters were really obnoxious, even the music was annoying. There were a few gratuitious nude scenes which might shock some puritan foreigners but it is something rather common in many Dutch movies. Anyway, I was bored by the whole thing and the worst thing is that it was very very long as well, a little more than 2 hours... I mean, such movies definitely don't need to be so long, especially when they don't have anything interesting or entertaining to tell. Anyway, I thought it was really bad and it is definitely not worth a look, except if you are a die-hard of ‘Flodder’.
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