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Posted : 12 years, 6 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, 6 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, 6 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, 6 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, 6 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, 6 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, 6 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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A good movie
Posted : 12 years, 6 months ago on 25 August 2012 08:42
(A review of ParaNorman)I wasn't really planning to see this flick but since it was the end of the holiday for Nick (my step-son), we went one last time to the theater and chose this flick. Eventually, I thought it was a pretty good stop-motion feature but, to be honest, it was still missing something in my opinion. It figures that it was made by Laika, the studio which made 'Coraline' a few years back. I mean, both movies were visually really impressive and really amazing to watch but both movies also didn't really convince me as far as the story was concerned. Basically, it was just some kind of (better) version of ' The Sixth sense' but not much more than that, I'm afraid. I mean, it was entertaining enough but the whole thing about the weird kid being bullied by everbody but, at the end, manages to save the city from the zombies and becomes a hero, not only it was rather unoriginal and predictable, but this ending was also actually a stepdown after following the darker satiric tone they displayed before. It is like the curse of this witch, it was rather pedestrian in my opinion. Still, I liked this movie. Indeed, the characters were pretty awesome, it looked awesome and there were here and there some hilarious scenes. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, I really enjoyed this movie and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.
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A good movie
Posted : 12 years, 6 months ago on 25 August 2012 07:21
(A review of Dave Chappelle's Block Party)I have always been interested by Michel Gondry especially since he made his great masterpiece 'Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind' so I was definitely eager to check this flick. This time around, he has made a documentary hosted by Dave Chappelle who came up with this project so it was certainly something really different that the previous movies directed by Gondry. To be honest, I’m not really familiar with Dave Chappelle but I understood that he is pretty famous in the USA with his various TV shows. Anyway, I thought it was a decent documentary, nothing really spellbinding but that was obviously not the point here. Basically, it is just a very chill flick with some pretty cool performances (Common, Mos Def, The Fugees, The Roots, Talib Kweli, John Legend, Pras, Jill Scott, Kanye West and some other fellows who I wasn't familiar with) and if you love Hip-Hop, it is pretty awesome to see all these guys but if you don't like this music, you won't probably enjoy it. To conclude, it might not be a highlight in Gondry's career, but it remains a pretty cool documentary and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.
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An average movie
Posted : 12 years, 6 months ago on 24 August 2012 11:29
(A review of The Car Keys)Laurent Baffie is completely unknown outside France but in France, he has some notoriety, at least, that was the case when I used to live there, almost 10 years ago. I remember that his humor was not bad, most of all based on the shocking value, but it would misfire quite often. Eventually, there is the same issue concerning his first directing effort. Indeed, it is an ambitious project which tries to be absurd and surealist which is something that should be praised but, ultimately, it didn't really work. For example, Laurent Baffie's attitude 'everything is bullsh*t, especially this movie' is rather conter-productive because, as a result, you do think quite often that the movie is indeed a piece of sh*t. It is a like the dialogs or the jokes, half of them are pretty cool but the other half is just not funny and plain tedious. Finally, Baffie had a an ambitious project but he definitely doesn't have enough talent as a director to pull this through. Can you imagine if directors such as Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Michel Gondry, David Fincher, Darren Aronosfky or Christopher Nolan could have done with such an interesting premise? To conclude, I think the whole thing is a failed experiment and it is not really worth a look.
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