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All reviews - Movies (7810) - TV Shows (10)

An average movie

Posted : 12 years, 10 months ago on 17 July 2012 07:42 (A review of Killers)

Seriously, right from the start, this movie seemed to be a disaster. First, they gave us a really annoying scene with Katherine Heigl and her parents in a plane. Then, they gave us a really pathetic scene when Ashton Kutcher was supposed to convince us that he is a spy. Finally, they both got together in a lift and Kutcher was pretending he could speak French fluently.... I mean, I'm French and I could barely understand a word he said! I mean, from crying out loud, the guy is supposed to be  a freaking actor! Couldn’t he learn how to speak properly 2 lines of French?!? And those were ony the very first 3 scenes of the movie... I mean, the running time was, at that point, maybe 15 minutes and the thing was already hopeless. The weird thing was that there was actually a potentially good movie, there hidden somewhere, and there were a few good ideas like the friend/neighbour/colleague who tried to kill Kutcher. But then, they made literally EVERYBODY trying to kill him which was completely redudant and annoying. Honestly, I do think that Katherine Heigl did look charming and I always thought she had some potential but ever since 'Knocked up', she always got involved in some rather worthless comedies like this one. Anyway, to conclude, the concept was not bad but the execution was just terrible and it is not really worth a look at all. 



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An average movie

Posted : 12 years, 10 months ago on 16 July 2012 07:31 (A review of The Fast and the Furious)

The thing I love the most about this franchise is its convoluted history. Indeed, when the first movie was released, it was a surprise success and reached a cult status for the tuning afiocionados but was frankly despised by the rest. The 1st and 2nd sequels were disappointing and you'd thought that the franchise was slowly dying. But no! They brought back the original cast for the 4th installment and, against all expectations, it was a huge success and the 5th movie was even more successful. As a result, it has become one of the most successful movie franchises ever made and they are of course working now on the 9th installment. Who would have expected this 16 years ago when the first movie was released?!? This is a real Cinderella story and you have to give some credit to the makers who managed this. And the movie itself, the one which started it all, was it any good actually? Not really, I'm afraid... I mean, there were some decent action scenes, some cool cars, a few chicks but that's barely enough for me to get entertained, I'm sorry. I watched it back then when it was still a cult flick and not yet a blockbuster franchise and I could see the appeal but, personally, I thought it was pretty damned average. To conclude, I didn't really like it and I don't think it is really worth a look.


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An average movie

Posted : 12 years, 10 months ago on 16 July 2012 07:07 (A review of RoboCop 3)

To be honest, I wasn't expecting much from this flick and, indeed, it was pretty weak. One of the issues was that even though Robocop is and remains really badass, it is also a rather limited character and the whole thing tends to get really redundant. Furthermore, after 2 new installments, there was not much left from Verhoeven's vision and what was left a rather lame futuristic action movie. Indeed, the story was not interesting, the characters were pathetic and the dialogues were lame. They even added a few gadgets for Robocop but it wasn't really impressive. On the positive side, the plot was less messy than the previous installment but it was still pretty damned average though. I also felt sorry for Nancy Allen who didn't have much to do in this second sequel and, in fact, she even got killed within the first 20 minutes... It is pretty obvious that even though the first movie was an inspired blockbuster, the following sequels were just produced to make some easy money. Anyway, to conclude, like most of the sequels, the damned thing was really disappointing and it is not really worth a look, even if you love the original classic by Paul Verhoeven.



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An average movie

Posted : 12 years, 10 months ago on 15 July 2012 09:20 (A review of Happily N'Ever After)

I remember renting this animated feature to watch with my kids and I thought it really looked terrible and I was expecting a really bad flick. Eventually, it wasn't that bad, actually. You know, it is often when you have the lowest expectations that you end up being positively surprised by a movie. Of course, it is pretty damned average, the whole thing really looked ugly, it wasn't really funny and it wasn't surprising that it ended up being a huge flop but I honestly think the concept had some potential. Even though it is nothing really original (it was already done with better results with 'Sherk' for example), I liked how they made fun of all those good old fairy tales. However, like I said before, the animation was pretty ulgy and none of the characters were really charismatic enough so I didn't care much about them. Even though I thought it would be completely terrible, I was actually midly entertained. Does it mean it is worth a look though? Not really and even if you have some kids, you'd better make them watch anything else made by Pixar.


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An average movie

Posted : 12 years, 10 months ago on 15 July 2012 08:46 (A review of RoboCop 2)

I think I saw it back then when I was a kid but after rewatching it yesterday, I'm not so sure. Anyway, I thought it was a decent sequel. Of course, since Paul Verhoeven was gone, it wasn't as good as the first installment but I thought they managed more or less to keep the tone right and the action scenes were not bad. The main issue here was that it was poorly written with too many under-developped storylines (a police strike, a lethal drug, Robocop struggling with his past, Robocop being reprogrammed, an evil Robocop 2 being built up,...). Furthermore, one of the druglord sidekick was a kid and there was no explanation whatsoever about what he was doing here exactly except for adding some schocking value to the whole thing. Later on, they chose to give Robocop 2 the brain of a psychopath. Why?!? Of course, to provide Robocop with a suitable enemy but, a part from that, it didn't make any sense at all. As a matter of fact, Paul Verhoeven almost did direct this sequel but he asked more time to get the script right and guess what? They didn't do it because they wanted to release the 2nd installment as soon as possible. Still, I thought it was a decent follow-up and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you enjoyed the 1st movie.


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A classic

Posted : 12 years, 10 months ago on 15 July 2012 08:11 (A review of RoboCop)

Pretty much like with 'Total Recall', when I was a kid, I watched this flick and I just loved it. 20 years later, I had the pleasure to watch it again with my step-son Nick. For Paul Verhoeven, the great Dutch master, it was his ticket to Hollywood and it was a downright success. You see on a regular basis promising European directors hired by Hollywood but most of those features are just disappointing. Not this one though. Indeed, even though it is a studio feature, Verhoeven managed to keep his twisted violent vision and gave us a relentless action flick. The last time I watched it, it was the unrated version and not only my step-son was watching but also my wife and she was rather shocked about how violent the whole thing was. Indeed, nowadays, the violence in action movies is terribly toned down so when you watch a good old action flick from the 80's, you have to adjust a little bit because the blood is coming out in liters, the heads are exploding and the limbs are flying in the air, all in close-up. Furthermore, there is a lot of pitch black humor and the combination with the violence was pretty unique, awesome and really true to Verhoeven's style. I have to admit that even though Robocop looked pretty cool, when he walks, he did look pretty cheesy and the special effects in general were pretty cheesy as well. Still, it is a well made SF flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.


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An average movie

Posted : 12 years, 10 months ago on 14 July 2012 02:54 (A review of The Company)

When it was released, this movie generally received some poor reviews but since it was one of the last movies directed by Robert Altman, I was still really eager to check it out. This guy was definitely a master and I really enjoyed the directing on this feature. Indeed, there is no real plot and the whole thing felt almost like a documentary and I thought it worked pretty well. For once, you don't have a huge all-star cast which was a trademark in all Altman's feature at the end of his career but just 3 actors (Neve Campbell, James Franco and Malcolm McDowell) and that was the only issue I really had with this flick. Indeed, even though there are only 3 characters (I'm not even sure whe should count James Franco since he barely did anything and barely had any dialogs), they were all poorly developped. I know it was intentional but, as a result, I didn't care much about those characters. Though I have to say, I really enjoyed Malcolm McDowell who gave a really good performance and it is a real shame that such a talented actor has spent most of the last 3 decades working in some cheap garbage. Neve Campbell was allright and I understand this project was really important fo her because she used to be a ballet danser but, honestly, she was too old or looked too old for the part. To conclude, it is rather flawed but it is still definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in ballet or in Robert Altman's work.


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A good movie

Posted : 12 years, 10 months ago on 14 July 2012 12:09 (A review of The Devil's Rejects)

Since I kept hearing some good things about Rob Zombie's work, I was really eager to check out one of his flicks. Eventually, it turned out to be pretty good. Indeed, there were many aspects which made it look like any other uninspiring slasher flicks but there were also some details which made it stand out and worth watching. For example, it all started with a shoot-out which is something that usually comes towards the end. The weird thing was that, during this shoot-out, I was actually rooting for the bad guys and not really for the police. That was some clever directing here. The psychopath familly was actually quite charismatic and they kept throwing some clever and witty oneliners throughout the whole thing. Of course, at some point, they had to molest and kill a bunch of people otherwise they wouldn't be some serial killers but those scenes were not really interesting. I mean, I have seen my share of slasher flicks so I didn't care much about those scenes but I definitely enjoyed the way they developed the characters which was quite refreshing. Even if you don't like the genre, you have to admit that the guy knows how to direct a movie and I really enjoyed the music as well. To conclude, even though it was not a masterpiece whatsoever, it was still a well made and original horror flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.



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An average movie

Posted : 12 years, 10 months ago on 14 July 2012 11:34 (A review of Passenger 57)

I remember as if it was yesterday, when this movie came out, I must have been about 12 years old and, at the time, I thought it looked pretty neat (I was really into action movies back then). Eventually, it took me about 20 years to finally watch the damned thing but, unfortunately, it turned out to be rather disappointing. Seriously, during the first scene, I already  knew the whole thing would be really lame. I mean, you get to see the bad guy who is going to change his face (something he does apparently on a regular basis...) and he tells the surgeon to NOT use any anesthetic because he wants to make sure everything goes smoothly... Everything was so wrong in this scene, especially the dialogues which were really ridiculous. Fortunately, later on, the action scenes were decent enough and rather entertaining but the whole thing was still pretty weak. Back then, Wesley Snipes was still one of the biggest action stars but nowadays, all his work is released straight to DVD, but he gave here a decent performance. The bad guy also had some charisma but the whole thing was just too cheesy for my taste. Anyway, to conclude, I may have enjoyed it more back then when I was a kid but, as a growm-up, I thought it was pretty weak and I don’t think it is really worth a look, even if you like the genre. 



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A good movie

Posted : 12 years, 10 months ago on 13 July 2012 04:29 (A review of Het Schnitzelparadijs)

This movie is not really well known abroad but, in the Netherlands, it was back in 2005 the highest grossing Dutch film of the year. And, for once, I thought it was pretty good. Sure, the story was rather simple but I liked the directing style and how chaotic the whole thing was, at least, in the first part. Furthermore, the two leads had a good chemistry and Bracha van Doesburgh especially was quite charming. Concerning van Doesburgh, in 2005, she made her debut with this movie and ‘Vet Hard’ and she seemed at the time to have a bright future ahead of her but, 10 years later, her career didn’t become so impressive after all. Coming back to our main feature, of course, it was not a masterpiece whatsoever and, from time to time, they tried too much to copy your average American romantic-comedies and the end-result was then rather cheesy. Furthermore, they kind of lost some steam in the second half, it became just way too serious and the whole chaotic thing (the best asset of this feature) was gone. Anyway, to conclude, it was still a fun and entertaining comedy and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Dutch movies.



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