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CollectionsTo be honest, I'm not a big fan of Michael Bay. I mean, his movies are usually entertaining but also always disposable trash but, somehow, I always end up watching his flicks because, I have to confess, they are usually fairly watchable. Anyway, tThis movie was actually a flop, at least compared to his other blockbusters but it is, in fact, the best movie he has directed so far. As usual, you have the big special effects and stunts extravaganza but I never minded those and Michael Bay knows how to blow things up, you have to give him that. Above all, what I liked this time, is that the story was rather intriguing. I mean, it is a rather standard plot about cloning, and, honestly, they didn't give much new insights about the subject but it was definitely entertaining and more interesting than you average Bay feature. Of course, the casting of Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson as leads for an action flick was an interesting move, even though Johansson didn't have much to do expect showing off her pretty face. On the other hand, I thought that Ewan McGregor was, as usual, really good and he gave a decent performance. So, even though, Michael Bay wasn't rewarded by the box office, I think it is actually his most interesting and entertaining flick and it is definitely worth a look.
A good movie
Posted : 13 years, 4 months ago on 19 December 2011 10:51
(A review of The Island)
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A good movie
Posted : 13 years, 4 months ago on 19 December 2011 09:37
(A review of The Yards)In my opinion, James Gray is one of the most underrated director at work nowadays and I had been waiting 6 long years to finally watch his second directing feature. Once again, I was blown away by the directing. Indeed, he managed to make some really simple shots look pretty gorgeous and he has created a realistic, immersive and completely believable world full of small details. You could almost smell it. Furthermore, there was also an awesome cast (Mark Wahlberg, Joaquin Phoenix, Charlize Theron, James Caan, Ellen Burstyn, Faye Dunaway) and they all delivered some very good performances. Unfortunately, I must say that the story was rather underwhelming. Indeed, they would like us to believe that it is some kind of grand ganster drama like 'The Godfather' but the plot never gets spellbinding enough. Another thing that bothered me was also the main charater. I mean, I don't blame Wahlberg as he gave a decent performance, but they obviously wanted us to care for him, to think that he was a nice guy, a poor lamb victim of the circumstances but it didn't really work for me. At the end, he goes all Serpico on this old colleagues and gets off the hook but, in fact, he did knock out a cop into a coma and it is not like anyone forced him to do all this illegal stuff, his uncle even proposed him a decent job but he refused to take it. To conclude, I thought it was rather flawed but thanks to the amazing directing and acting, I still enjoyed it and it is definitely worth a look.
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An average movie
Posted : 13 years, 4 months ago on 19 December 2011 09:15
(A review of Deliver Us from Eva)Many Hip-Hop artists try to have a career as an actor at some point but only a few of them managed to make it after all. LL Cool J was/is one of these exceptions. Anyway, even though it didn’t care much for this movie, LL Cool J turned out to be one of the few positive things in this movie. Indeed, he gave a decent performance and he was completely believable in his part. On the other hand, I thought that Gabrielle Union was just terrible. I mean, I'm not sure if she actually gave a bad performance or if it was her part which was badly written but her character was not convincing at all. And, of course, like many other (bad) romantic comedies, between the beginning and the end of the movie, her character had changed so much, they basically ended up with 2 completely different women. A part from that, it was just a very average, predictable romantic comedy which was sometimes even borderline discriminatory (at least every 5 minutes, you had a black man or woman saying something really stupid). To conclude, even though I'm actually a sucker for romantic comedies, I really didn't like this one and I don’t think it is worth a look whatosever.
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A good movie
Posted : 13 years, 4 months ago on 18 December 2011 12:26
(A review of Carriers)First of all, I have to admit that I always had a weak spot for those thrillers dealing with some virus. In fact, most of the time, I actually enjoy those flicks more than their popular cousins, the zombie movies, because they are in my opinion more realistic. Anyway, even though I didn’t expect much from the damned thing, it turned out to be actually pretty good. Of course, it was still rather generic and it didn't add much to the formula but I thought it was rather well made and, above all, I appreciated the cold blooded logic behind it. Indeed, everytime I thought the whole thing would get soft on me, everytime, the plot would surprise me with its hard logic. I think many viewers didn't like the movie because none of the 4 lead characters was really likeable, especially the one portrayed by Chris Pine who was pretty arrogant on the surface but I thought he gave a good performance. The fact that those characters were flawed made, for me, the whole thing even better and more realistic. Anyway, to conclude, even though it was nothing really original or mind-blowing whatsoever, it was still a solid and well made thriller, I really enjoyed it and it is definitely worth a look.
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An average movie
Posted : 13 years, 4 months ago on 18 December 2011 12:16
(A review of Armored)Since shortly, I have a friend working for a cash transport company so I thought it would be pretty neat to watch a thriller about the subject. First of all, the whole concept was actually pretty interesting. Indeed, what would happen if the guys working for such a company would decide to pretend that they were hijacked and that they would keep the money for themselves? Finally, there was an interesting cast of B actors (Matt Dillon, Laurence Fishburne, Jean Reno, Milo Ventimiglia, Fred Ward, Skeet Ulrich). Unfortunately, even though the damned thing definitely had some potential, this nice concept was not well developed at all. On top of that, there were many characters but none of them was properly developed either. Eventually, the last thing that bothered me was that those guys had just one hour to pull out their plan but it was pretty obvious that what actually happened lasted around 3 hours or at least 2 hours. Sure, it was maybe a smalll detail but it was a good example showing how half-baked the whole thing turned out to be after all. To conclude, it really had some potential but it was still rather disappointing and I don’t think it is really worth a look.
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An average movie
Posted : 13 years, 4 months ago on 18 December 2011 11:37
(A review of A Show of Force)I had never heard of this movie before but since it was starring the great Kevin Spacey, I thought I should give it a try anyway. Eventually, even though there was a huge pic of Spacey of the DVD cover, he had actually a very small part so that was a major disappointment but it is a risk you take when you purchase one o of those cheap ass DVDs for a really obscure flick. Still, I must say that the rest of the cast was rather interesting (Amy Irving, Andy Garcia, Robert Duvall, Lou Diamond Phillips). Furthermore, the material was actually quite interesting but the end results was still really disappointing. I mean, the story had some potential but the acting was pretty average, and above all, the directing was just really weak. Indeed, during the whole thing, I had the feeling I was watching some cheap TV movie. Later on, a few years later, Spacey finally got his breakthrough but this movie obviously didn't helped his career much. To conclude, it is a standard and rather poorly made political conspiracy thriller, and even though it really had some potential, the whole thing is pretty average and not really worth a look.
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An average movie
Posted : 13 years, 5 months ago on 17 December 2011 08:53
(A review of The Pallbearer)I didn't know what to expect from this flick but since I have a weak spot for Gwyneth Paltrow, I thought I should check it out. First of all, it is interesting to note that, except for Jennifer Anniston, none of the other lead actors starring in 'Friends' really managed to built up a nice career in feature films. David Schwimmer is not an exception, even though, as a director, he has made some interesting features (indeed, his last movie, 'Trust' was chosen by Roger Ebert as one of the best movies of the year in 2011). This time, Schwimmer stars in a romantic comedy and, of course, it was a flop. I mean, it was not really bad at all actually, Schwimmer was quite funny and Gwyneth Paltrow was really charming as usual but the story was unfortunately really pedestrian and predictable. It is really your standard romantic comedy based on a misunderstanding which has been done 100 times before, which is a gimmick that really annoys me. Still, I'm a sucker for romantic comedies and I must admit this one was, in spite its flaws, rather well well made and entertaining so it is actually worth a look, especially if you like the genre. Another funny fact, this flick was directed by Matt Reeves who would eventually end up directing 'Cloverfield' and 'Let me in'.
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An average movie
Posted : 13 years, 5 months ago on 16 December 2011 08:20
(A review of The Last Shot)Honestly, I had no idea what to expect from this flick beforehand. Indeed, I had never heard of this movie before but since there was a rather impressive cast (Matthew Broderick, Alec Baldwin, Toni Collette, Tim Blake Nelson, Joan Cusack, Tony Shalhoub, Ray Liotta and Calista Flockhart), I thought I should check it out. I must say, the material was actually pretty cool as it was based on a rather amazing true story (as a matter of fact, it is actually pretty similar to ‘Argo’ when you think about it for one second). Furthermore, Alec Baldwin is really perfect in such roles and as usual, he delivered the goods. Unfortunately, the always clueless Matthew Broderick was rather worthless, as usual. In my opinion, it would have worked better if they picked out another better actor for this part. Still, it is rather unfair from me to put all the blame on Broderick since the main issue was actually, even though the material had some potential, that the writers didn't exploit it properly and kept going for the easy jokes and, eventually, I didn't care much about the whole thing or the characters involved. To conclude, this true story was pretty awesome and deserved a better movie than this average and boring comedy which is not really worth a look whatsoever. Eventually, almost 10 years later, Ben Affleck would show the proper way to deal with a story like this and would even win an Academy award in the process.
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An average movie
Posted : 13 years, 5 months ago on 15 December 2011 11:49
(A review of Silent Fall)Honestly, before watching this flick, I had never heard of it but since it was starring Liv Tyler and since I have a weak spot for her, I thought I should check it out anyway. Basically, it is one of those typical thrillers involving an autist (usually, it is a child). Most of the time, I don't really enjoy those flicks because the plot is always preposterous and the guys writing those stories obviously don't have a clue about autism (since my step-son is autist, I know one thing or two about the subject...). However, this flick was actually pretty decent. I mean, when you think about it, the story was pretty far-fetched as usual, but it didn't bother me much this time and, surprisingly, I was entertained throughout the whole thing. Furthermore, I thought Liv Tyler was pretty good and the boy portraying the younger brother was just downright impressive. So, even though it looked pretty weak, it was actually not bad at all and actually pretty satisfying. To conclude, it was nothing mind-blowing whatsoever but it remains a well made and entertaining thriller and it is definitely worth a look.
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An average movie
Posted : 13 years, 5 months ago on 15 December 2011 10:19
(A review of Killshot)Even though the critics were not really good, I still wanted to check this movie, above all because there was a really neat cast involved (Thomas Jane, Diane Lane, Mickey Rourke, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Rosario Dawson). Well, eventually, it was not really bad but I can't say I was impressed by the whole thing. I mean, the characters were quite intriguing, even though I had a hard time buying the fact that Mickey Rourke was potraying an indian, the directing was pretty stylish but, honestly, the story was actually a real mess. For example, why on earth Blackbird chooses to hang out with Richie Nix?!? Because he reminded him of his dead little brother?!? Come on, I thought it was pretty weak and unbelievable. The rest to the movie was not much better, the plot was just really weak and during the whole thing, I never thought it was really spellbinding whatsoever. Later on, I discovered that this flick had been in development hell for years and it figured. To conclude, it was nothing really bad and it could have been pretty awesome, but, at the end of the day, it was just an average thriller and it is not really worth a look.
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