Posted : 13 years, 6 months ago on 8 December 2011 10:32
(A review of
Predators)
I already saw this movie but since it was a while back and since I have it on DVD, I thought I might as well check it out again. To be honest, the first time around, after hearing loads of good things about this flick, I was really eager to watch it but, honestly, I thought the whole thing was rather disappointing. Indeed, the plot was way too similar to the first movie and I thought the story was rather weak. I mean, they added some interesting elements like an alien planet and an unexpected cast (Adrien Brody, Topher Grace, Alice Braga) but it was not enough for me. For example, the character portrayed by Brody was way too omnipotent and found the right answers way too fast and too easily. Like the 'Alien' franchise, after a promising first installment, it seems that they never managed to make a new and original story around those awesome creatures and, as a result, you end up more or less, each time, with a remake of the first movie. On the positive side, the predator remains badass and the whole thing was well made and still enternaing enough to watch. To conclude, after 20 years(!), the predator finally makes a most welcome come back and it is still worth a look, especially if you are fan of the genre but don't expect anything mindblowing.
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Posted : 13 years, 6 months ago on 7 December 2011 03:16
(A review of
Phenomenon)
Honestly, I wasn't expecting much from this movie but since I have a weak spot for John Travolta, I thought I should give it a try anyway. Honestly, to my surprise, I thought it was not bad at all. First of all, even though John Travolta often shows up in some rather lame movies, I still think he is actually a pretty good actor. Indeed, he has an indeniable charm and he gave here again a rather decent performance. I must say that the rest of the cast (Kyra Sedgwick, Forest Whitaker, Robert Duvall) was pretty good as well. Furthermore, the story may not be really original and the whole thing was obviously rather preposterous but they managed to make it entertaining enough and they managed somehow to make me care about the characters involved. To conclude, it is a standard but well made supernatural drama and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are a fan of John Travola's work.
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Posted : 13 years, 6 months ago on 7 December 2011 12:52
(A review of
Monster House)
Disney used to rule the animation market but, ever since ‘Toy Story’ has been released, virtually everyone turned to CGI animation and the competition is pretty ruthless. The big giants in this new market are obviously Pixar and Dreamworks but some other studios have played with this genre as well and there are some pretty interesting features like this one definitely standing out from the rest. Anyway, I saw this flick a while back and I saw this movie again yesterday and I thought it was still pretty good. First of all, the whole concept was actually pretty neat. I mean, we always have those stories when we were kids about a creepy house around the corner. Here, they pushed it to the next level and made the house really haunted! Obviously, compared to the current animated productions, the animation is nowadays rather outdated but I think it still has its charms and it was effective enough. Above all, I really liked how the story and the characters were written. Indeed, they were just really funny and their reactions were quite believable. At the end of the day, it remains a rather simple story but I thought it was very well made, entertaining and it really captures the Halloween atmosphere (not that I am an expert though since I'm European). Anyway, to conclude, it is an original animated flick, aiming for the teenagers, I really enjoyed it and it is definitely worth a look.
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Posted : 13 years, 6 months ago on 7 December 2011 06:26
(A review of
Hunger)
The war between the British government and the IRA was at the end of the 70's quite ruthless and this movie managed to display how far both sides would go to reach their goals. It was indeed a merciless movie which didn't take any side but neutrally displayed the facts. For a directing début, I thought it was pretty impressive. Indeed, you could see that McQueen was originally an artist as, in the midst of the horror and filfth, he managed to shot some visually beautiful scenes. During most of the duration, there was barely any dialogues, except for an outstanding scene between Michael Fassender and Liam Cunningham which lasted more than 15 minutes without any cuts. Indeed, it was not a movie about words and ideology, it was more a visual punch in your face. Obviously, Michael Fassbender gave her a star-making performance and he finally got his deserved breakthrough. Of course, when the hunger strike began, I was strongly reminded by 'The Machinist'. I don't know which one between Fassbender in this movie and Bale in 'The Machinist' looked more horrible but you definitely need a strong stomach to watch these flicks. Anyway, to conclude, it was not an easy movie to watch but I thought it was really impressive and it is definitely worth a look.
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Posted : 13 years, 6 months ago on 6 December 2011 04:59
(A review of
Knife in the Water)
Since I have always been a huge of Roman Polanski’s work, of course, I had to watch his directing debut at some point. At the time, Polanski was not even 30 years old when he directed this first feature-length film and, surprisingly, it would be the only film he would make in Polish. Seriously, the guy was actually even younger than me! The thing I probably enjoyed the most about this movie was the fact that it was already displaying many of his trademarks that we will witness in his following masterpieces. I mean, sure, the story was rather generic but I really enjoyed the tone which was rather dark and bleak, unsettling and filled with sexual tension. As usual with Polanski, he gave here a rather pessimistic view of men in general, displaying our darkest corners which would be also something recurring in his work. On top of that, even though it was a directing debut, Polanski was back then already a cinematic master and the whole thing was quite spellbinding to watch. To conclude, in spite of its flaws, it remains a fascinating and rather well made thriller and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Roman Polanski's work.
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Posted : 13 years, 6 months ago on 6 December 2011 04:45
(A review of
Eternity and a Day (1998))
I saw this movie so long ago, something like 15 years ago when it was released in the movie theaters, so, to be honest, I don't really remember the whole thing in detail. Back then, I remember that Theo Angelopoulos was ( and he still is) a highly regarded movie director and since this movie won the Golden Palm at the Cannes Film festival, I thought I should check this one out. Indeed, since Angelopoulos had quite a stellar reputation, I was really eager to discover his work and this was his first (and so far only) movie I have seen so far. Unfortunately, I ‘m afraid I was just too young to get all the symbolism involved but, honestly, I thought it was rather disappointing. Indeed, there was not much going on and I thought the whole thing was rather boring to watch. Still, Angelopoulos knows a how to direct a movie and Bruno Ganz is always a fascinating actor to watch. Maybe I'll give it another try in the future. Anyway, even though I didn't really like it, it is definitely not a bad movie at all and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.
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Posted : 13 years, 6 months ago on 6 December 2011 04:35
(A review of
Destiny)
I already saw this movie but, since it was such a long time ago and since it was available on Netflix, I thought i might as well check it out again. The first time around, I didn't know anything about Youssef Chahine at the time but he seemed to be a highly regarded movie director in France and since this movie was nominated for the Golden Palm at the Cannes Film festival, I went to se this movie in the movie theater when it was released. However, to be honest, I guess I was maybe too young back then but I didn't connect with this movie at all. Well, I'm glad I gave it a second chance after all these years. First of all, I have to admit that I didn't remember a single thing about the damned thing which shows how little impact it did have on me at the time. Well, the 2nd time around, I thought it was actually quite fascinating. Indeed, maybe at the time, I wasn’t aware or didn't care about the upcoming threat coming from Muslim fundamentalism but, more than 25 years later as this threat has become so huge, this movie developed such great ideas on this topic and really felt prescient. Basically, this kind of fundamentalism has in fact always existed, pretty much ever since the concept of religion had been invented. As displayed in this movie, it is very often based not really on religion but above all on ignorance and the best weapon against it is knowledge. I also think that it is based on hatred while religion is based on love but this movie didn't focus on that aspect. Anyway, I thought it was a really deep and smart movie, even if the acting was maybe not really impressive. Now, I really feel like rewatching 'Cairo Station' as well since it is considered as Youssef Chahine's magnum opus. Anyway, to conclude, even if I'm not sure if it is really a masterpiece, it is still a really good flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Youssef Chahine's work.
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Posted : 13 years, 6 months ago on 6 December 2011 10:34
(A review of
Grbavica)
To be honest, I had never heard of this movie before but since it won the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film festival, I thought I should give it a try. Basically, it is a rather slow but really heartbreaking movie about ex-Yougoslavia after the war. Thanks or because of this movie (depends where you stand in this matter), you get a glimpse on the terrible things that happened out there. Especially from an outsider like me, it remains rather strange that for decades all those different cultures seemed to get along fine but then, with the fall of Communism, they decided to literally slaughter their next door neighbor. Concerning the directing, it was nothing really amazing but I liked that it was really sober and it fit the subject really well so it was really effective and the actors were very good. Basically, there is not much action here or anything else going on but it is not what this movie was about, it was more about the characters and the traumas they have to deal with until the end of their life. To conclude, even though the whole thing was pretty depressing, I still think it was a solid drama and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in this dark part of history.
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Posted : 13 years, 6 months ago on 6 December 2011 09:42
(A review of
Other People's Money)
I had no idea what to expect from this movie but since it was directed by Norman Jewison and since I have a weak spot for Danny DeVito, I thought I might as well check it out. First of all, it is always a treat to see DeVito playing the lead. Considering the movie itself, it was basically some kind of light version of 'Wall Street' and, in my opinion, Danny DeVito was just terrific in this movie. Indeed, the guy was just really funny and ruthless but he still managed to make his character also charismatic which was definitely an achievement. Unfortunately, they watered down the whole concept by adding some dreadful sugercoated music, a lame romance and a phony happy ending. Furthermore, even though Penelope Ann Miller was quite charming, I don't think she had the acting chops to pull this off. In my opinion, they should have chosen a smarter and tougher actress. Eventually, it was too bad because if they had gone all the way and made instead a really cynical black comedy, it could have been really awesome. Anyway, in spite of its flaws and thanks to a really strong DeVito, it was still a decent watch and it is definitely worth a look.
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Posted : 13 years, 6 months ago on 5 December 2011 12:40
(A review of
Mystery Men)
To be honest, I was at first rather intrigued by this flick. Indeed, with such a concept and, above all, with such a cast (Ben Stiller, Hank Azaria, William H. Macy, Janeane Garofalo, Paul Reubens, Wes Studi, Greg Kinnear, Geoffrey Rush, Lena Olin, Eddie Izzard, Pras, Claire Forlani, Tom Waits), it could have been pretty awesome or, at least, decent. Unfortunately , I thought the whole thing was rather lame. I mean, there were here and there some good ideas and a few funny jokes but, a part from that, there was nothing much going on here. In my opinion, the main issue was that none of the characters were remotely interesting, and were, at best, just slightly funny. As a result, I didn't care about those characters and, to make things even worse, the plot was nothing great either and really generic. Basically, I was pretty much bored during the whole thing. On the positive side, there were some pretty awesome actors at work here but that’s probably the only positive thing I can tell you about this flick. To conclude, there are still worse ways to spend your time but, in my opinion, it remains a rather weak comedy and it is not really worth a look.
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