
Posted : 13 years, 6 months ago on 5 November 2011 04:22
(A review of
Real Steel)
I wasn't really planning to watch this flick but since the reviews were fairly positive, I thought I should give it a try. To be honest, the first half was rather disappointing. Indeed, the material was pretty neat but, as it was a family feature, the tone was not dark enough, in my opinion. Indeed, Hugh Jackman's character should have been nastier, like a Billy Bob Thornton’s Bad Santa for example and the boy should have been tougher. Furthermore, the acting was seriously average from all the characters involved including Hugh Jackman, Evangeline Lilly and the young boy portraying his son. And it was just so slow... I mean, seriously, it was rather predictable that he would trash one robot but two robots! So, I pretty much lost hope during the first half but then they suddenly realized that they had some kick-ass robot and then, finally, they gave us some neat action scenes. And, I must admit it, the final fight was really awesome. It was emotional, entertaining and just very very well made and finally, I cared about the story and the characters involved. At this point, it basically became a remake of 'Rocky' with some robots but it didn't bother me, in the contrary. To conclude, it was not a masterpiece whatsoever but it was still worth a look, especially if you're looking for some brainless entertaining popcorn action flick.

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Posted : 13 years, 6 months ago on 4 November 2011 08:37
(A review of
Failure to Launch)
To be honest, I wasn’t expecting much from this flick but since I have a weak spot for Matthew McConaughey, I thought I might as well check it out. Basically, at the beginning of his career, McConaughey was involved in some interesting movies but, from the beginning of the 2000's, he kept getting typecast in such boring romantic-comedies and, from all these rom-coms, this was probably the worst one he made at the time. First of all, I thought he was actually really miscast for this movie. Indeed, the guy looked way too good, he was way too charming, way too clever to be still living with his parents. Concerning Sarah Jessica Parker, I thought she was in fact also miscast. Indeed, in m opinion, they should have chosen a younger actress who really seemed irresistible. On top of that, it seems that Parker cannot get rid off of Carrie Bradshaw and she basically keeps playing this character over and over again in all her movies. On the positive side, I must say that the supporting cast was not bad (Justin Bartha, Bradley Cooper, Kathy Bates and, above all, Zooey Deschanel). Still, it was such a boring and predictable romantic-comedy with a really tedious plot and I don’t think it is really worth a look whatsoever.

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Posted : 13 years, 6 months ago on 4 November 2011 08:55
(A review of
To Have and Have Not)
To be honest, even though I’m a huge movie buff, I'm not really familiar with Humphrey Bogart. I mean, I have seen a couple of his movies but not that many. Anyway, I try to catch his movies every time I get the chance and this time, I was really not disappointed. Indeed, this movie is really the stuff of legend. First of all, it was the first movie starring Lauren Bacall and back in those days, she was only 20 years old when she made it and it was also the first movie she made with her future husband, Humphrey Bogart. Furthermore, it was directed by the great Howard Hawks and it is an adaptation of a novel written by Ernest Hemingway. Basically, it doesn't get more prestigious than this, does it? Anyway, the acting was off the charts, the directing was very good and I just really enjoyed the story, basically one of those typical film noir they used to make back then. I mean, it was a rather typical film noir but it was full of awesome one-liners and the tone was just really well set and I thought it was completely entertaining. To conclude, it is really a good classic and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

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Posted : 13 years, 6 months ago on 3 November 2011 01:31
(A review of
Night at the Museum)
To be honest, I wasn't expecting much from this flick but, even with some rather low expectations, the damned thing still turned out to be pretty disappointing. At least, I have to admit it, the special effects were pretty decent, the supporting actors did a pretty good job and Ben Stiller did his usual hysterical guy but he didn't really bother me. In fact, what really bothered me about this flick was the actual concept. I mean, I do love museas and I don't think that making the exhibits 'alive' would make the museas more interesting whatsoever. In fact, I think that the whole idea was actually rather insulting. Anyway, as a result, the whole thing was not really enjoyable to me and, to make things worse, I thought it was pretty boring. Eventually, I never understood the popularity of this franchise. I mean, somehow, how they managed to deliver a trilogy with this concept is beyond me and the fact that all the instalments turned out to be failry successful at the box-office was just really unbelievable. To conclude, I have seen worse movies but it was still a really weak family feature and it is not really worth a look.

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Posted : 13 years, 6 months ago on 3 November 2011 01:13
(A review of
The Pink Panther)
I have seen many movies starring Steve Martin (by now, more than 20) and, honestly, most of them are pretty disappointing and this one may be his worst movie to date. I kept hearing only bad things about it but since it was on the TV, I thought I should give a try. What a terrible waste of time... I mean, I haven't seen Peter Sellers celebrated version yet, but it was pretty bad. Steve Martin was not funny, but rather obnoxious and the story wasn't entertaining whatsoever. The only funny thing is that, in spite of the lackluster reception, they still made a sequel for this piece of turd. To conclude, it is pretty bad, you should really avoid it, even you are a huge fan of Steve Martin.

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Posted : 13 years, 6 months ago on 3 November 2011 12:07
(A review of
Just Cause)
Since I have a huge weak spot for Sean Connery, I was really eager to check this flick and, God, I really wanted to like this movie... Indeed, it looked pretty good, basically a moody thriller starring the great Sean Connery, and the always dependable Laurence Fisburne. And indeed, it started alright and the story was interesting and entertaining enough but the end was just really disappointing and plain bad... As usual, when you are dealing with an Hollywood thriller, they felt compelled to add an annoying twist as if it would make the whole plot more appealing. As a matter of fact, it didn't make it more interesting, in the contrary, it completely shattered the foundations of the whole story and eventually it didn't make much sense whatsoever anymore. So, at the end, I was rather pissed and it just ruined the whole thing for me. One funny fact though was to see a very young Scarlett Johansson in a small part. She was about 11 years old and it was her second movie-part. Still, it was a very small consolation since the whole thing was just terribly disappointing. To conclude, to be honest, it is not really a bad movie and without this terrible ending, it was rather watchable but still, it remains an underwhelming thriller and I don’t think it is really worth a look.

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Posted : 13 years, 6 months ago on 2 November 2011 08:42
(A review of
Event Horizon)
By now, I have seen almost all the movies directed by Paul W.S. Anderson and even though most of them were rather entertaining, to be honest, none of them actually managed to really impress me. This movie was however an exception. Indeed, I kept hearing some interesting things about it so I was quite eager to check it out and, eventually, I thought it was actually pretty good. First of all, the production design was pretty decent and I really enjoyed the spooky mood. All the actors involved gave some convincing performances, especially Laurence Fishburne and Sam Neil. Eventually, what I enjoyed the most about this movie was probably the fact I really did underestimate the damned thing. Indeed, it turned out to be actually much more gory than I expected, especially during the last 20 minutes. To be honest, the whole situation was actually rather pricelles. Basically, I was watching this movie with my step-son who was about 13 years old and, for most of the duration, it was a rather standard SF thriller but, suddenly, it became some weird SM show and just when it started, my wife came in the living-room. Seriously, she really didn’t like the fact I was watching something so hardcore with her dear son. Well, in fact, I thought that those rather schocking scenes were actually pretty awesome. Anyway, to conclude, even though it was not a masterpiece whatsoever, it remains a well-made and entertaining SF flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

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Posted : 13 years, 6 months ago on 2 November 2011 10:40
(A review of
The Natural)
Seriously, it must be one of the most disappointing movies I have ever seen. I mean, it is not that the movie was actually really bad or anything but, somehow, I thought it would be way better than this. I don’t know, the whole concept of a baseball movie starring Robert Redford sounded pretty cool but the end-result was not really impressive, I’m afraid. To be honest, it had nothing to do with Mr Redford who was pretty awesome, as usual, but, apparently, I had more issues with the story itself. Indeed, the whole thing was trying to be some kind of epic and inspiring tale but I thought it was actually a really generic and pedestrian sport story and it was just terribly underwhelming and disappointing. Eventually, I was never really moved or touched by this story and I never really cared about any of the characters involved or what they what they were going through. I think it's too bad since the whole thing actually really had some potential and it could have been pretty awesome in my opinion. To conclude, even though it turned out to be disappointing, it is definitely not a bad movie and it is actually worth a look but don't expect anything really great whatsoever.

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Posted : 13 years, 6 months ago on 2 November 2011 10:09
(A review of
Australia)
I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since it was directed by Baz Luhrmann, I was quite eager to check it out. First of all, before watching the damned thing, I kept hearing that this movie was supposed to be an Australian version of 'Gone with the Wind' but, in my opinion, it was in fact more an Australian version of 'Out of Africa' in my opinion. Anyway, what first bothered me was the fact it took them a very long time to find the right tone. Indeed, at the beginning of the movie, the whole thing was really over-the-top and rather comical to watch, but, then, slowly, it became more and more dramatic and even quite epic. And, indeed, you had here I all the basic elements of a good old epic : drama, romance, war, betrayal, murder, and even some some historical facts put here and there. There were also some nice shots and even though, Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman were not Robert Redford and Mery Streep, they still delivered some solid performances. To conclude, even if it was rather flawed and nothing really mind-blowing, I thought it was still an enjoyable and well made epic and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

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Posted : 13 years, 6 months ago on 1 November 2011 12:15
(A review of
Splendor)
I don’t know why exactly but, somehow, I was really eager to check this flick. Indeed, sometimes, I come across some rather random features and, for some reasons, I get kind of obsessed about them and it is always rather funny to eventually see those. To make things even more convoluted, I have a somewhat difficult relationship with Gregg Araki. Indeed, I think he is a very talented director but most of his movies (except 'Mysterious skin' which was really amazing) fail to really impress me. Eventually, this movie was a typical example of what I do like and dislike about Araki’s work. Indeed, once again, I really enjoyed the directing, the acting was decent and I liked the concept but, still, the whole thing never really convinved me. I guess it had to do with the facts that the characters were neither really charismatic, entertaining or interesting enough. Furthermore, even though the makers try to convince you that the whole thing was terribly edgy, in fact, the story was actually rather generic and predictable. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, I still think it is a worth a look though, especially if you are interested in Gregg Araki's work.

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