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All reviews - Movies (7779) - TV Shows (10)

An average movie

Posted : 2 years ago on 13 March 2023 12:41 (A review of Paranormal Activity 3)

Since I didnā€™t like ā€˜Paranormal Activity 2ā€™ at all, I had some really low expectations regarding this sequel but, since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. The first funny thing with this movie was that at least 50% of the trailer didnā€™t end up in the actual movie which did piss off a lot of eager viewers (I donā€™t watch most trailers so it didnā€™t bother me). Anyway, as mentioned before, I thought ā€˜Paranormal Activity 2ā€™ was pretty lame but, to be honest, I saw it years ago, I have to admit I didnā€™t remember much about it and Iā€™m not sure how this 2nd sequel did fit in in this franchise. If I understand correctly, it all started in the present with Katie and Kristi (Katie was the girl in the very first ā€˜Paranormal Activityā€™, Iā€™m pretty sure I recognized her) and, then suddenly, we went back to the 80ā€™s when Katie and Kristi were some little girls? To be honest, Iā€™m not sure if it all made sense narratively speaking but, anyway, somehow, I thought the damned thing was not bad at all after all even if, by now, the whole concept was certainly becoming redundant. I don't know, it probably had to do with the fact that I had such low expectations and also with the fact I hadnā€™t seen a movie from this franchise for more than 5 years. Anyway, I thought the damned thing was quite effective and I was actually on the edge of my seatĀ throughĀ the whole duration. To conclude, even though I had lost hope with this franchise a long time ago, I have to admit that this 3rd instalment turned out to be actually quite entertaining and I think it is worth a look but probably only if you really like the genre.Ā 



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A very good movie

Posted : 2 years ago on 12 March 2023 08:08 (A review of TƔr)

Since I kept hearing some pretty good things about this movie, I was quite eager to check it out. Well, I didn't expect to be blown away like this. To be honest, it's not an easy movie, in fact, it turned out to be a very complex character study and I'm not sure if it really required almost 3 hours of running time. Indeed, it takes forever before the world of Lydia TĆ”r starts to finally unravel and, while I was watching the damned thing, I thought it was rather frustrating that we didn't get more information about her past, her lies and her alleged abuses. The fact that so many elements were kept in the dark probably didnā€™t help. It's only afterwards that I understood that we saw this whole story only through her own perspective and, eventually, this approach was quite brilliant. Basically, to reach this position, she did many great things and a lot more that was probably not so great but, above all, she created her own bubble from which she (thought she) could control her own narrative. As a result, she constantly filtered everything that didn't fit in the character and story she had created. She did it so much at this point that it was not a wonder that she started to loose her grip on what was real or not but I guess that's something rather common with pathological liars. In a similar way, you don't see or hear what other people really thinks of her. Basically, it's a tale about how power corrupts people and the fact that it centers on a woman (a fact which has been criticized by some viewers) was really intriguing. Eventually, it was a fascinating character and, of course, Cate Blanchett delivered here a career-best performance. Anyway, to conclude, it turned out be even better than I expected and, it is, so far, the best movie I have seen released in 2022, no less than that.


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A good movie

Posted : 2 years ago on 11 March 2023 05:51 (A review of Them Thar Hills)

I have noticed that many classic movies starring Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy are available on YouTube and since I loved these guys so much when I was a kid, I thought it would be the opportunity to rediscover their work. This short was, at the time, so popular that they would make a sequel the next year called 'Tit for Tat' (which I will probably watch soon as well). Anyway, how was the damned thing after all? Well, the first thing I thought was that there was so much going on that they could have easily extended the running time. Indeed, I was wondering how Ollie got sick, how these moonshiners were ambushed by the cops or how this couple got stranded with no gas left. Furthermore, the whole concept of having them get drunk was maybe a cheap and easy way to get some laughs but, on the other hand, I have to admit that it did allow them to go really wild on their gags with basically no restraints whatsoever. Anyway, all these elements were added in the mix so they could be some kind of confrontation with Charlie Hall basically playing a straight guy. During this conclusion, I was scratching my head wondering what the hell was going on because it was just so weird and over-the-top but I have to admit that I was also smiling the whole time so they definitely nailed it. Anyway, to conclude, it is another classic with Laurel and Hardy and, if you like their work, you should definitely check it out.


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A good movie

Posted : 2 years ago on 10 March 2023 08:31 (A review of A Night to Remember)

I have to admit I had never heard of this movie but since it seems to have a decent reputation, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, first of all, I made a mistake, I didnā€™t know this movie was originally in black-and-white and I saw instead a colorized version on YouTube. Unfortunately, the colorization was just awful, especially at the beginning, so you should definitely check the original black-and-white version instead. Concerning the movie itself, it was pretty good but, to be honest, it was so distracting how similar ā€˜Titanicā€™ was similar to this movie. Eventually, I have to admit I have never been a huge fan of this massive classic but, at least, I always thought that it was an accurate depiction of this tragedy. Well, suddenly, I discovered that, 40 years before, there was already a super accurate movie about these events, with a fraction of the same budget and with no CGI available. Sure, James Cameron did admit that this movie was an ā€˜inspirationā€™ but I think it went much further than that though. Indeed, there were at least 5 or 6 ā€˜iconicā€™ scenes from Cameronā€™s classic which were clearly lifted from this movie and, as far as Iā€™m concerned, his movie was basically a remake to which he added a rather cheesy and unnecessary love story. In this case, they went for a much more documentary-like approach with no main characters or bad guys involved and this approach was so much more satisfying. Still, even though I did appreciate the work done, Iā€™m still not sure if it is such a fascinating story though. Anyway, to conclude, Iā€™m rather amazed that this movie doesnā€™t get more credit, it is rightfully considered the best movie about the Titanic tragedy and it is definitely worth a look.Ā 



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An average movie

Posted : 2 years ago on 9 March 2023 11:13 (A review of Amsterdam)

I wasnā€™t really sure what to expect from this flick but since it was directed by David O. Russell, I was really eager to check it out. I have noticed that this movie didnā€™t get much love when it was released and, well, to be honest, I would have to agree with the critics on this one. I mean, itā€™s not that it was bad, it was probably Russellā€™s most ambitious project so far, the whole thing was visually pretty neat and there was an impressive cast involved. I guess the main issue was with the writing. Indeed, the beginning scenes were definitely promising but it seems that Russel kept indulging himself with some narrative digressions which constantly dragged down the whole thing. Sure, I get that it was convoluted on purpose but Iā€™m afraid this approach did backfire after all. I mean, you had many WWI veterans struggling to fit in the US society, several romances, a couple of murders and a fascist plot to overthrow the US government. And I shouldnā€™t forget that, in the middle of all this, the trio of main characters did get indeed to Amsterdam at some point but, in my opinion, it had not enough impact on the story and I think it could have been actually easily removed. Anyway, it was a lot to digest, some of it was fairly interesting but, to be honest, none of it was really dazzling, Iā€™m afraid. In fact, even the star-studded cast started to bother me at some point. Indeed, instead of focusing on the main characters, every 5 minutes, you had a famous actor showing up to play a very minor character for maybe 5 mins and then disappear completely which was just so distracting. As a result, it is rather tricky to judge the acting since everyone involved was given too little to do, except maybe Christian Bale who had fun with his character but he also had slightly more running time than everyone else. Anyway, to conclude, even if the damned thing never really worked, it was still a decent watch and I think it is worth a look, especially if you are interested in David O. Russellā€™s work.Ā 



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An average movie

Posted : 2 years ago on 8 March 2023 11:32 (A review of The Secret Life of Pets 2 (2019))

I wasnā€™t expecting much from this flick but since this sequel was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. I actually saw the first instalment in the movie theater because my wife really loved the trailer at the time but, to be honest, I barely remember the damned thing except for the fact that it didnā€™t really impress me. Well, as expected, this sequel turned out to be pretty weak. Sure, as usual with Illumination, the animation was fine but the writing was just so lazy. Indeed, apparently, they couldnā€™t come up with one story and, instead, they went for 3 different plotlines which converged towards the end. Well, even though, on paper, there might be nothing wrong with this approach, the end-result was just so disjointed and, above all, barely entertaining. I have to admit that I was curious to see (or hear would be a better word) Harrison Ford in his first animated feature and he was indeed a good choice for this character but Iā€™m afraid this movie, being the sequel of a third-rate animated franchise, was rather symptomatic of Fordā€™s current career status. Eventually, I still think that the idea of showing that pets have a whole secret life that we donā€™t know anything about was maybe generic but it could have be entertaining. However, and thatā€™s the whole issue with this franchise, instead of simply showing the everyday lives of these pets, they keep getting them involved in some far-fetched scenarios (in this case, not one but even three of them) and the end-result was probably even more underwhelming the second time around. Anyway, to conclude, even though I have to admit that it might be fairly enjoyable for young children, I really didnā€™t care much about the damned thing and I donā€™t think it is really worth a look, except maybe if you need to entertain some kids.Ā 



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A good movie

Posted : 2 years ago on 7 March 2023 11:50 (A review of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania)

Even though this movie apparently didnā€™t receive some stellar reviews, just like the other movies focusing on this character, I didnā€™t have some really high expectations but since I have been following the MCU from the very beginning, I still wanted to check it out. Well, to be honest, I was actually positively surprised by the damned thing. Not so long ago, I tried once again to watch ā€˜Black Panther: Wakanda Foreverā€™ since it was available on Disney+, but once again, even if it was a solid watch, it still felt too long, rather pretentious and actually fairly tedious at some points. Well, this new MCU instalment was actually the complete opposite. Sure, it was nothing deep or ground-breaking but it was also fairly short (at least, if you would compare it to all the current overlong blockbusters), unpretentious and mostly entertaining to behold. They certainly didnā€™t do anything really interesting with this whole Quantum/Multiverse concept but, at least, there was an actual link with the main storyline which was started after the Infinity Saga and it was something that I was seriously missing from most of the other movies and TV-shows on Disney+ that were involved in Phase 4. Concerning the characters involved, I donā€™t think it was a bad idea to have Scott Lang going into some adventure with his grown-up daughter Cassie, especially since Kathryn Newton was quite charismatic. However, Iā€™m not sure if it was such a great idea to bring along pretty much his whole family including his girlfriend and his in-laws. As a result, even though Scott Lang and Hope Van Dyne were supposed to be the main characters, they didnā€™t get so much screen time, especially Evangeline Lilly. Concerning the other actors, I didnā€™t see the point of adding Bill Murray as he was completely wasted and underused here but, on the other hand, I have to admit that M.O.D.O.K. was really awesome. Finally, the main point of this movie was to introduce Kang The Conqueror as, basically, the new Thanos, but, if you have watched ā€˜Lokiā€™ on Disney+, this introduction was rather anticlimactic, at least, to me. Anyway, to conclude, even though this movie didnā€™t get much love when it was released, I thought it was still a decent watch and it is worth a look, especially if you are into the MCU.Ā 


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A good movie

Posted : 2 years ago on 7 March 2023 11:14 (A review of The Art of Self-Defense)

To be honest, I wasnā€™t really sure to what to expect from this flick but since it was starring [Link removed - login to see] and since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, it turned out to be an intriguing movie, thatā€™s for sure. Indeed, even though the tone was fairly well established, the whole thing was pretty dark, the genre they were going for was much more unclear. However, it was done on purpose and I think it was actually quite clever. Indeed, it made the whole thing quite unpredictable and I kept wondering where they were going with all that. Eventually, its sheer randomness also had its downside and Iā€™m afraid the end-result didnā€™t completely add up. It mostly had to do with the fact that none of the characters was developed whatsoever, even the main character. Sure, this way, they could keep a cloud of mystery around all these rather weird characters but it turned out to be after all an artificial gimmick and I wish they tried to explain slightly more their behavior and actions. For example, how could you explain that Anna would put up with this nasty behavior? Why did she stick around? In a similar fashion, even though Sensei AKA Leslieā€™s macho misogynist approach was obviously toxic, somehow, it seems that it still allowed Casey to have more confidence after all which was a rather questionable and even bewildering narrative choice. Finally, even though it might seem neat that Casey and Anna would take over the dojo at the end, it seems rather unlikely that the dojoā€™s students would inherit it automatically if the owner would suddenly pass away. Anyway, to conclude, even if not everything did make sense, with this mix of various genres and its unpredictability, the damned thing was still really interesting to behold and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.Ā 



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A good movie

Posted : 2 years, 1 month ago on 6 March 2023 11:44 (A review of It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World)

I wasnā€™t really sure what to expect from this flick but since it seemed to have a decent reputation, I thought I might as well check it out. To be honest, when I noticed on IMDb that this movie was more than 3 hours, I was actually rather apprehensive to see a movie which seemed to be not much more than a daft comedy lasting for so long. Well, eventually, I wonder what it is listed with such a long running time since the only version(s) that you can watch are much shorter (the one I saw was around 150 mins). Anyway, on paper, there is no way that such a silly comedy with a very thin plot and lasting for way too long should interest me and, yet, I have to admit I did enjoy the damned thing after all. I mean, there is nothing much to it, it's about a group of barely developed characters finding out that there might be some kind of treasure hidden in some park and, for the rest of the movie, you get see to see them racing each other to get there first. How they managed to deliver 150 mins of running time which such a flimsy concept is quite extraordinary but it was even more impressive that the end-result was actually entertaining. Eventually, even though the die-hard fans might argue otherwise, I think thatā€™s actually the strength of this movie, the fact that nobody involved took it seriously at all so there was nothing pretentious about the whole endeavor, just some plain old fun. Finally, one of the major points or goals with this movie was to include as many ā€˜famousā€™ American comedians as possible but, if you are not familiar with who was famous back then in the 60ā€™s, this whole aspect will be pretty much lost on you (I think I managed to spot only 3 or 4 actors). Anyway, to conclude, even if I donā€™t think it was really amazing, I have to admit that it is actually an entertaining comedy and it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.Ā 



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An average movie

Posted : 2 years, 1 month ago on 2 March 2023 10:30 (A review of The Osterman Weekend)

I wasnā€™t really sure what to expect from this flick but since it was the last directorial effort by Sam Peckinpah, I was quite eager to check it out. Well, while watching the damned thing, I have to admit that I was constantly scratching my head though. Seriously, from the beginning until the very end, the whole thing didnā€™t seem to make much sense. Apparently, this movie was supposed to be Sam Peckinpah'sĀ big comeback but he actually didnā€™t like the novel it was based on, he didnā€™t like screenplay either and the editing was botched by the producers who chose not to involve Peckinpah in the process. Eventually, before writing this review, I wondered if Roger Ebert did see it and, well, apparently, he shared my feelings. In fact, he even hated the damned thing and I canā€™t say I blame him. For example, you might wonder what was the point of all the nudity involved. Did it really have any added value or connection at all with this spying business? Ā There was also an interesting cast involved (Rutger Hauer, John Hurt, Craig T. Nelson, Dennis Hopper, Chris Sarandon, Burt Lancaster), they did what they could with this material and I guess there was some kind of sadistic fun to see them swimming and trying desperately not to drown in this mess. Indeed, the damned thing was definitely a mess and, unfortunately, not on purpose. Yet, somehow, I do think that the weird editing and directing choices did enhance the whole paranoid mood which did work for such a spy conspiracy thriller. Eventually, it makes me almost want to read Robert Ludlum'sĀ book to see if it at least made more sense than this film did. Anyway, to conclude, I think my rating was probably too generous here but I guess it might still be worth a look but probably only if you are really interested in [Link removed - login to see]ā€™s work.



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