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CollectionsNowadays, I have Netflix and Popcorn and not only I have since then an endless selection or movies to choose from but, as a result, I have become slightly more picky regarding the movies I watch. Before, I used to watch pretty much anything as long as it was starring one or two actors I was interested in and, as a result, I would sometimes end up watching some really obscure features. This movie was a perfect example. First of all, before watching a movie directed by Renny Harlin, you should know you won't get a masterpiece but his movies are usually a guilty pleasure of mine. This time, he gave us a really preposterous action movie but this ridiculousness is actually inherent to the genre. What really stroke me was the similarities with 'Die Hard with a Vengeance'. Basically, the damned thing was almost a cheap remake. On the bright side, I must say that Ā it was rather well directed with some cool action scenes. Furthermore, John Cena did a decent job. I mean, he was never as badass as Bruce Willis was back in the days but he still managed to give a convincing performance. To conclude, it was a rather generic action flick and I donāt it is really worth a look, except maybe if you are a huge fan of this genre.
An average movie
Posted : 13 years, 8 months ago on 16 October 2011 09:09
(A review of 12 Rounds)
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An average movie
Posted : 13 years, 8 months ago on 15 October 2011 08:20
(A review of Donkey Skin)Since I'm a big fan of Catherine Deneuve, I was really curious about this flick. I must admit, she seemed to be a perfect choice to play a princess and she was indeed just mesmerizing. Furthermore, the costumes and set dressing were also pretty good. The story is a very famous fairytale in France and I guess it was a rather faithful adaptation but, honestly, I must say that I was rather bored during the whole thing. I mean, it looked good and Catherine Deneuve was quite amazing but there was nothing much going on, Iām afraid. To be honest, I have watched the two major classics directed by Jacques Demy (āLes Parapluies de Cherbourgā and āLes Demoiselles de Rocherfortā both also starring Catherine Deneuve) and even though I enjoyed them slightly more than this movie, they didnāt really blow me away either so I guess I just donāt really like this kind of movies. Indeed, I have always had a hard time enjoying musicals and when they are rather whimsical like this one, it is even more hopeless. Still, to be fair, it was not bad at all and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in French movies.
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A good movie
Posted : 13 years, 8 months ago on 14 October 2011 03:56
(A review of Marie Antoinette)To be honest, even though I was really eager to check this flick, I have to admit, I always had a somewhat difficult relationship with Sofia Coppola. Watching this movie didnāt change my opinion about her work, in the contrary. I mean, by now, I have seen her 3 first movies as a director (still have to watch 'Somewhere' and also āThe Bling Ringā though) and, each time, even though I liked each one of those movies, none of them really blew me away and this movie about one of the most notorious French queens was not an exception. I mean, it was very well directed and just looked gorgeous, thatās for sure and Kirsten Dunst gave a very good performance and the rest of the cast did a very good job as well. However, after watching this, I kept thinking 'so what?' as if the whole thing didn't have much of a purpose. Maybe there was one but I definitely missed it then. Still, it remains a good flick, an interesting take on French history, even though it is definitely not an historical feature. To conclude, even though it was nothing really amazing, I still think it is worth a look, especially if you are interested in Sofia Coppola's work.
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A classic
Posted : 13 years, 8 months ago on 14 October 2011 02:30
(A review of The Hills Have Eyes (1977))Since it is a huge horror classic and since I have a weak spot dor Wes Craven's work, I really had to watch this one. Eventually, I thought it was pretty good but I can't say I was really blown away by the whole thing. Indeed, basically, it has the qualities and default of many vintage horror flicks. On the bright side, it displayed a really raw feeling and I really enjoyed the mood. On the downside, many things which were shocking back then donĀ“t move you much nowadays and the whole thing looked rather cheap. But still, it is a great catchy title and some scenes were pretty messed up (in a good way) and the whole thing was quite scary. Later on, I saw Wes Craven previous directing effort, 'The Last House on the Left, which was his directing debut and this movie was definitely an improvement. To conclude, in spite of its flaws, I still think it is pretty good and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre and you are fed up with all those useless remakes (By the way, the recent remake by Alexandre Aja is actually decent but since they didn't add much to the first version, except for a few galons of blood, you should probably stick to the original).
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A bad movie
Posted : 13 years, 8 months ago on 14 October 2011 09:00
(A review of Double Team)When I was a kid, I was a huge fan of Jean-Claude Van Damme and, at the time, I watched pretty much all the movies he made at the beginning of his career. Of course, growing up, I discovered that the guy wasn't actually that good but I always got nostalgic when I watch one of his flicks. In this movie, the other 'big' star was Mickey Rourke. Nowadays, everybody is saying he is great again but back then, nobody gave a sh*t about the guy. Of course, showing up in this kind of movie didn't help much... To complete this, as the wild card, they gave us Dennis Rodman. Honestly, I kind of liked his character, this giant black guy, pierced everywhere, changing his hair color every 5 minutes. Unfortunately, Mr Rodman was (and still is, I guess) a very bad actor (worst than Van Damme? I'm not sure...). The movie itself was just a really preposterous action movie, with some ridiculous scenes throughout and some terrible dialogues and even though Tsui Hark was supposed to be some hot-shot from Hong Kong, this movie was just a mess. To conclude, it was just a bad and boring movie and it is not worth a look whatsoever.
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A disappointing movie
Posted : 13 years, 8 months ago on 13 October 2011 12:43
(A review of The Legend of Zorro)Honestly, the first Zorro movie surprised me and I thought it was actually pretty good. Unfortunately, this sequel was rather disappointing. First of all, for some obvious reasons, Anthony Hopkins didn't show up this time and I missed him. Furthermore, the story was rather convoluted. Indeed, I thought it was rather boring to see Zorro and his wife constantly arguing about his retirement, it was supposed to be funny but it was rather annoying. i understand also that they tried this time to put the focus on Catherine Zeta-Jones and involve her in some kind of spy story but the plot was just really tedious and actually quite boring. I watched it again the other day and I must admit that Antonio Banderas and Catherine Zeta-Jones both tried very hard and gave some solid performances but the whole thing was rather long and boring this time. To conclude, even though a sequel was inevitable, the end result was pretty average and the whole thing is not really worth a look, even if you liked the first movie.
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An average movie
Posted : 13 years, 8 months ago on 12 October 2011 08:33
(A review of The Core)I wasn't expecting much from this flick but since there was a pretty cool cast, I thought I should check it out anyway. First of all, itĀ“s rather funny that, a part from two impressive performances awarded by some deserved oscars, Hilary Swank hasnĀ“t done actually anything really impressive. This time, she tries the disaster genre and I canĀ“t say I was blown away by the whole thing (pun intended). I mean, the story is quite standard, predictable, preposterous and tends to get really overdramatic and it didnĀ“t help that the special effects were far from being convincing. IĀ“m aware that all those things are inherent to the genre but they still need to add something to the proceedings to make it stand out among the 100s of other flicks of the same genre. The only redeeming feature was the impressive cast (Aaron Eckhart, Hilary Swank, Delroy Lindo, Stanley Tucci, DJ Qualls, Richard Jenkins, Bruce Greenwood, TchĆ©ky Karyo) which, in spite of the really ridiculous dialogs, managed to give some pretty good performances. To conclude, I have seen worse movies but the whole thing is still rather average and not really worth a look.
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An average movie
Posted : 13 years, 8 months ago on 12 October 2011 09:14
(A review of Le boulet)If I recall it correctly, when this movie was released, I was still living in France and, after watching the trailer, I thought it could be a nice watch. Eventually, I saw it many years later after moving to the Netherlands. Basically, this is really a typical French action-comedy. First of all, there was a very nice cast which was the main reason why I was intrigued by this movie in the first place (GƩrard Lanvin, BenoƮt Poelvoorde, JosƩ Garcia, Djimon Hounsou, Rossy de Palma, GƩrard Darmon, Stomy Bugsy, Marco Prince, Omar Sy, Nicolas Anelka, Jamel Debbouze). Of course, if you are not really familiar with French culture, you will have probably never heard of them but they are/were all pretty famous in France. Concerning the main characters, most of the time, I find BenoƮt Poelvoorde quite hilarious so he was the main reason why I wanted to check this flick. Eventually, it was a rather average and predictable movie but I was entertained enough during the whole thing. To conclude, it was nothing really mind-blowing but I thought it was not bad at all and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in French movies.
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An average movie
Posted : 13 years, 8 months ago on 12 October 2011 08:49
(A review of All the Boys Love Mandy Lane)Nowadays, I have Netflix and Popcorn and not only I have since then an endless selection or movies to choose from but, as a result, I have become slightly more picky regarding the movies I watch. Before, I used to watch pretty much anything as long as it was starring one or two actors I was interested in and, as a result, I would sometimes end up watching some really obscure features. This movie was a perfect example. Indeed, I don't know why exactly but I was quite intrigued by this flick. Maybe it had to do with with the title which was quite catchy. Anyway, it turned out to be a rather standard slasher movie with some rather average performances but it is inherent to the genre, Iām afraid. Eventuall, Ā it took quite some time to really take off and then it got quite gory, as usual. To be honest, I have always been more interested into the scary stuff than in the gory stuff but well. Still, I have to admit that it was still a decent watch. Indeed, I liked the directing which provided a efficient gritty look and the end was, to my surprise, quite satisfactory. The twist in itself was rather predictable but I liked how it was done and finally the acting was during that part a little better than during the rest of the movie. To conclude, it was a rather standard but still well made and rather entertaining slasher movie and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.
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A good movie
Posted : 13 years, 8 months ago on 11 October 2011 11:05
(A review of Days of Glory)Since I kept hearing good things about this flick, I was really eager to check it out. France has always had some very tensed relationships with its Arab immigrants and this movie shows this conflict goes way back in the past and you can even argue that it goes way before WWII which was portrayed in this movie. Anyway, this movie was directed by a French man with Arabic roots and stars an all-star French-Arab casts (Jamel Debbouze, Samy Naceri, Roschdy Zem, Sami Bouajila). You may have never heard of them, but in France, they are very well known, especially Jamel Debbouze and Samy Naceri. Anyway, they gave all some impressive performances and the story, which was really heartbreaking, didn't came as a surprise but it was definitely interesting for me. If you wonder why riots broke out in France some years ago and, to a certain extent, why riots are now breaking out in the UK, you should definitely check this movie and you'll get some answers. To conclude, even though it was nothing really amazing in my opinion, it is still a very well made war drama and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.
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