
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, I’m afraid. Eventuall, 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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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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Posted : 13 years, 8 months ago on 11 October 2011 09:36
(A review of
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants)
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. Seriously, it was a typical chick flick with such a terrible title... I was still intrigued by it though since all the 4 leads eventually got their own TV-show (Amber Tamblyn in 'Joan of Arcadia' (2003-2005), Alexis Bledel in 'Gilmore Girl' (2000-2007), America Ferrara in 'Ugly Betty' (2006-2010) and Blake Lively in 'Gossip Girl' (2007-2012). Honestly, I can't say I was really impressed by the movie itself. I mean, there were some decent moments, there were some really average parts and, in between, there were loads of ridiculous scenes with some reallylaughable dialogues. For example, a few months before, I saw Blake Lively in 'Green Lantern' and she was totally unconvincing as an army jet pilot and this time round, they tried to make us believe she was some top soccer player... To conclude, I can't say I liked this flick but it was not really really bad and there is a good chance, if you are a girl between 12 and 16 years old, that you might end up enjoying it more than I did.

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Posted : 13 years, 8 months ago on 10 October 2011 12:59
(A review of
Nashville)
Since I kept hearing good things about this flick and since I´m a big fan of Robert Altman, I really wanted to watch this movie. Unfortunately, I thought it was a little bit disappointing though. Basically, it is one of those hyperlink features which means there are multiple & parallel story lines interacting with each others. Altman was an expert at this genre and this movie is considered as one of his many masterpieces. And indeed, all the actors involved were pretty good and the music was alright but there was no plot whatsoever (which is something that never really bothers me and it didn’t bother here either). The main issue is that I never really cared about the characters involved and what was happening to them. The thing with hyperlink features is that, usually at the end, there is a rather far-fetched climax where all the storylines collide together. Here, Robert Altman didn’t even bother and the whole thing remained really really loose from the beginning until the end. Still, the whole thing was very well directed and the actors gave some compelling performances. Eventually, even though I wasn´t blown away by the whole thing, I still liked it and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Robert Altman´s work.

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Posted : 13 years, 8 months ago on 10 October 2011 09:28
(A review of
Firewall)
Back in the 80's, Harrison Ford was one of the most amazing actors and most of his movies ended up being some huge success (Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980), Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), Blade Runner (1982), Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983), Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984), Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)). Of course, those days are long gone but I still have a weak spot for him and I try to watch his more recent movies whenever I get the opportunity. And indeed, the fact that Ford is not the star he used to be is pretty obvious when watching this flick. Where should I start? The story was rather preposterous and Ford was completely unbelievable but, still, thanks to his eternal charisma, he managed to make the whole thing still kind of watchable and, surprisingly, I was rather entertained throughout the whole duration. It does help when the bad guy is portrayed by the always dependable Paul Bettany (what happened to him actually? It seems that he never really managed to break through in a big way). To conclude, it remains an average, unoriginal and predictable flick but it was still rather entertaining and it is actually worth a look, especially if you are a fan of Harrison Ford like me.

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Posted : 13 years, 8 months ago on 9 October 2011 12:17
(A review of
A Civil Action)
Back in 2000, when 'Erin Brockovich' came out, everybody was really enthousiast about it but I wasn't really convinced. 2 years before, this movie came out with a similar plot and, in my opinion, it is actually much better. First of all, there was an impressive cast (John Travolta, Robert Duvall, Tony Shalhoub, William H. Macy, John Lithgow, James Gandolfini, Stephen Fry). I am well aware that John Travolta has sometimes a bad rep but he was just excellent whe he plays this kind of ambitious cynical fast-talking guys. Even better was Robert Duvall who gave honestly one of the best performances of his career (he even got an oscar nomination for his work). The movie started really strong with a very realistic and rather bleak view on the judicial system. Basically, Truth, Guilt and such concepts didn't really matter as long as you had a good strategy and I'm pretty sure it is how it works in the real life. Unfortunately, the movie lost its edge during in the second half and the whole thing got soft. Furthermore, Robert Duvall disappeared too soon and I think they spent too much time on the financial issues of the lawyers. Still, I really enjoyed it, it was way better than any John Grisham adaptation I have seen before and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

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Posted : 13 years, 8 months ago on 9 October 2011 10:29
(A review of
Yours, Mine & Ours)
To be honest, I wasn't expecting much from this flick but since there was a decent cast involved, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, eventually, it turned out to be nothing great indeed. At least, I have to admit that that Dennis Quaid and Rene Russo had some good chemistry and they made a nice couple. Unfortunately, it was pretty much the only positive thing I could find about this movie. Indeed, the story was just so weak, predictable and, in fact, I thought it was actually rather mean. What most bothered me was that none of the kids had any personality whatsoever and all their action, thoughts and demeanour were completely plot-driven. Serioulsy, what’s the point to have so many children if none of them would develop whatsoever? Of course, you could argue that it was rather to be expected with such material but my answer would be that with such charming leads, they didn’t really need to make necessarily such a tedious movie. It was especially sad for Rene Russo which would make another movie during the next 6 years. Anyway, to conclude, it is a rather average and boring familly feature and it is not really worth a look.

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Posted : 13 years, 8 months ago on 8 October 2011 08:12
(A review of
Anvil! The Story of Anvil (2008))
The main reason why I wanted to watch this flick was because it was included in the awesome list ‘1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die’. Eventually, this movie would be added in the 2010 version of this book and would be swiftly removed only a few years later but it was still worth a look nonetheless. Anyway, first of all, nowadays, I don't listen much to this kind of music but when I was a kid, hard-rock was definitely my favorite genre so I'm always kind of nostalgic about this music. Concerning the movie itself, it was definitely a cautionary tale for anyone who would like to become a professional musician. I mean, those guys from Anvil, even if you don't like metal at all, were actually very good and, still, they didn't make it after all. It is a good example showing how 1000s of other music acts are struggling every day to make ends meet and it shows also how ruthless and worthless the music industry actually is. A part from that, I just loved the guy playing in this band and, even though they never really made it, they still managed to create this awesome friendship which still stands nowadays. To conclude, even if it was maybe nothing really ground-breaking, it was still an inspiring and touching documentary and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in movies about music.

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Posted : 13 years, 8 months ago on 7 October 2011 02:40
(A review of
Hide and Seek)
Even though I wasn’t expecting much from this flick, since I'm a huge fan of Robert de Niro, I still wanted to check it out. To be honest, during the 2000's, none of de Niro’s movies were actually really impressive and this flick is a good example of this trend. This time, de Niro was working with the young upcoming actress Dakota Fanning and they both actually did a decent job. Furthermore, the directing was not bad either and they got the tone right so it seemed you had the ingredients for a decent thriller. Unfortunately, the story was terribly underwhelming. Indeed, the plot was so pedestrian, it was just the typical, unoriginal and rather boring stuff you find in so many lame US thrillers. In my opinion, it really symbolizes de Niro's movies during the last decade : not really bad and rather well made but so uninteresting compared with what he has done before. It’s pretty much obvious that Robert de Niro who was once the greatest actor alive is pretty much pissing on his legacy by doing all those lame movies just for the paycheck. To conclude, it is not really that bad actually but it is just really average and it is not really worth a look, even if you are a huge fan of Robert de Niro like me.

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Posted : 13 years, 8 months ago on 7 October 2011 10:34
(A review of
Calendar Girls (2003))
Since I kept hearing some really good things about this movie, I was quite eager to chek it out. Eventually, even though I did like it, I can’t say it really blew away though. I mean, the damned thing was actually hardly original and, when you see this flick, it almost felt like a remake of [Link removed - login to see][Link removed - login to see][Link removed - login to see]which was a huge success back in the 90's. Well, to be honest, I never really enjoyed ‘The Full Monty’ which was, in my opinion, was rather disappointing but I actually enjoyed more this copycat involving those old ladies. First of all, Helen Mirren and Julie Walters both gave some solid performances and the English humor was just quite hilarious in this movie. To be honest, I think they did cheat a little by casting Helen Mirren as she is possibly the most gorgeous women above 60 years old. Anyway, of course, as I mentioned before, the whole thing was really predictable and, on top of that, it really lost some steam in the second half but, still, the humor was quite awesome and I thought it was a nice, refreshing and entertaining comedy. To conclude, even though it was actually nothing really groundbreaking, it was still a decent comedy and I think it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

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