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Posted : 13 years, 7 months ago on 31 May 2011 09:26
(A review of Devil in a Blue Dress)Denzel Washington is an amazing actor and it is always a treat to see him perform. With this in mind, I had some rather high expectations for this flick and I was really eager to check it out. Indeed, the idea of a neo-film noire starring Washington sounded really neat. Unfortunately, I thought that the whole thing was slightly disappointing. I mean, as usual, Denzel Washington gave a solid perfomance, he fit the character very well and the mood of the whole movie was very nice as well.At the end of the day, I guess I didn't enjoy the story that much though. Basically, it is a rather typical film noir intrigue and that's probably what bothered me. Indeed, it was too typical, full of clichés and predictable, at least for my taste. Eventually, the best surprise was to see Don Cheadle before he became an household name, above all thanks to Steven Soderbergh. Indeed, in this movie, every time Cheadle is involved, he basically steals the show which is quite an achievement facing a powerhouse like Denzel Washington. Still, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it remains a decent feature and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Denzel Washington's work.
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An average movie
Posted : 13 years, 7 months ago on 31 May 2011 09:17
(A review of Tara Road)Honestly, I wasnât expecting much from this flick but since I always had a weak spot for Andie McDowell, I thought I might as well check this flick. Indeed, I always thought that Andie McDowell is a charming actress and it's too bad we don't see her much nowadays. Basically, it is a little harmles flick with a very similar plot to âThe Holidayâ which would be released a little bit later. Honestly, just like âThe Holidayâ, Iâm not sure I really cared about the concept. Indeed, I have moved quite often in my life and I have even lived in 3 different countries (1 year in England, 20 years in France and 10 years in the Netherlands) and it is difficult for me to swallow that some people would decide to switch their home and âsomethingâ drastic might happen from this change. Sure, it sounds like a neat idea and, at least, this time, they handled the characters a little bit more seriously than in âThe Holidayâ, which on the other hand much more star power, but it was still rather predictable and not really amazing whatsoever. Still, in spite of its flaws, it remains a decent romantic feature and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.
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An average movie
Posted : 13 years, 7 months ago on 31 May 2011 09:13
(A review of G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra)Honestly, I wasn't expecting much from this flick but Nick, my step-son, really wanted to watch it so we ended up watching it in the movie theater. Well, it was definitely not really good, Iâm afraid. The point is that I did watch the cartoon as a kid back then, and of course, the whole thing was terribly cheesy but it could have worked but the makers seriously messed up the whole thing. Indeed, there were some rather spectacular action scenes, Iâll give you that but they all really look fake. Of course, the story is never really important with this kind of flicks but, come on, they could have done much better than this. Eventually, the best surprise was Sienna Miller who really looked awesome as the Baroness but thatâs seriously the only thing that more or less impressed me. Somehow, they thought they could salvage this failure and they released a sequel and even though they did include Bruce Willis, one of the biggest action stars that ever lived and Dwayne Johnson who has pretty much become the franchise savior (see also âFast Fiveâ and âJourney 2: The Mysterious Islandâ), this second installment was pretty much as much underwhelming as this one. To conclude, it was a rather disappointing feature and I donât think it is really worth a look.
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A good movie
Posted : 13 years, 7 months ago on 31 May 2011 09:09
(A review of A Prairie Home Companion)Since it was Robert Altman's last movie, obviously, I really had to see this feature at some point. First of all, as usual with Altman, there was an amazing cast (Meryl Streep , Woody Harrelson, Tommy Lee Jones, Kevin Kline, Lindsay Lohan, Virginia Madsen, John C. Reilly,...) and they all gave good perfomances, even Lohan. As a matter o fact, even though the movie was actually pretty light, while watching it, I couldnât help being a little bit sad and nostalgic. Indeed, not only it was Robert Altmanâs last feature so we will never see another movie from this great master but it was also probably the last decent movie Linsday Lohan did before a career became a big waste... Seriously, this was already 5 years ago! Will she ever come back?!? We'll see but as the time goes by, it seems more and more unlikely... Anyway, coming back to our main feature, it was a nice little movie but I can't say I was blown away by the whole thign since I wasn't much aware of this "radio" culture and honestly I didn't care much about the subject. Still, it is definitely worth a look especially if you're interested in Robert Altman's work.
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An average movie
Posted : 13 years, 7 months ago on 31 May 2011 07:22
(A review of The Code)Honestly, before watching this movie, I had never heard of it but, if I'm not mistaken, it was one of those straight-to-dvd releases so I wasn't expecting much. Still, since there was a pretty cool cast, I thought I should check it out anyway. Personally, I always had a weak spot for a good old heist movie and this one definitely had some potential. Indeed, as soon as Morgan Freeman is involved, it is always a treat. Unfortunately, as usual, they felt compelled to add some useless twists at the end and it kind of ruined the whole thing for me. On top of that, it didn't help that they pretty much used every known clichés in the book. It's too bad because the whole thing was actually watchable. For Mimi Leder, it was her first full length feature since the flawed but still interesting 'Pay It Forward' which was released already 9 years before but I'm afraid it's not with something so pedestrian that she will make a real come-back. It is rather unfortunate because you don't have so many women directing such blockbusters like 'Deep Impact' or 'The Peacemaker'. Anyway, to conclude, it is a rather lazy and forgettable flick and it is not really worth a look after all.
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An average movie
Posted : 13 years, 7 months ago on 30 May 2011 08:13
(A review of Kate & Leopold)To be honest, at first, I wasn't expecting much. Indeed, by now, I think I have seen enough movies about some characters travelling in time and the concept seemed really lame in this flick. However, I have to admit it, the whole thing was eventually not so bad after all. Indeed, Hugh Jackman was actually very convincing and charming and Liev Schreiber was fine as well. In fact,  it's a shame that Schreiber was so underused because he really hit the right note in this movie. Indeed, he was goofy through the whole thing but it worked fine here. Still, I canât say I was really blown by this movie though. Indeed, even though Meg Ryan has pretty much built up her career with such light romantic-comedies,  I though she wasn't really convincing here. In fact, Iâm not sure if she should be blamed but it was never really clear why the guy actually did fall for her and also, the combination between time travel and the marketing world was rather underwhelming. Anyway, to conclude, all in all, it was definitely not a masterpiece but I have to admit that it was actually a decent watch and if you like the genre, you may actually like this one as well.
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A very good movie
Posted : 13 years, 7 months ago on 29 May 2011 06:21
(A review of Eat Drink Man Woman)Ang Lee is definitely one of the most versatile and simply one of the best directors at work nowadays and the fact that the guy still hasnât won the Best Picture Academy Award is one of those big mysteries (he still managed to win twice the Academy Award for the Best Director for âLife of Piâ and âBrokeback Mountainâ). Personally, I was lucky enough to follow this director right from the start and, after hearing so many good things about âXi yanâ, I went to see his 3rd directing effort in the movie theater when it was released. Eventually, since it was already more than 20 years old, I was really eager to check it out again and I was once again quite impressed. First of all, in this movie, you get to see the best cooking scenes ever filmed, at least, that's my opinion. But, of course, it went beyond that. Basically, Ang Lee took some elements from his first movie 'Tui shou' (for example, Sihung Lung was playing the lead and a rather similar character in both movies) but he really managed to develop more the characters this time around. Futhermore, even though the story was more complex with more sub-storylines, he also managed to make them all work and the end-result was quite spellbinding to behold. To conclude, even though it is rather forgotten, it is actually one of my favorite movies from this director, in fact, I think it is even one of the best romantic-comedies ever made and it is definitely worth a look.Â
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A very good movie
Posted : 13 years, 7 months ago on 29 May 2011 06:16
(A review of Dersu Uzala)Back in the 90âs, I had the pleasure to discover [Link removed - login to see][Link removed - login to see][Link removed - login to see]movies and I became overnight a huge fan of his work. I think this movie must be the only one he made outside of Japan (in fact, he already tried to make 2 movies in the USA, âRunaway Trainâ and âTora! Tora! Toraâ, but both projects turned out to be some disasters and he left both of them). Back then, Kurosawa was going through a really difficult period as his last movie â[Link removed - login to see]â turned out to be a major box-office failure. In fact, the situation was so bad that he was not unable to get any money anymore to make something else and it is rather sad to think that the best Japanese director wouldnât get any support in his home country. As a result, he got so depressed that he even attempted suicide and, even though he survived, it was unclear for a while if he would even ever make another movie. Eventually, a Soviet studio contacted  him to see if he would be interested in making a movie for them and this feature was the end-result. Anyway, I thought it was a great epic and the directing, the story, everything was quite spellbinding to behold. To conclude, I really loved the damned thing and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Akira Kurosawaâs work.Â
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A very good movie
Posted : 13 years, 7 months ago on 29 May 2011 06:04
(A review of The Story of Qiu Ju (1992))If I recall correctly, this is the first movie I saw with Gong Li in it. Personally, I have always been fascinated by this actress and itâs too bad that only quite late in her career, she eventually decided to play in some Western movies. Indeed, she waited for a long time before taking this decision and it was even more saddening that none of those movies (âHannibal Risingâ, âMiami Viceâ, âMemoirs of geishaâ âShanghaiâ,...) ever reached the level of her Asian productions such as this flick. Here, she gave an impressive perfomance and the directing was very good too. Above, I thought that the story seemed quite realistic and it was just really captivating at the same time. One really interesting aspect in this movie is the way it shows the massive contrasts in China. Indeed, even though it is quite a modern country, even a world power with its huge population, yet, in the countryside, it is as if the time has stopped as they are still living as it was 2 hundred years ago. To conclude, I thought it was a very good flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Asian movies.
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A very good movie
Posted : 13 years, 7 months ago on 29 May 2011 05:57
(A review of Monsoon Wedding)I have been following Mira Nair for quite some time now and this movie must be her best one I have seen so far (it was also the very first of her directing efforts I saw, if I recall correctly). Apparently, I wasn't the only one who really enjoyed it since this flick won the Golden Lion at the Venice film festival which was probably the reason why I wanted to watch it in the first place. Anyway, it is basically a very interesting study of the middle class in India. At first, the story may sound like a soap and it did look like a soap-opera in some way but it was eventually much more than that. Indeed, even though there were many characters, they were all well developed, I thought they were all quite interesting and I really cared about those characters and what they were going through. In a certain way, this movie also shows where the Indian society stands nowadays, between tradition and modernity. To conclude, it is a really good drama, one of the best movies dealing with Indian culture that I have seen so far and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.
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