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Posted : 13 years, 10 months ago on 25 May 2011 12:38
(A review of Lock Up)Honestly, I wasnāt expecting much from this flick but since I have watched most of the movies starring Sylvester Stallone, I thought I might as well check this one as well. Basically, it is one of those typical action flicks that Sylvester Stallone did in the 90's and 80ās and, at the end of the day, you either love them or you donāt. To be honest, Iām afraid I belong to the second group... I mean, sure, it sounded nice to have a semi-gritty prison flick (still, it was far from the realistic approach provided by āUn ProphĆØteā) with Stallone but, in my opinion, the action scenes were rather average, Stallone displayed once again that acting is not really his strongest attribute and even Donald Sutherland couldn't save this from mediocrity. Indeed, I always had a weak spot for Donald Sutherland but, here, he provided one of his typical bad guy performances he gave during the 90ās and you can almost smell the paycheck from here. To conclude, I have seen worse, even with Sylvester Stallone (āOver the topā for example was much worse and pretty terrible) but I still believe that it is a very average flick and you should watch this only if you are a die hard fan of Sylvester Stallone.
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A good movie
Posted : 13 years, 10 months ago on 25 May 2011 12:30
(A review of The Moving True Story of a Woman Ahead of Her Time)Honestly, I had no idea what to expect from this flick but since it won the Golden Calf of the best Dutch movie of the year, I was quite eager to check it out. To be honest, like most Dutch features, the whole thing was not really original but I still liked it though. Indeed, the production value was pretty neat, the whole thing looked really good and convincing and, all in all, it was just rather well done. On top of that, all the actors involved did a good job and I especially enjoyed Monic Hendrickx who is rightfully regarded as one of the best Dutch female actress around. Concerning the story, I thought it was interesting and entertaining enough but I was still missing something. Indeed, if you compare it to your average Dutch production, sure the whole thing was quite ambitious but, at the end of the day, it remains a rather straightforward historical/biographical drama which faithfully follows the rules of the genre without taking any risk at all. To conclude, even though it is nothing really amazing, it is still a decent flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you're interested in Dutch movies
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A good movie
Posted : 13 years, 10 months ago on 25 May 2011 12:20
(A review of A Thousand Kisses)I think the main reason I was attracted this flick was, first of all, because of its really neat title. Indeed, the international title sounded really generic while there was something quite catchy about the original Dutch title. Apparently, it was based on a popular Dutch book but I havenāt read it. A part from that, the other appeal was to see Carice van Houten, easily the most successful and probably most talented Dutch actress of the last 10 years. Since then, she has developed an international career but, sometimes, I have the feeling that the Dutch media exaggerate her actual impact. Anyway, coming back to our main feature, to be honest, was nothing really amazing or original but I thought it was still a good romantic feature. Indeed, all the actors involved, especially Carice van Houten, gave some good performances and the directing was competent enough. In my opinion, the characters were also well developed but, at the end of the day, like mostof the Dutch movies, it was missing something to become truly remarkable. To conclude, all in all, I thought it was decent feature and it is definitely worth a look especially if you're interested in Dutch movies.
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An average movie
Posted : 13 years, 10 months ago on 25 May 2011 12:09
(A review of Palindromes)Basically, it is one of those movies that I really wanted to love but, somehow, it didnāt really happen. Indeed, I was really impressed by Solondz previous work, āStorytellingā and above all āHappinessā so I was rather anxious to see this one as well. Eventually, even though I had some rather high expectations, I was actually rather disappointed by the whole thing. I mean, it wasnāt a bad at all, it was definitely an intriguing and bold feature with a rather original concept and probably his most ambitious project so far (apparently, the guy spent his entire life's saving on making this movie because no studios would back it) but, to be honest, I wasnāt really convinced by the whole thing Iām afraid. Eventually, I even came to the conclusion that the fact that some different actors portrayed the same character was not really amazing but it seemed to be more a trick to impress the audience than anything else. At the end of the day, this intriguing gimmick didnāt become than a gimmick, at least, thatās my opinion. Still, to conclude, even though it was a missed experiment, it remains an interesting flick and I think it is still worth a look especially if you're interested in Solondzā work.
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A very good movie
Posted : 13 years, 10 months ago on 25 May 2011 12:00
(A review of The Hoax)I already saw this movie but since it was a while back and since I have it on DVD, I was quite eager to check it out again. To be honest, the first time around, I wasn't really sure what to expect from this flick but the story was really intriguing and I always had a weak spot for Lasse Hallstrom's work. Well, first of all, I was eventually impressed by Richard Gere's performance. Indeed, I have nothing against this actor but, to be honest, most of the time, he shows up in movies which are rather weak and most of them focus too much on his heartthrob image. This movie was however an expection. Obviously, it did help when you have a director like Lasse Hallstrom who delivered the goods once again (on the other hand, I have to admit it that it has been a while since the Sweedish director has actually released anything really amazing). Above all, I thought it was quite a fascinating story and, after 'The Aviator', it was another interesting tale around Howard Hugues. In this case, it was even more impressive since the guy didn't even show up this time around. Anyway, to conclude, I really liked this flick, in my opinion, it is actually quite underrated and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you want to see something actually decent starring Richard Gere.
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An average movie
Posted : 13 years, 10 months ago on 25 May 2011 09:56
(A review of The Peacemaker)After becoming a star with āE.Rā. but before becoming one of the most inspiring actors around, George Clooney made first some rather dubious choices, actually pretty much like his best buddy Brad Pitt. Indeed, first, he went for "From Dusk until Dawn" which was quite a nice move as he could shake up his heartthrob image and this flick became a cult-classic, but then he made a really standard romantic comedy, "One fine day", and then, he made his worst decision so far by showing up in the worst super-hero flick ever made, "Batman & Robin", and then, finally, he made this action flick. To be honest, I have to admit it, it is actually rather well made but it still it was a pretty damned average, not original at all and rather predictable action flick. Concerning Nicole Kidman, she did what she could with a rather thankless part and I canāt say she had some great chemistry going on with Clooney. Luckilly, after this, Clooney made his first movie with Soderbergh, "Out of sight", and then his career took off and it didn't land yet. To conclude, I have seen worse but I donāt think it is really worth a look, except maybe if you are a die-hard fan of this fascinating actor.
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An average movie
Posted : 13 years, 10 months ago on 25 May 2011 09:41
(A review of Greedy)Honestly, I wasnāt sure what to expect from this flick but since I have a weak spot for Michael J. Fox , I thought I might as well give it a try. To be honest, Michael J. Fox basically always plays the same characters but, even though he doesnāt actually have any range as an actor, I still think he is quite charismatic and I try to check his movies whenever I get the opportunity. On top of that, it was also pretty nice to see Kirk Douglas in a rather recent movie. Unfortunately, the whole thing was eventually rather disappointing. Indeed, the story was rather lame, not really funny and completely predictable. I mean, the characters were so boring and stereotypical, I really didnāt care much about what they were going through so I was seriously bored during the whole thing. On a side note, you can spot a very young Kirsten Dunst who had small part in this flick but I donāt think you should watch this flick only for this reason. To conclude, even though I have seen worse, it remains a rather weak comedy and it donāt think it is really worth a look, except if you are desperate to see all the movies involving Michael J. Fox.
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An average movie
Posted : 13 years, 10 months ago on 25 May 2011 09:27
(A review of Maybe Baby)I wasnāt sure what to expect from this flick and, to be honest, I watched it mostly because Emma Thompson was involved. Eventually, she had actually a very small part in it so I donāt think she was actually a good reason to watch this flick. In fact, the main character was played by Hugh Laurie who was at the time not really famous but it would all change thanks to āHouseā. To be honest, even though I have nothing against Hugh Laurie, I canāt say I'm really a big fan of him but at least, he had some good chemistry with the charming Joely Richardson. At the end of the day, I thought that this romantic-comedy was quite cute, I always had a weak spot for the genre and the story was not bad. Still, it was nothing really mind-blowing and the whole thing was very predictable. The main issue is that while the characters felt quite genuine and the actors delivered some solid performances, the plot was in fact rather weak preventing the whole thing from becoming truly remarkable. To conclude, I thought it was still a decent and fairly entertaining romantic-comedy and if you are a huge Hugh Laurie fan, it is actually worth a look.
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A bad movie
Posted : 13 years, 10 months ago on 25 May 2011 09:19
(A review of Lady in the Water)Before watching this flick, I heard so many bad things about it, so I can't say I was really anxious to see it but still, I was curious. Oh boy! I wasn't disappointed... It is easily the worst movie directed by Shyamalan, it is even worse than āThe Last Airbenderā in my opinion. I have to be honest, the directing and acting were not that bad in fact but the story was so amazingly... terrible! Try to picture this. You make up a bedtime story for your kids, of course, they love it but actually it is nothing great but your kids love it and that's the most important thing, right? No, wrong! You become a famous movie director and you waste 75 000 000 dollars (that's the actual budget) because you are full of yourself... The best thing is that, for once, at the end, there was no twist this time, which was actually a twist for a Shyamalan movie , when you think about it, I know it's getting a little bit confusing here... Anyway, you wait the whole thing hoping, thinking "he is going to throw his usual twist and the whole thing would be ...OK?!?" but no, at the end, there is nothing, except laughter from your side.... Anyway, it is pretty bad and I don't see why you should watch it.
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A good movie
Posted : 13 years, 10 months ago on 25 May 2011 08:47
(A review of Coraline)Since Iām a huge fan of āThe Nightmare before Christmasā, I was quite eager to check this flick and I had some rather huge expectations before watching it. Eventually, even though I did like it, I was still a little bit disappointed by the whole thing. Of course, the stop motion animation really looked gorgeous once again (it didnāt see it in 3D though) but, even though the story was decent, it was never as fascinating as āThe Nightmare before Christmasā was. Seriously, at the end of the day, even thought it was fairly entertaining, I canāt say I really cared about the main character or what she was going through. In my opinion, it was like with āParaNormanā, another supposedly dark animated feature, the makers really want us to believe that the whole thing is really edgy but I wasnāt really convinced, Iām afraid. I mean, with āThe Nightmare before Christmasā, I was just mesmerized by this demented world and I loved every single one of those weird characters but I never had such a connection with this story. Still, to conclude, even though I think it is slightly overrated, it remains still a very well made animated feature and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.
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