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All reviews - Movies (7778) - TV Shows (10)

An average movie

Posted : 13 years, 10 months ago on 18 May 2011 10:42 (A review of Eight Below)

To be honest, I was expecting much from this flick but, somehow, I still ended up watching the damned thing. In 2016, Disney has managed to become the first studio to reach $7 billion in one single year, thanks to their various successful brands like Marvel and Star Wars. However, before that, they used to struggle with their family features and most of them were actyally pretty lame. With this in mind, I didn’t expect much from this flick but, to my surprise, I thought it was actually not bad at all. Indeed, first of all, the Antartica just looked awesome and they displayed here some really gorgeous landscapes in this movie. Furthermore, what was even more surprising was the fact that the dramatic scenes involving the dogs worked surprisingly well and, as a result, the damned thing was actually quite entertaining. Obviously, Jason Biggs was rather annoying but his characters in all his movies are rather obnoxious but I have to admit that I was actually rather surprised by Paul Walker as the guy finally managed to deliver a decent performance here. So, to conclude, it is definitely not a masterpiece and not a realistic picture but I thought it was a decent watch and I think it is actually worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 



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An average movie

Posted : 13 years, 10 months ago on 18 May 2011 08:09 (A review of Lakeview Terrace)

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since I always had a weak spot for Neil LaBute’s work, I thought I might as well check it out. First of all, Roger Ebert apparently really loved the damned thing but I think he was actually in the minority, I’m afraid. Personally, I do think that it was a flick with a lot of potential, dealing with some maybe controversial but still very interesting topic. Furthermore, I believe that Neil LaBute is a rather underrated and really interesting director and he did a fine job on this movie. However, I can’t say I was as enthousiast as Mr Ebert was and I do think it was actually rather flawed. The first issue was that, even though Samuel L. Jackson did a very good job and provided a good performance, I still think that his character was not very well nuanced and he didn't come over as a three dimensional character. Basically, he was just a despicable guy. The other issue was that the movie didn't really know which way to go, was it a realistic drama or a psychological thriller? Still, even if it was not really successfull,  it was still an interesting flick and I think it is worth a look.



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A great movie

Posted : 13 years, 10 months ago on 17 May 2011 09:49 (A review of Life Is Beautiful)

I remember it very well, before and when it came out, this movie was actually rather controversial. The big question was, at the time, are you allowed to make a comedy about something terrible like the holocaust? Eventually, this movie turned out to be a huge financial success (It has been so far the highest grossing movie to be made in Italy), and a critical success (many, even me, were actually surprised that Roberto Benigni actually won the Academy Award for the Best Actor in a Leading Role, beating in the process Edward Norton who was quite impressive in ‘American History X’). For Benigini, this feature will forever remain his magnum opus, as a director and as an actor and, to be honest, before or after, he has never made anything coming close the level of this classic. Anyway, this whole controversy was, in my opinion, rather ridiculous because half of the movie was actually a drama and quite an heartbreaking one. Furthermore, the reason to use those jokes was completely justified as in, order to survive, you'd better keep a good sense of humor. Anyway, to conclude, it is pretty much a classic, I really lover it and it is definitely worth a look.


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A very average movie

Posted : 13 years, 10 months ago on 17 May 2011 08:00 (A review of Never Talk to Strangers)

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick since I have a weak spot for Rebecca De Mornay  and Antonio Banderas, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, even if I wasn't expecting much, the whole thing turned out to be much was worse than I expected. First of all, the music was so bad, it felt like I was watching a TV-movie. Above all, aside the fact that the story was really far-fetched, I thought that both leads were just really bad in this movie. Seriously, I don't think I have seen any of them giving such bad performances before. Concerning De Mornay, it seems pretty obvious that she wanted to make another thriller like ‘The Hand That Rocks the Cradle’ but this movie was just a massive failure. At least, there were 2 redeeming features. Indeed, Harry Dean Stanton can't do no wrong and shined in his (small) part and the ending, even though predictable, was actually better than the rest of the movie but it was certainly not enough to really save this flick. To conclude, I thought it was a very weak thriller and I don’t think it is really worth your time at all.



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A good movie

Posted : 13 years, 10 months ago on 17 May 2011 07:12 (A review of Elegy)

To be honest, I had no idea what to expect from this movie. On top of that, I was not really familiar with Isabel Coixet's work and it was in fact the main reason why I wanted to check this flick. Eventually, I thought it was actually pretty good. Indeed, first of all, Coixet is actually a very good director and the movie was beautifully shot. Furthermore, both leads gave some very good performances as well and it's a shame to think that Ben Kingsley wastes his talent nowadays in such terrible movies like ' The Love Guru', ' The Last Legion' or 'A Sound of Thunder'. Concerning Penelope Cruz, I never thought she was really attractive until I saw this movie. Unfortunately, it's too bad the story was not really strong and there were a few sub-plots which were not really well developed inmy opinon. So, it was not flawless but it was still a good flick and it touched me personally considering that my wife is 10 year older than me so this movie had, in my case, an extra dimension. To conclude, it was nothing really amazing but it was a very well made, very well acted drama and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.



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A classic

Posted : 13 years, 10 months ago on 16 May 2011 03:24 (A review of La Dolce Vita)

I already saw this movie but it was a very long time ago and since I had it on DVD, I was really eager to check it out again. To be honest, the first time  I watched it, even though I did like it, I can't say it really blew me away but maybe I was too young or not smart enough at the time to properly appreciate this masterpiece. Unfortunately, even after rewatching this movie after all these years, I still struggled to connect with the damned thing. I mean, what was it supposed to be really about? Was it to show how tedious and trivial the night life was in Roma back in those days? Furthermore, it all felt seriously random to me and it didn't help that it didn't care much about the characters involved. Of course, it is still a good movie and it would be foolish of me to dismiss the damned thing just because I didn't really understand it. Indeed, Fellini was definitely a very good director and it is a beautiful movie to look at. Furthermore, Marcello Mastroianni and Anita Ekberg were both seriously charismatic, even though it is rather funny that everyone remembers Ekberg in this movie when she was there maybe only 20 minutes. Anyway, maybe I should try again in another 20 years and maybe, this time, I will fall in love with the damned thing but, even so, it is still a major classic and it is definitely worth a look.


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A classic

Posted : 13 years, 10 months ago on 16 May 2011 03:20 (A review of 8½ (1963))

By now, I have seen about 5500 movies (a little bit more according to IMDb and a little bit less on Listal). It has been a great journey, to watch all these movies, and I hope to see many more in the future. Obviously, one of my goals was to watch the greatest movies ever made but, to be honest, watching a classic doesn’t mean necessarily that you will actually love it. Indeed, one of the biggest problems I had with watching classics is that I would hear about them for so many years and, at some point, I would finally have the opportunity to see them. But, in some cases, my expectations were just so high and after fantasizing about the damned thing for so long, the end result would sometimes turn out to be slightly underwhelming. Well, that's exactly what happened with this flick. I mean, obviously,  I did like it but, at the end of the day, I can’t I was really blown away as I expected to be. Basically, I believe that Federico Fellini was and still is one of the great movie masters but his movies are sometimes rather difficult to digest and I really struggled to connect with this movie because I was trying all the time to understand what the guy was actually trying to do on the screen. To conclude, I should definitely re-watch it at some point and even though I didn’t really love it, it is still definitely worth a look, especially if you are die-hard movie fan like me. 



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A good movie

Posted : 13 years, 10 months ago on 16 May 2011 02:59 (A review of Wings of Desire)

It is definitely one of the movies that I absolutely need to re-watch at some point. Still, I remember very well the first time I saw the damned thing. Indeed, at some point, I saw ‘Paris, Texas’, I was completely blown away by the whole thing and it immediately became one of the best movies I had ever seen.  With this in mind, I was really eager to check Wim Wenders’s follow-up and since it had such a stellar reputation, I had some really high expectations. Well, to be honest, even though I did like this movie, I had actually a hard time to really care about the damned thing. I mean, sure, I was able to see that it was a real work of Art, no doubt about it, but, while I was completely swept away by ‘Paris, Texas’, this time around, I never felt  much connection with this story or the characters involved. Eventually, 10 years later, they would actually deliver a Hollywood remake which is usually considered blasphemy for all the fans of this movie but I don’t think it was so awful, at least, if you don’t try to compare it to this German classic. Anyway, to conclude, even though it didn’t really fufill my expectations, it was still a decent watch, it remains major classic and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 



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A good movie

Posted : 13 years, 10 months ago on 16 May 2011 02:33 (A review of Run Lola Run)

I have to admit it, even though I'm not exactly a huge fan, for some personal reasons, I still have some really nice memories of this movie. Indeed, after I bought my very first DVD player,  this movie was one of the very first DVDs I bought at the time. As a matter of fact, I still have the DVD player and it still works (Well done, Sony!) but I don’t think I have the DVD anymore which is too bad. Anyway, in fact, I remember very well when this movie was released. Indeed, I didn’t see it in the movie theater but, very quickly, it became a cult-classic so I was definitely eager to check the damned thing. Eventually, even though I thought it was indeed a pretty a cool movie, to be honest, I can’t say I was completely blown away by the whole thing. I mean, sure, it was really entertaining, no doubt about it, but I don’t think it was really so clever after all. Still, Tom Tykwer definitely displayed some skills here and, eventually, he would become one of the most interesting directors at work nowadays and it is thanks to this movie that I discovered him. Concerning Franka Potente, back in those days, it seemed that she might have an impressive international career ahead of her but, except for a few movies like ‘The Bourne Identity’, she was mostly involved with some rather obscure movies after all. Anyway, coming back to our main feature, even though it was probably not a masterpiece, it was still a very entertaining and enjoyable movie and I think it is definitely worth a look. 



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A very good movie

Posted : 13 years, 10 months ago on 16 May 2011 02:20 (A review of Good Bye Lenin!)

I already saw this movie but since it was a while back, I thought I might as check it out again. I remember it very well, when this movie was released, it was a critical success so I had some pretty big expectations the first time around. Well, I’m glad I watched it again because I enjoyed it even more. Indeed, the concept might seem silly and you can imagine that an American movie would have gone for the cheap laughs but I was surprised by how subtle the damned thing turned out to be. Sure, to see the fall of the Berlin wall and of Eastern Germany in general from this perspective was quite interesting and the clash between the Eastern and Western world as well and it was all quite funny and entertaining but, actually, they went really deeper than that. Basically, it might be one of the very few comedies (maybe even the only one?) which was based on a lie and it still actually worked. Indeed, it is most of the time a useless gimmick because the reason a lie is used are almost always worthless but, in this case, it actually did make sense. Of course, it was completely impractical and fairly ridiculous but the reason why was actually sound and, above all, the main character did it for love and completely regardless of his self-interest. Furthermore, I also loved the tone and it might be one of the most melancholic comedies I have ever seen. Seriously, this mixing of drama and comedy was pretty much flawless. For Daniel Brühl, it was obviously a star making performance but, even though he had afterwards a solid career, he has never given again such a strong performance. Anyway, to conclude, I really enjoyed the damned thing and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in German movies.


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