Posted : 13 years, 11 months ago on 11 May 2011 02:29
(A review of
Knetter)
Honestly, I wasn’t sure what to expect from this flick but since I have a weak spot for Carice van Houten, I thought I might as well give it a try. Indeed, in my opinion, van Houten is a fascinating actress, probably the most successful Dutch actress of the last 10 years and I try to watch everything she's involved in. Anyway, she was definitely the best asset in this movie, providing a very good performance of a mother with a bipolar disorder. Unfortunately, I didn’t care much for the rest as it basically remains after all a typical Dutch kids flick with all its negative aspects. Indeed, in my opinion, the whole thing was just over sentimental, it always remains in the comfort zone and, at the end of the day, it was just so damned boring at times. At least, if you compare it to the other family features produced in the Netherlands, this one actually had some potential, it’s just a pity it wasn’t better developed. To conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was still a fairly decent watch and even though it could have been much better, I still think it is worth a look, especially if you are interested in Dutch movies.
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Posted : 13 years, 11 months ago on 11 May 2011 02:23
(A review of
Desert Blue (1998))
Honestly, I really didn't know what to expect from this flick as it it is indeed a rather obscure feature but since there was a nice cast, I thought I should check it out anyway. And, indeed, the cast was really enjoyable (Christina Ricci, Casey Affleck, Kate Hudson and Peter Sarsgaard). Back then, Christina Ricci already had an impressive career but Casey Affleck and Kate Hudson were both starting actors and completely unknown at the time. Eventually, I thought that they all gave some decent performances and their characters were actually quite interesting but, unfortunately, the story was not really amazing. I mean, to be fair, it was not boring at all but still I can't say it was really fascinating either. Basically, it is pretty much a flick you just watch for the actors involved, to see them when they were young and 'innocent' but, 5 minutes later, you will probably forget about the whole thing. That’s a common issue with many quirky indie features as to be quirky is fine but it is not always enough, I’m afraid. To conclude, even though it is nothing really amazing, it remains a decent flick and it is worth a look thanks to the young actors involved.
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Posted : 13 years, 11 months ago on 11 May 2011 02:16
(A review of
The Children's Hour )
I wasn't really sure what to expect from this flick but since there was a decent cast, I was quite eager to check it out. Eventually, it is rather difficult to fairly judge this flick after so many years. Obviously, I am pretty sure that many people would be shocked when watching this movie as the whole thing was pretty intolerant towards gay people. Even Shirley MacLaine herself, 30 years later, said she was quite ashamed by this movie. In my opinion, I think it is important to remember that it was made 50 years ago and I believe that it was quite groundbreaking to dare making such a movie back in those days (in fact, homosexuality in movies was simply downright forbidden by the production code at the time). Even though sometimes I have a hard time to be tolerant with a movie showing some backwards beliefs (I barely can stand 'The Birth of a Nation' for example), with this movie, it wasn't unbearable. Beside this controverse, it was a very well made movie with some very good performances by Shirley MacLaine and Audrey Hepburn. Anyway, to conclude, even though it is a movie that didn't grow old very well, I still think it is an interesting watch and I believe that it is worth a look, if you manage to keep an open mind.
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Posted : 13 years, 11 months ago on 11 May 2011 11:28
(A review of
Sex and Breakfast)
Basically, there was a time when I would go to a video game shop (which is now closed) and I would buy there on a regular basis 5 DVDs for 5 euros and, sometimes, since I would be missing 1 DVD, I would pick up pretty much anything at random just to reach 5 movies. Anyway, following this amazing process, I ended up watching some rather obscure movies and this one was definitely one of them.Well, eventually, it was probably not the worst one I saw, it was still terribly weak. I mean, I don’t think the actors should be blamed, they were actually all pretty good and it was even quite fun to see Macauley Culkin playing an adult for once. Unfortunately, the directing was not really convincing, it was borderline amateurish, and I kept having the feeling that the makers in fact didn't really know where to go with this story. Basically, it was another indie feature trying to be edgy when dealing with sex but this attempt didn’t really work, I’m afraid. To conclude, it’s too bad because the whole actually had some potential but, eventually, it was really disappointing and I don’t think it is really worth a look.
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Posted : 13 years, 11 months ago on 11 May 2011 06:54
(A review of
The Class)
I already saw this movie but since it was a while back, I was quite eager to check it out again. For the French cinema, this victory was quite a milestone since it was the 1st time in 20 years that a French movie won the Golden Palm at the Cannes Film Festival. Eventually, I thought the whole thing was quite impressive and I think I enjoyed it even more with this rewatch. Indeed, by now, I have seen my share of Hollywood movies dealing with the same subject, the relationship between teachers and students, and even though some of them might have been entertaining, absolutely none of them was actually really convincing. Well, this movie was completely the opposite. Indeed, it was just so raw and realistic, it felt pretty much like a documentary even if you know you're actually watching a fiction. Another thing I enjoyed about this movie was the fact that there was no annoying and unnecessary sub-plots. Instead, it was completely focused and rather spellbinding to behold. Thanks to this movie, you can feel that being a teacher is probably the most important job in the world and probably one of the most difficult one as well. There was also the extra layer that this school was located in a rough neighborhood in the suburbs of Paris and it felt as if the classroom was some kind of pressure cooker ready to explode at every moment. As result, the whole thing felt sometimes like an hyper realistic thriller. Obviously, in contrary to your average Hollywood production, there was no cut and clear answer or conclusion. Eventually, some of these kids will be fine and some of them will be seriously messed up and the impact this teacher might have had on them at this point might be dubious. And, yet, the guy will keep trying again and again in the hope that he might achieve some kind of results with some of them which is quite remarkable. Anyway, to conclude, I turned out to be a great achievement and I think it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in French movies.
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Posted : 13 years, 11 months ago on 10 May 2011 01:10
(A review of
Backtrack)
Honestly, I wasn’t sure what to expect from this flick but since I have always been a fan of Jodie Foster, I was quite eager to check it out. Eventually, it turned out to be one of the weirdest movies I have ever seen. Indeed, at first , it did look like a thriller but, eventually, it went way beyond that. As a result, I thought it was kind of fascinating at some points but, sometimes, I had the feeling that they actually had no idea about what they were actually doing. Apparently, Dennis Hopper just had a critical success as a director with ‘Colors’ but, this time, he really didn’t like the end-result at all and completely rejected this flick. It is difficult to judge the whole thing since there is not much information but there was at some point a 3 hours long version (which has never been released) and either it was pure genius or pure garbage but, anyway, the producers thought it was not suitablefor the mainstream audience, cut the whole thing which resulted in this really weird disjointed mess. Still, somehow, it was actually compelling to watch. My advice would be to watch it and make up your own mind but I still think it is worth a look.
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Posted : 13 years, 11 months ago on 10 May 2011 01:00
(A review of
Intimate Strangers)
Honestly, I wasn't sure what to expect from this flick but since I had a weak spot for Patrice Leconte but also for Fabrice Lucchini and Sandrine Bonnaire, I thought I might as well give it a try. Even though Leconte never really reached much recognition on an international level, he is definitely highly regarded in France where many of his movies have been some massive commercial or critical success. This feature definitely belongs to his rather more obscure work but even though it was nothing really amazing, I though it was stil pretty good and quite entertaining. To be honest, the plot was actually a little too far-fetched for my taste (how long can someone realistically pretend to be a psychiatrist and how long would it take you to notice that there is something fishy about the guy) but the directing was decent and both leads (Sandrine Bonnaire and Fabrice Lucchini) gave some very good performances. Eventually, Patrice Leconte didn't really care if the set-up was believable or not, he cared more for the characters and they were indeed quite intriguing and interesting to behold. To conclude, even though it was nothing really amazing, I though it was still a decent watch and it is definitely worth a look especially if you're interested in French movies.
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Posted : 13 years, 11 months ago on 10 May 2011 12:56
(A review of
Beowulf)
Personally, I was really intrigued by this flick and I was quite eager to check it out, even though it pretty much underperformed like the other motion-capture features directed by Robert Zemeckis. However, even though it was poorly received, I was actually positively surprised and I thought it was much better than ‘The Polar Express’ and ‘A Christmas Carol’. Indeed, this time, I thought that the story was really cool, intriguing and it was definitely entertaining (at the time, it was the first version of this ancient tale I ever saw). Once again, the animation was very good (a big improvement on ‘The Polar Express’) and really fit the story. Still, I must admit it, the human characters still looked pretty creepy sometimes but, like I said before, the technology has been really improved when you compare it to ‘The Polar Express’. Personally, I always thought that it was pretty neat that Zemeckis was experimenting with the motion-capture (even though you could argue that 3 movies might have been a little too much) and if you should watch one of those, you should definitely pick this one. To conclude, I don’t think it was that bad at all, I actually liked the damned thing and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Zemeckis’ work.
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Posted : 13 years, 11 months ago on 10 May 2011 12:49
(A review of
I Spy)
That's it. I have seen all the movies starring Eddy Murphy. It is in fact rather surprising since I have never been a huge fan but, somehow, all his movie were broadcasted at least once on one of the Dutch channels I have. So, in the last 10 years, one by one, I have seen them all for free whenever they were passing by. Anyway, it is basically one of those very average Eddie Murphy flicks, his speciality, I'm afraid. It is actually too bad because this movie, at least, had some potential as it was not based on some really lame concept like ‘A Thousand Words’, ‘Imagine That’ or ‘Meet Dave’ but it was an adaptation of a seemingly cool TV show from the 60’s (I haven't seen it though to be honest) and, on paper, it sounded like a great opportunity for Eddie Murphy. Eventually, the whole thing was rather underwhelming and even Owen Wilson who is usually pretty good couldn’t save this movie from being mediocre. Above all, the whole thing was just really lazy and I was bored from the beginning until the end. To conclude, it is a rather weak feature and it is not really worth a look, except maybe if you are a die-hard fan of Eddie Murphy.
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Posted : 13 years, 11 months ago on 10 May 2011 12:46
(A review of
Look at Me)
I wasn’t sure what to expect from this flick but since I enjoyed Agnès Jaoui’s directing debut, I was quite eager to check her 2nd directing effort. Indeed, even though Jaoui must be pretty much unknown abroad, she always had a solid career as actress in France for already many years but, back in 2000, she surprised everyone with her directing debut ‘Le goût des autres’ which was a big commercial and critical success in France. Anyway, coming back to our main feature, even though it was not as good as its predecessor, it was still a pretty good movie nonetheless. I mean, basically, there was no real plot and it was rather a character driven picture. Fortunately, the characters were indeed very well nuanced and well portrayed by the cast which delivered some solid performances thoughout. Still, somehow, I was missing something in the story. I mean, sure, it was interesting but it was not really mind-blowing and, at the end of the day, I can’t say I really cared about the characters or what they were going through. Still, even though it wasn’t entirely successful, I thought it was a decent flick and I think it is worth a look, especially if you're interested in French movies.
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