Posted : 13 years, 8 months ago on 3 May 2011 06:45
(A review of
Big Fat Liar)
Nowadays, I use Netflix and Popcorn Time which means that I have access to a virtually illimited number of movies and, as a result, I have become slightly more picky concerning the movies I watch. Before that, I used to watch pretty much whatever was available on TV and, eventually, I ended up watching some rather obscure flicks for some rather dubious reasons. This movie was a perfect example. In fact, I have to admit it, even though the whole thing seemed to be really lame, the beginning was actually rather promising. Indeed, it was energetic, funny and pretty sharp. Unfortunately, it was only during the first 10 minutes then the whole thing became really underwhelming and really childish very fast, the damage was done and the movie never managed to recover. At the end of the day, it was just too predictable and not really funny at all. At least, it was pretty neat to see Paul Giamatti but he clearly made this movie when he was still struggling. Anyway, to conclude, it was pretty weak and I would suggest you to avoid it, except you're less than 13 years old then you might find it entertaining but, even so, there are so many better movies to watch out there with your kids.
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Posted : 13 years, 8 months ago on 1 May 2011 07:04
(A review of
The Contender)
To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this movie but since there was a top cast involved, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, eventually, I was really positively surprised by the damned thing. Indeed, I always thought that politics were a fascinating subject, I'm sucker for the movies dealing with this topic and this movie didn't disappoint me. Basically, even though it was a thriller and used some of the typical gimmicks in this genre (for example, there were 2 annoying twists at the end), the whole thing was still really interesting, realistic and pretty damned entertaining. As I mentioned before, there was also an impressive cast involved (Gary Oldman, Joan Allen, Jeff Bridges, Christian Slater, William Petersen), especially, Gary Oldman who completely disappeared behind his character. Furtheremore, it is so rare to have a women playing the lead and Joan Allen was such a great choice (it’s too bad we don’t hear much from her anymore). To conclude, even though it wasn’t really flawless, I thought it was a pretty good thriller and it I think it is definitely worth a look, especially if you love movies about politics like I do.
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Posted : 13 years, 8 months ago on 30 April 2011 08:04
(A review of
Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius)
To be honest, I had actually no idea what to expect from this flick but since there was a decent cast involved, I thought I might as well check it out. First of all, even though I believe that golf must be one of the most boring sports ever created, it is actually one of the very few sports which actually work quite well in the movies (the other obvious one would be boxing). Still, it is always tricky to make a golf game exciting since the whole thing has been scripted. Anyway, in this case, it was a rather typical sport biopic (it was apparently a box-office flop) with the usual clichés but I thought it was rather well done and fairly entertaining. It did help that the movie was dealing with one of the best golf players that ever lived. I have to admit it, before watching this movie, I had actually never heard of Bobby Jones before but the guy was just a fascinating character and Jim Caviezel gave a decent perfomance. To conclude, even though it was nothing really amazing, I thought it was still a decent watch and, if you like this kind of flicks, you will definitely enjoy it.
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Posted : 13 years, 8 months ago on 30 April 2011 07:28
(A review of
Zoom)
Since I really don’t like Tim Allen at all who must be one of the most underwhelming actors in the business, I wonder how I actually ended up watching this flick. Indeed, I have seen a few movies with this guy, most of them were pretty lame and this one was definitely not an exception. Seriously, he is basically playing the same guy in all his movies and, personally, I don't think he is funny at all. At least, the rest of the cast was actually pretty decent (Courteney Cox, Chevy Chase, Spencer Breslin, Kevin Zegers, Kate Mara, Rip Torn) and it was especially pretty neat to see a young Kate Mara. Anyway, even though the concept was not bad, it was just really poorly developed and I really had a hard time to care about the damned thing. In fact, a year before, they released ‘Sky High’ with pretty much the same concept but even though it seems to have a better reputation, it didn’t care much for this movie either (at least, they got Kurt Russel instead of the always lame Tim Allen). Anyway, to conclude, I think it's too bad because this movie had actually some potential but, at the end of the day, the whole thing was pretty weak and I don’t think it is really worth a look.
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Posted : 13 years, 8 months ago on 29 April 2011 04:33
(A review of
The Relic)
To be honest, I'm not really sure why but I was really eager to check this movie. Indeed, I really wanted to like this flick. I don't know, the title was pretty awesome and the whole thing seemed at first full of promises. Unfortunately, the end-result was rather disappointing. Eventually, it is a typical Peter Hyams effort, as it is a just a B-movie with some very cheap special effects (apparently, the famous makeup artist Stan Winston was involved and while many praised his work in this movie, I was honestly not really impressed). Apparently, Hyams originally wanted Harrison Ford to play the lead character but there was no way Ford, especially at the time, would be in such a cheap half-baked horror flick so they got Tom Sizemore instead who was just happy to be the lead man for once. As usual with Peter Hyams, the whole thing actually started with a pretty cool concept but the guy doesn't seem to be able to do something really impressive with those interesting ideas. To conclude, I thought the whole thing was rather lame and I don't think it is worth a look but maybe if you love B-movies, you may end enjoying it more than I did, otherwise you'd better pass this one.
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Posted : 13 years, 8 months ago on 29 April 2011 04:25
(A review of
102 Dalmatians)
Honestly, I wasn't expecting much from this flick but since I always had a weak spot for Glenn Close, I thought I might as well give it a try. The first installment was not bad but you can wonder if this sequel was actually really necessary (isn't it always the case?!?). Obviously, the first movie was nothing amazing whatsoever but its appeal was above all to see Glenn Close who was having a ball and she completely nailed this part . So, since she was such a success, they decided to move forward with another installement. On top of that, this time, you had also Gérard Depardieu but I honestly wondered what the hell he was actually doing here... I mean, the guy is pretty much the best French actor of the last 30 years and it would be great to see him work with some great directors in Hollywood (he did manage to work with Ridley Scott and Ang Lee though) but, most of the time, he ends up in such underwhelming features. Anyway, to conclude, it might be a nice flick for the (very) young kids but for everybody else, it is rather boring and I don't think it is really worth a look at all.
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Posted : 13 years, 8 months ago on 29 April 2011 04:17
(A review of
101 Dalmatians)
Honestly, I wasn't expecting much from this flick but since I always had a weak spot for Glenn Close, I thought I might as well give it a try. Indeed, I thought it would be completely lame but I have to admit that there were in fact some good things in this flick. First of all, obviously, Glenn Close gave a rather impressive performance and she completely stole the show everytime she was on the screen. You could easily see that she was having a ball and she completely nailed this part. As a result, she was the main actraction and indeed, the focus was rather put on her than on the dogs. And that was the main issue with this movie, those dogs. Indeed, with the cartoon, thanks to the animation, they were full of expression and life and the makers were able to have some fun with hem. But here, they just look like, well, some dogs. Anyway, in this case, you have to keep in mind that there was definitely a target audience, the young children, and they will definitely like it more than I did. To conclude, I didn't really enjoy it and, if you're grown-up, I don't think it is really worth a look, however, I guess young kids would probably enjoy the damned thing.
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Posted : 13 years, 8 months ago on 29 April 2011 04:01
(A review of
Body Count)
Honestly, I wasn't sure what to expect from this flick but since there was a decent cast, I thought I might as well give it a try. Indeed, it is quite an obscure feature (I was only the 2nd listal member who had rated this feature) but I'm afraid it does deserve its reputation. There was an interesting cast (David Caruso, Linda Fiorentino, John Leguizamo, Ving Rhames, Forest Whitaker, Donnie Wahlberg, ...) but that's basically the only interesting thing this movie had to offer and it really failed to impress me in any way. Back then, I remember it very well, David Caruso was showing up here and there in some mildly interesting movies and it seemed that he was on the verge of breaking through. Eventually, in 2002, he was hired to play the main character in 'CSI: Miami', the only job he did in the following 10 years and he hasn't done anything else since it stopped in 2012. Anyway, coming back to our main feature, the story was not interesting enough, the directing was just pretty average and the whole thing was therefore really forgettable. To conclude, even though I have seen worse, I don't think it is really worth a look.
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Posted : 13 years, 8 months ago on 29 April 2011 03:49
(A review of
Apocalypto (2006))
To be honest, I’m not a huge fan of Mel Gibson’s movies as a director but, I have to admit it, all the previous movies he had directed had been intriguing and I was quite eager to check his last directing effort. Well, I have to admit that I was actually seriously impressed by the damned thing. First of all, I don't know if it is historically accurate or not and, honestly, I don't really care. I mean, the fact that the actors were unknown and spoke an ancient language help to give you this feeling that it seemed to be genuine and accurate and that was good enough for me. Furthermore, I thought the movie really looked awesome and the story kept me fascinated until the very end. Even though I knew the main character would make it at the end, I kept asking myself HOW he was going save his ass eventually. The only small critic I would have is that you wonder how this guy who was heavily wounded, exhausted, probably starving, managed to run for hours in the jungle, escaping a whole squad of warriors in perfect shape but that was definitely not a big issue. So, if you expect a documentary about the Maya civilization, it will probably let you down but if you expect an awesome action/thriller, I swear you won't be disappointed. In my opinion, it is easily Mel Gibson's best director effort and it is definitely worth a look.
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Posted : 13 years, 8 months ago on 29 April 2011 12:29
(A review of
P.S. I Love You)
I wasn't really sure what to expect from this flick but since I kept hearing some good things about this flick, I was quite eager to check it out. In fact the funny thing I gathered before watching it is that most of the viewers actually really love it or either find it rather lame and there is not many people in between. So, I was curious to see it and make my own judgment. After watching the damned thing, I can see why some people are crazy about it. I mean, Gerard Butler (probably the only romantic feature he has made so far which is actually worth a look) and Hilary Swank were both pretty good and they gave some decent performances. Obviously, the story had some nice romantic moments but, to be honest, was it enough to make it a really great movie ? I don't think so. Seriously, at the end of the day, I'll give you that, the whole concept was maybe romantic but it was also really far-fetched and, in spite of its qualities, the whole thing remained a rather predictable romantic picture filled with clichés. However, even though I wasn't really sold, I still think it is worth a look though, especially if you like the genre.
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