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Posted : 14 years ago on 9 May 2011 12:42
(A review of Monsieur Verdoux)I'm a big fan of Charlie Chaplin so I really had to watch this flick at some point. Apparently, the film was originally meant to be directed by Orson Welles and starring Charles Chaplin, but Chaplin backed out at the last moment, saying that he had never had anyone direct him before and didn't want to start. Can you imagine this combination?!? Eventually, Chaplin directed the thing himself and regarded the film as the cleverest and most brilliant film of his career. Unfortunately for him, it was a huge flop when it was released which was not really surprising when you think about it. Indeed, Chaplin was beloved for a playing the same character for years and, suddenly, he decided to do something entirely different and, a usual, the ruthless audience wouldn't have it. Personally, even though I didn't enjoy it as much as his previous movies, I still think it was pretty good and it is now highly regarded. You can't deny that it was way ahead of its time, some kind of lugubrious dark comedy. As a result, it is much more cynical and dark than his previous work but I really enjoyed it and I will probably re-watch it some day to make up my mind about it. To conclude, it is yet again another brilliant movie by Chaplin and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in his work.
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A good movie
Posted : 14 years ago on 9 May 2011 11:55
(A review of Lords Of Dogtown)To be honest, I wasn’t sure what to expect from this flick but since it sounded quite intriguing, I was quite eager to check it out. I have noticed that this flick has a rather poor reputation, of course, it is not a masterpiece but I thought it was a really fascinating story. Later on, I have finally seen ‘Dogtown and Z-Boys’, the documentary which was the inspiration for this feature and, indeed, the doc was much better but, still, I was just hooked from the beginning until the end. Furthermore, I thought the movie was actually really well done and the actors (Emile Hirsch, Heath Ledger, Rebecca De Mornay, Nikki Reed, Sofia Vergara) were pretty good. Eventually, Heath Ledger was the only one who really received some praise but, even though he did a fine job as usual, the other actors were not bad at all either. Anyway, the main flaw was in fact, as with all sport movies, that it was rather predictable and not really original after all. Still, in spite of this fact, I thought it was actually a pretty good flick, I think it is definitely worth a look and I will re-watch it at some point since I have the DVD in my collection.
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An average movie
Posted : 14 years ago on 9 May 2011 11:33
(A review of Hideous Kinky)I wasn’t sure what to expect from this flick but since I always had a weak spot for Kate Winslet, I was really eager to check this flick. Indeed, she is an amazing actress, easily one of the best at work nowadays and I try to watch all her movies whenever I get the opportunity. She did this flick just after ‘Titanic’ and it is probably one of the most obscure movies she has made so far. As usual, Winslet was pretty good in there and the movie was rather well made but, unfortunately, the story was not really strong. Basically, it is one of those typical stories about the clueless woman who is trying to find something meaningful so she goes to some exotic country but, of course, she doesn’t find any answers. Honestly, it was hardly original, really predictable and bordeline annoying at some point. It is interesting to point out that that her following feature, ‘Holy Smoke’ directed by Jane Campion, was also another obscure feature and it had actually a rather similar plot but I thought it was actually much better. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of it flaws, it is far from being a bad movie and if you're a Kate Winslet fan, it is definitely worth a look.
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A good movie
Posted : 14 years ago on 9 May 2011 11:29
(A review of Dawn of the Dead)Since I kept hearing many good things about this movie, I was really curious to see it. Eventually, I thought it was pretty good and, in my opinion, it is probably one of the best remakes ever made. Indeed, there was a pretty good cast (it was above all a nice and welcome surprise to see Sarah Polley in a commercial feature like this one), it was visually quite impressive and the whole thing was simply really entertaining. Indeed, the whole thing was just very well done, with some good action scenes and Sarah Polley is definitely one of the most underrated actresses around and she displayed her acting skills once again with this flick. On the downside, Znyder has dropped the whole reflection on consumerism which made the original so stricking and thus the weakest point with this movie is that the story was not original and rather predictable. For Zack Snyder, it was still a really solid directing debut and the start of a rather prolific career (my favorite is, by far, ‘Watchmen’ which unfortunately didn’t get much love when it was released). To conclude, all in all, it is a really entertaining picture and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.
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An average movie
Posted : 14 years ago on 9 May 2011 11:25
(A review of White Noise)I wasn’t sure what to expect from this flick but since it was a surprise success at the box-office (probably one of the last starring Michael Keaton), I was quite eager to check it out. Eventually, I thought the whole thing was actually a terrible waste. Indeed, in my opinion, this movie had such a great potential but, at the end of the day, they completely messed it up... To be honest, I really don't believe in EVP (electronic voice phenomena) but like exorcism, ghosts and other paranormal phenomenoms, you will actually never know for sure and there was actually something fascinating about this concept. However, instead of making an interesting study about this subject, they eventually went completely over the top and displayed some really unbelievable stuff that has never actually happened to anyone confronted with EVP... Sure, you could argue that I shouldn’t take the story so seriously but, for me, it completely ruined the movie and it was too bad because it could have been way better than this. To conclude, even though the whole thing was not completely awful, I still think it was really disappointing and I don’t think it is really worth a look, expect maybe if you love the genre.
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An average movie
Posted : 14 years ago on 9 May 2011 11:17
(A review of For Your Eyes Only)The other day, I noticed something funny. Indeed, even though I always considered Roger Moore the weakest James Bond, or at least, the least interesting one, I came to realize that I actually didn't really dislike any James Bond installments involving this guy (on the other hand, none of them are among my favorites either). Anyway, coming to our main feature, I thought it was a decent James Bond flick with the usual trick and treats. To be honest, in my opinion, there was absolutely nothing really original about the plot but the action scenes were (as usual) rather spectacular and it was entertainig enough. It was also pretty neat to see a very young Carole Bouquet, quite a famous actress in France, in such a huge international blockbuster and she was definitely a pretty good Bond girl. It is interesting to point that, at the time, Steven Spielberg who was still a young upcoming director was very interested in directing a James Bond flick and he was almost chosen to direct this movie but it didn’t happen after all. Apparently, they decided to take a step back after ‘Moonraker’ which was quite far-out and they went for something a little bit more down-to-earth with some decent results. To conclude, even though I have never been a huge fan of this franchise, this was a solid installment and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.
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A classic
Posted : 14 years ago on 9 May 2011 11:12
(A review of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial)Even though I grew up watching many movies ('Indiana Jones', 'Star Wars', James Bond, Clint Eastwood, Bruce Lee,...), this flick was not one of those that I saw thousand times like many other people from my generation. I mean, I did see it back then when I was very young and even though I thought it was pretty neat, it didn't really blow me away like the other movies I mentionned earlier. Eventually, I saw it again not so long ago and it remains a pretty good flick, no more no less. In my opinion, it is a rather typical Spielberg picture, with its positive and negative aspects. The positive aspects are that it was very well done with some great shots and special effects and even though it is now almost 30 years old, it is still entertaining from the beginning to the end. Some of those scenes or the score have become just really iconic. On the other hand, the negative aspect is that it tends to be overly sentimental in my opinion, it is a very moral tale and it has a rather black and white psychology about the good guys and the bad guys. To be honest, I actually think it is more enjoyable if you watch it very young, between 8 and 13 years old, then it is definitely a great watch. Anyhow, in spite of all this, I have to admit that it remains a huge classic and it is a must see for any decent movie lover.
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A good movie
Posted : 14 years ago on 9 May 2011 09:42
(A review of Tropic Thunder)Since I kept hearing some really good things about this movie, I was quite eager to check it out. First of all, I have to admit that I really didn't like ‘Zoolander’ at all. Indeed, I thought it was completely lame and rather worthless but ‘Reality Bites’ and ‘The Cable Guy’ were both not bad at all so I thought I might give Ben Still the benefit of the doubt for this new directing effort. Well, fortunately, this flick turned out to be pretty good. Still, to be honest, I can’t say I was completely blown away by the whole thing though. The main issue I had is gthat the whole thing was just so over-the-top and I always had a hard time to care for such moronic characters. Still, even if it didn’t completely blow me away, the whole thing was still quite rather and very often really sharp. Furthermore, therewas a huge cast involved and they were quite entertaining. My favorite one would be Tom Cruise who delivered one of the best performances of his career. Seriously, it was so refreshing to have this huge star finally having fun with his image, I wish he would try more often to surprise like this. To conclude, even though it was probably not a masterpiece, it is still a really enjoyable and entertaining feature and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.
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An average movie
Posted : 14 years ago on 6 May 2011 08:50
(A review of Leningrad)Ever since Mira Sorvino won an Academy Award for her performance in ‘Mighty Aphrodite’, I always had a weak spot for this actress and, as a result, I watched many obscure movies just because she was involved. This movie is perfect example. To be honest, I really had no idea what to expect from the damned thing but, I have to admit it, the introduction was actually pretty good. Indeed, it was a really efficient way to put the viewers immediately in the horror of war and the damned thing was just very well done. However, instead of focusing on the hardship of the people living in Leningrad, they introduced this foreigner who became eventually the main character. Why did they think that a foreigner would be more interesting?!? In fact, it is a gimmick used in many movies. Indeed, even though the action is taking in some foreign country, they still choose to focus on some Western character because, I suppose, they think it would be easier for the Western audience to identify with this character. Well, it is usually a worthless gimmick and, on top of that, in this case, to make things worse, Mira Sorvino's performance was rather weak which didn't help at all. It is too bad but the whole thing really had some potential with some amazing historical background but, at the end of the day, it was pretty much just a weak movie about WWII.
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An average movie
Posted : 14 years ago on 6 May 2011 05:06
(A review of House of Sand and Fog)Since I have always had a weak spot for Jennifer Connelly and Ben Kingsley, I was quite eager to check this flick. Eventually, there were so many good things in this movie. First of all, Jennifer Connelly and Ben Kingsley were both quite awesome and they gave some one of their best performances. The movie was also very well directed and, to be honest, it is actually a really bleak movie but it perfectly suits the plot. So, those were some fine ingreditens and it all sounded like a great picture but it wasn't completely convincinving eventually. First of all, Ron Eldard is not a great actor and it didn't help that his character was rather annoying. But that was actually a small issue, the biggest problem, in my opinion, was that they were all fighting for a house but why exactly? Basically, they have this argument to make sure that there is a plot for this movie, otherwise there would be no story to tell... I thought it was quite obvious at the end (which I won't spoil). Anyway, in spite of this flaws, I still think it is an interesting flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.
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