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All reviews - Movies (7811) - TV Shows (10)

An average film

Posted : 14 years, 1 month ago on 30 March 2011 12:38 (A review of Free Money)

I wasn’t really expecting much from this flick but since there was a pretty cool cast involved, I thought I might as well check it out. Indeed, with such a cast (Marlon Brando, Donald Sutherland, Charlie Sheen, Thomas Haden Church, Mira Sorvino, Martin Sheen, David Arquette,...), there was definitely some potential to deliver something pretty neat but unfortunately, the end-result turned out to pretty disappointing, I’m afraid.  I mean, sure, there were , here and there a few good jokes but the whole thing was eventually rather lame. The saddest thing was to see the great Brando in yet another turkey. Indeed, after almost 10 years, he finally made a come-back with ‘A Dry White Season’ (which I still haven’t watched at this point) and, after this movie, he would make 7 other movies before passing away but almost all these movies turned out to be terribly weak. Indeed, this movie was probably the weakest one he made towards the end of his career, just behind ‘The Island of Dr. Moreau’ which was arguably the worst movie ever made by this great actor. Anyway, to conclude, this movie was really weak and I think you should just avoid it, even if you are a big fan of Brando’s work. 



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A good movie

Posted : 14 years, 1 month ago on 29 March 2011 08:00 (A review of Winged Creatures)

Since this movie had some rather poor ratings, I wasn’t expecting much from the damned thing but since there was a pretty cool cast involved, I thought I might as well give it a try. Well, to be honest, I was actually positively surprised and I thought it was pretty good. Indeed, this movie was basically some typical hyperlink tale, mixing several tales making sure that all these tales are coming together at the end. Personally, I always had a weak spot for this genre and I thought that this story was rather intense and quite heartbreaking. As I mentioned, there is a very interesting cast ([Link removed - login to see][Link removed - login to see][Link removed - login to see]Forest Whitaker, Guy Pearce, Dakota Fanning, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Embeth Davidtz, Jackie Earle Haley, Jennifer Hudson, ...) and they all gave some good performances. In fact, concerning Kate Beckinsale, even though she has always been lovely to look at, she also always ends up in some rather underwhelming movies but this feature was definitely an exception. Concerning the director Rowan Woods, after ‘Little Fish’, it was another decent directing effort but, unfortunately, he would spend the rest of his career working on some rather obscure TV-shows. Anyway, to conclude, even though this movie wasn’t really a masterpiece, I thought it was a decent drama and I think it is actually definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.



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An old classic

Posted : 14 years, 1 month ago on 28 March 2011 04:53 (A review of Brute Force)

Honestly, I wonder how I actually ended up watching this flick. I guess I was mostly interested because Burt Lancaster was involved. Indeed, it is a rather old movie (almot 70 years old as a matter of fact) that Burt Lancaster made just at the beginning of his career. If I’m not mistaken, it was in fact his 2nd movie and it is in fact rather rare that an actor, especially back in those days, would start right away with a lead part. On the other hand, if you are awesome like Burt Lancaster, why shouldn’t you? Anyway, coming back to our main feature, I thought it was a decent film noir (Jules Dassin made several of them during the postwar period) bu even though it was certainly entertaining, I can’t say I was really blown away by the whole thing. Indeed, it must have seemed pretty badass when it was released at the end of the 40’s but, in the last 70 years, they have made many jail dramas who has left a bigger impression on me. To conclude, I think it was not bad at all and I still think it is worth a look, especially if you're interested in the old classics.


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An average movie

Posted : 14 years, 1 month ago on 28 March 2011 04:46 (A review of History of the World: Part I (1981))

Mel Brooks is basically one of these directors I was really interested in at first but after watching most of his movies (I think by now I'm only missing 3 of his movies), I came to the conclusion that I'm not really a huge fan of his work, except for 'The Producers'. Still, since I really loved the concept for this movie, my expectations were pretty high on this one. Unfortunately, once again I was rather disappointed and the whole thing really felt like a missed opportunity. I mean, sure, there were a here and there a few good jokes but the whole thing was too messy and, to be honest, I thought it was sometimes even rather lame. It was just too bad because this movie had some potential. 6 years later, Mel Brooks would come back with ‘Spaceballs’ which would turn out ot be a massive cult-classic but, to be honest, I liked it even less than this flick so I guess Mel Brooks is just not for me. Still, coming back to our main feature, even though I thought it was disappointing, I have to admit it that it was still a decent watch and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are a fan of Mel Brooks’s work.


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An average movie

Posted : 14 years, 1 month ago on 28 March 2011 04:29 (A review of The Libertine (2004))

At the time of its release, it seemed to be a rather minor effort for Johnny Depp but if you compare it to what he has been making during the last 4 years, it was actually not bad at all which is actually rather sad. Anyway, since I was still a huge Johnny Depp fan, I had to watch this movie at some point. So, sure, it was not one of his best movies but there were some pretty good things though. For example, the whole thing looked quite gorgeous and Depp was, as usual, very good. But, eventually, to be honest, I wasn't really captivated by the story. I mean, I do have a weak spot for dark characters who happens to be a little bit perverted but, after the Marquis de Sade, it all seems like a déjà-vu. Still, it is obvious that Johnny Depp had some fun playing such a dark and immoral character (Captain Jack Sparrow seems pretty much like an innocent creature compared to the Earl of Rochester). To conclude, even though it is rather obscure and not really an amazing feature, I still think worth a look though, especially if you are interested in Johnny Depp’s work.


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An average movie

Posted : 14 years, 1 month ago on 28 March 2011 04:08 (A review of Disturbia)

Honestly, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since the buzz around it was rather intriguing, I was quite eager to check it out. Apparently, many viewers were bothered that the whole thing was basically a remake of ‘Rear Window’ (a movie I finally watched in the mean time) but I didn’t really mind. Anyway, the story wasn't bad and I thought that Shia Labeouf was pretty good. Basically, LaBeouf was hand-picked by Steven Spielberg himself since he was impressed by his performance in ‘Holes’. This movie, in turn, convinced Spielberg that LaBeouf could handle the action starring roles in ‘Transformers’ and ‘Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull’. Fast forward 7 years later, and Shia LaBeouf has now gone from box-office darling to weird insecure nutjob (some might even call him an attention whore). Anyway, coming back to our main feature, I thought that the concept was great as it was a real interesting idea to have your main character being a teenager under house-arrest. Unfortunately, the end was a real let down and it pretty much ruined the movie for me. Still, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, I think it was quite enjoyable and it is definitely worth a look.


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An average movie

Posted : 14 years, 1 month ago on 28 March 2011 03:58 (A review of O)

The late Roger Ebert was my all-time favorite movie critic and 95% of the time, I agreed with him or I was able see from where he was coming from but, sometimes, for some of his reviews, we really had some different opinions. This movie is pretty good example. I mean, I really wanted to like this movie but I wasn’t able to connect with this flick at all. Indeed, back in the 90’s, there was this fad of making some modern adaptations of some plays written by Shakespeare (see also ‘Romeo + Juliet’ or ‘Hamlet’ from 2000) and, to be honest, I never cared for this phenomenom and since none of these movies became really succesfull, I guess I wasn’t the only one to feel that way. Anyway, coming back to our main feature, the whole thing just seemed way too convoluted and, in my opinion, the dialogs and the situations just didn't fit the setting at all. At least, I have to admit that Josh Harnett gave a pretty good performance but, a part from that, there was nothing much interesting to see here. To conclude, even though the whole thing had some potential, I didn’t really like it and I don’t think it is really worth a look.


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An average movie

Posted : 14 years, 1 month ago on 28 March 2011 03:51 (A review of Rush Hour 2)

It was a while since I saw this movie so I thought I should give it another shot. Well, I can't say I really enjoyed those 'Rush Hour' movies, that's for sure. I mean, I have to admit it, the first one was not bad but it was still definitely nothing great either. Eventually, since the first movie had some success, they basically repeated exactly the same formula without adding anything original at all. Even though it was rather predictable, they moved the action this time to Hong-Kong, which was actually a good idea, but, for some reasons, only half of it was shot there and, then, they moved back to the US which was rather disappointing. The other thing that bothered me was the fact that there was absolutely no consistency whatsoever concerning the Chinese characters. Indeed, sometimes, they would speak Chinese together (which made more sense) but, then, for some reasons, they would suddenly speak English to one another for no reason. At least, they finally added some nice ladies to the story (Roselyn Sanchez and Ziyi Zhang) and they were both quite charming but their characters were both seriously underwhelming. Eventually, aside from the boring story, I thought that there was also barely any chemistry between Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker this time around and I'm really amazed that this movie was such a box-office success when it was released. 


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A good movie

Posted : 14 years, 1 month ago on 28 March 2011 03:32 (A review of Zack and Miri Make a Porno)

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, even though the title and the concept were pretty awesome, eventually, the movie didn't really fulfill my expectations. I remember it very well, before this flick was released, there was a big buzz about it and some major controversy, mostly about the title. Indeed, many found it inappropriate to have the ‘P’ word in the title but I thought it was genius and a rather impressive marketing stunt. However, as usual with Kevin Smith, the whole thing turned out to be quite harmless. I mean, I have to admit that it was funny, entertaining and all but I wish it had been edgier. Above all, up until they start to shoot their porn flick, the damned thing was actually pitch-perfect and very often quite hilarious. Unfortunaly, it seems that Kevin Smith pretty much chickened out concerning the shooting of the porn flick as it turned out to be terribly tame and, above all, not really entertaining.  Anyway, apparently, Smith was really disappointed that this movie did underperform at the box-office and he thought, especially with Seth Rogen involved, that he would have had some commercial success but it wasn’t meant to be. Personally, I thought it was quite understandable. I mean, on one hand, many people would obviously avoid a movie with such a title and subject, whereas the audience who might be interested didn’t care much for it since it was so tame. Still, in spite of its flaws, I thought it was a nice ride and it is definitely some compulsory viewing for any decent Kevin Smith fan.


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An average movie

Posted : 14 years, 1 month ago on 28 March 2011 03:05 (A review of Hope Floats)

Like many other actors, Forest Whitaker decided to direct some movies as well but, unlike some of them who managed to have a pretty good career in this field, his work as a director has been rather weak so far. Indeed, his directing debut, ‘Waiting to Exhale’ was nothing really amazing but, at least, there was some potential whereas this 2nd directing effort was seriously underwhelming. First of all, I have to confess, I really like Sandra Bullock. Indeed, she is a very nice actrice and she is always cute and charming and all but, unfortunately, she always shows up in the same old romantic movies and this movie was not an exception. On top of that, the introduction was seriously awful. Indeed, I don’t think they could have found a worst way to introduce the main character and her situation and, even though the whole thing got better afterwards, it never really recovered from the damage done. Concerning Sandra Bullock, she would finally got some major recognition 10 years later with ‘The Blind Side’, a seriously overrated movie in my opinion, but I have to admit that she really impressed me in Gravity’. Anyway, coming back to our main feature, I have seen worse but I still don’t think it is really worth a look, except if you are a huge fan of Sandra Bullock.


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