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Posted : 14 years ago on 28 January 2011 08:13
(A review of Romy and Michele's High School Reunion)To be honest, I wasn't expecting much from this movie but since I have a weak spot for Mira Sorvino, I thought I might as well check it out. I thought the whole thing looked really lame but since I heard some good things about this movie, I was rather curious about the damned thing. Eventually, it is not very often that I came across such a film for which I didnāt see the appeal at all. I mean, sure, I have seen my share of bad movies but this one was supposed to be decent but, in my opinion, it was just really average and very forgettable. Basically, the main issue was that both main characters were pretty irritating and, therefore, I thought it was really difficult to care about those girls and what they were going through. I guess it was all supposed to be quirky and all but the whole thing just got on my nerves. Apparently, during the production, Lisa Kudrow and Mira Sorvino both made fun of the fact that they respectively had a degree from Vassar College and Harvard University but I find it rather sad that such supposedly smart women would find the need to play such vapid girls. Anyway, to conclude, I just really didnāt connect at all with this flick and I donāt think it is worth a look.
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A great classic
Posted : 14 years ago on 28 January 2011 08:10
(A review of The Birds)Since Iām a huge fan of Alfred Hitchcock, of course, I was really eager to check this flick and I had some really high expectations. Eventually, it didnāt turn out to be one of my favorite movies from this great master. Indeed, to be honest, I do think that the concept was a little bit limited preventing this movie from being truly great but it was still pretty awesome and it completely deserves its stellar reputation. Nowadays, one thing that really bores me is that, in thriller or horror movies, they spend so much time trying to rationalize the most preposterous things (the best example I can think of is āThe Ringā remake starring Naomi Watts). The greatness of Hitchcock, in this movie, was to skip all this boring stuff and to only focus on what was really important which is basically āhow do people would react with such circumstances?ā. As a result, you get such a spellbinding ominous mood and this awesome effect would have been completely ruined if they would have given any kind of explanation about what the hell was actually going on. To conclude, I really loved the damned thing, it is a great classic and it is pretty much a must-see, especially if you are interested in Alfred Hitchcockās work.
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An average movie
Posted : 14 years ago on 27 January 2011 02:45
(A review of Rare Birds)Once again, it was another really obscure feature that barely anyone here on Listal has seen so far (I was only the 2nd Listal member who has rated the damned thing). To be honest, I had no idea what to expect from this flick but since I have a weak spot for William Hurt, I thought I might as well give it a try. Concerning Hurt, I always wonder what actually happened to the guy. I mean, throughout the 80ās, he was easily one of the most heralded actors but it all stopped somehow at the beginning of the 90ās. As a result, he usually shows up nowadays in such really obscure features like this one. To be honest, I thought it was not bad, William Hurt was pretty good in this movie but the story was not really great, Iām afraid. I think itās too bad because it had some potential. Concerning Molly Parker, she was quite charming as usual and I think she had some pretty good chemistry with William Hurt. To conclude, even though it was nothing really amazing, I thought it was still a decent watch, thanks to the actors involved, and I think it is worth a look.
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An overrated movie
Posted : 14 years ago on 27 January 2011 02:43
(A review of As It Is in Heaven)If I recall it correctly, my wife made me watched this flick. Indeed, I think it was her boss at the time who really loved the damned thing so he lent her this film on DVD. In all fairness, I have to admit that this movie was a big international success and it was even nominated for the Academy Award for the Best Foreign Language Film (it eventually lost to the much superior āMar adentroā) , so, it seemed to be pretty good. Eventually, I really liked the cast who gave some solid performances, especially Michael Nyqvist who is definitely an actor to follow, but, unfortunately, I thought that the story was really pedestrian and full of cliches. Seriously, how many times have you see this gimmick before? The stranger comes into town. He hates it and the locals think he is weird. But then, they start to get along fine and at the end, they all love each other but of course, there is some drama in between... I think I must have seen this at least 100 times before and, to be honest, even though I have to admit that it was well made, I thought the whole thing was rather boring. To conclude, itās too bad because it had some potential but it is still worth a look but there are some way better Scandinavian movies out there.
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A classic
Posted : 14 years ago on 27 January 2011 02:36
(A review of The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964))Since this movie is pretty much a classic, especially in France, I was quite eager to check it out. Anyway, I thought it was pretty awesome to see Catherine Deneuve at such a young age. Indeed, she is such a terrific actress, she was already awesome back then and the more movies I watch starring this actress, the more she fascinates me. What about the movie itself ? To be honest, even though I thought it was indeed pretty good with some nice songs, at the end of the day, it was obvious that it was not my thing. For example, all the dialogue in the film is sung and while the fan of the genre praised this choice, I always thought it was a rather tedious gimmick. Still even though I have never been a big fan of musicals, I liked this one. Indeed, I can't deny the fact that it was very well made and it definitely had some quirky qualities. Since this movie was a big critical success, a few years later, Jacques Demy would make another musical called āLes demoiselles de Rochefortā, also starring the lovely Catherine Deneuve. To conclude, even though Iām not a huge fan, it is still a classic 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 27 January 2011 02:34
(A review of Hard Rain)To be honest, I Ā wasn't really expecting much from this flick buts since I have a weak spot for Christian Slater and even more for Morgan Freeman, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, unfortunately, it turned out to be rather lame, I'm afraid. First of all, even though the concept was not bad, it was also terribly limited. The funny thing with this movie is that the story was sometimes so tedious that I kept wondering how did they manage to shoot with all this water. Was it on location or in a studio ? Anyway, it must have been a hell for all the actors involved. Recently, I saw 'The Revenant', the shooting conditions were also terribly difficult and it went on for months but the big difference was that 'The Revenant' was a huge critical success and I don't think it was really worth it to be constantly wet for such a poor end-result. The other disappointing thing was that even though it was pretty neat to see Morgan Freeman playing the bad guy, unfortunately, towards the end, they suddenly changed his status which was a really poor idea. To conclude, even though it wasnāt Ā very bad, Ā it was still an average action flick and I don't think it is really worth a look.
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An average movie
Posted : 14 years ago on 27 January 2011 02:31
(A review of The Haunting)The first time I watched this movie (I'm pretty sure it was in the movie theater when it was released), I thought it was really terrible, in fact, one of the worst movies I had seen. Eventually, I watched it again recently and I have to admit that it was actually watchable after all. Of course, the story was preposterous but the special effects were actually pretty good. On top of that, you had a good cast (Liam Neeson, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Lili Taylor, Owen Wilson) and they all did their best but the story was just terribly weak and the dialogues were really cheesy. Basically, it was a movie solely based on the special effects which were pretty good indeed but it was still rather boring to watch since they didn't spend any time or energy in creating an interesting story or some intriguing characters. For Jan de Bont, following the already disappointing āSpeed 2: Cruise Controlā, it was yet another flop and he would direct only one other movie 4 years later (āLara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Lifeā) representing one of the fatest rise and fall I have ever seen in Hollywood. Anyway, to conclude, even though it is not the worst movie ever made, it is still rather average and it is not really worth a look, even if you are fan of this genre.
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A classic from the 80
Posted : 14 years ago on 27 January 2011 02:14
(A review of Parenthood)At some point, I became interested in Steve Martin. I mean, the guy has a pretty decent reputation so I started to watch many of his movies. Eventually, I was pretty disappointedā¦ Indeed, most of his movies are hardly worth a look and some of them are even terrible garbage. He actually reminds me of Eddie Murphy, another seemingly talented comedian who completely wasted his career but, at least, for Martin, the damage has never been as bad as for Murphy. Anyway, he did make a few good movies and this flick is definitely one of the few movies with Steve Martin that I actually enjoyed.... To be honest, I was actually expecting more since I heard so many good things about it but it is always the same thing with Ron Howard. Indeed, he gets involved in some very interesting projects but always chickens out at some point and the whole thing remains safe and also really bland. Still, there was a very nice cast (Steve Martin, Mary Steenburgen, Dianne Wiest, Jason Robards, Rick Moranis, Tom Hulce, Martha Plimpton, Keanu Reeves, Joaquin Phoenix) and the characters were felt really genuine which is something always refreshing when you deal with an Hollywood production. To conclude, even though it was nothing great in my opinion, it was pretty good 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 27 January 2011 02:06
(A review of Big Business)To be honest, I didnāt expect much from this flick but, somehow, I still ended up watching it. After 3 critically acclaimed movies directed with his buddies David Zucker and Jerry Zucker (āAirplane!ā, āTop Secret!ā, āRuthless Peopleā), Jim AbrahamsĀ and the Zucker siblings decided to move forward with some individual project and, for Abrahams, this movie would be his first solo directing effort. Ā Eventually, I really had a hard time to care about the whole thing. Indeed, pretty much right from the start, after the first 5 minutes, I thought that the concept was pretty lame. Furthermore, the bad jokes during the movie didn't help much either. Finally and that would be pretty much the last nail in the coffin, I canāt say Iām a huge fan of either Bette Midler and Lily Tomlin and the characters they played were neither interesting or entertaining but, in fact, rather obnoxious. Eventually, a few years later, Jim Abrahams would go back to make some parodies with āHot Shots!ā but while it was quite successful at the box-office, I canāt say I really cared about this flick either. Anyway, to conclude, I have seen worse but the whole thing was some still really average stuff and I donāt think itās worth a look.
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A good movie
Posted : 14 years ago on 27 January 2011 02:00
(A review of Life Is a Miracle)Back in the 90's, Emir Kusturica was pretty much one of the most important directors in the world, he is even of the very few directors who managed to win twice the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. Unfortunately, we haven't heard much from him during the last 17 years, he has made only 2 obscure movies including this one and I think that's just really too bad. However, after watching this movie, I have to admit that it is not really surprising that this director has more or less disappeared into obscurity. I mean, after so many years, I was finally able to watch this flick and since I was really eager to watch it, I had some rather high expectations. Eventually, even though I definitely did like it, to be honest, it wasn't really great either. I mean, you could recognize the Kusturica style which is always pretty spellbinding to watch but, in my opinion, the story was not really dazzling like it was in āArizona Dreamā, āBlack cat white catā or āUndergroundā. To conclude, even though it was slightly disappointing, it was still an interesting feature and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Emir Kusturica's work.
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