
Posted : 14 years, 5 months ago on 27 January 2011 12:23
(A review of
Once Upon a Time in the West)
It had been a while since the last time I saw this flick so I thought it was definitely time for a re-watch. And, of course, it was pretty awesome. To be honest, 'The Good, the Bad and the Ugly' remains, hands down, my favorite Western directed by Sergio Leone but this one was very good as well. Indeed, the directing, the acting, the music, everything was quite amazing. Back in those days, it was pretty shocking to see the great Henry Fonda, who always played the righteous man, portray this time a cold heartless SOB. I mean, if I recall correctly it, he even shots a kid in his very first scene. It was also pretty neat to see Charles Bronson in a decent movie for once. Apparently, at the time, Sergio Leone actually was done making Westerns and wanted to move on towards something else but then when he was given the biggest budget he ever had and the opportunity to work with Henry Fonda, he reconsidered and created arguably one of the best Westerns ever made. Personally, even though I did like it very much, the story didn't grab me as much as 'The Good, the Bad and the Ugly' but it was still pretty spellbinding. To conclude, it is a classic and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

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Posted : 14 years, 5 months ago on 27 January 2011 08:57
(A review of
To Be or Not to Be (1942))
The main reason why I wanted to watch this flick was because it was included in the list ā1001 Movies You Must See Before You Dieā. To be honest, usually, even though I have a lot of respect for such old classic comedies, I find most of them rather dated and they never really blow me away (a notable exception would be the greatest masterpieces directed by Charles Chaplin which are just amazing and hilarious). This movie was however an exception and I seriously enjoyed it a lot. First of all, the whole thing was actually slightly weird as the makers tried to combined seamlessly a comedy and a thriller. It was a really tricky mix but I was really amazed about how well it worked. Indeed, as a result, half of the time, I was laughing my ass off and, the rest of time, I was actually wondering if the characters were actually going to make it. The whole thing is even more impressive when you think that it was made in the middle of WWII and released just a few months after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Anyway, to conclude, even though I have usually a hard time to care about such old comedies, I thought this one was very good and it is definitely worth a look.Ā

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Posted : 14 years, 5 months ago on 26 January 2011 12:12
(A review of
Bringing Out the Dead)
In my opinion, it is easily the most underrated movie directed by Martin Scorsese. Indeed, when it was released, it was barely noticed and didn't get much love and even nowadays it is usually considered as one of Scorsese's minor efforts. Personally, I do think it is actually a very good flick and it featured one of those great weird performances by Nicolas Cage. You know the Cage rule, right? For every 10 movies, he will make 9 terribly bad flicks and the last one will be great, fortunately this movie was one of the few great ones. Furthermore, I thought that there was a great dark mood and it made the whole thing rather spelbinding to watch. Finally, I really loved the idea of a paramedic who just starts to losing it because he has some personal issues but also because his work is just terribly depressing. I mean, paramedics are always shown as some kind of perfect righteous heroes (I'm sure many paramedics fit this description though) and I thought it was really refreshing to see one who was a real basket case. To conclude, I really loved this flick, it is totally underrated and definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Scorsese's work.

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Posted : 14 years, 5 months ago on 26 January 2011 10:14
(A review of
Ripley Under Ground)
To be honest, I wonder how I actually ended up watching this flick but, I guess, since I have weak spot for this director and since there was a interesting good cast involved, I thought I might as well give it a try. First of all, I really like those Ripley movies, in fact, I have seen all of them except for āPlein Soleilā which is too bad because it seems to be the best of the bunch. Anyway, this time, the story was rather preposterous and over-the-top but I thought it was still quite entertaining. Indeed, the directing was decent enough and all the actors involved (especially Barry Piper) gave some good performances. I especially liked the tone of the movie which was some kind of a comical dark satire and I also enjoyed the nice chemistry between Barry Piper and Ā the lovely Jacinda Barrett (by the way, what the hell happened to her?!? By now, I have seen pretty much all her movies but it has been a while since she has done anything really interesting). Anyway, to conclude, even though it was nothing really ground-breaking, it turned out to be an entertaining thriller and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.Ā

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Posted : 14 years, 5 months ago on 25 January 2011 07:48
(A review of
Catch and Release)
I wasn't expecting much from this flick but since there was a nice cast, I thought I should check it out anyway. Eventually, I must admit that I was actually positively surprised by the damned thing. Indeed, even though I'm a sucker for romantic comedies, most of them are just really disappointing but this one turned out to be a nice surprise. I mean, there was definitely enough annoying/lame/weird stuff in this movie but, somehow, Ā I still liked it anyway. First of all, the Ā cast involved (Jennifer Garner, Timothy Olyphant, Kevin Smith, Juliette Lewis) delivered some solid performances, especially Kevin Smith who just blew me away. Indeed, I thought he was just great in this flick. By now, I have watched all his movies and even though not everything he did was great, I'm still a fan. Anyway, in this movie, every time he was on the screen, I was just laughing my ass off. Concerning Jennifer Garner, this would be the last interesting lead part she would have and, during the next 10 years, she would be mostly known for first being married to Ben Affleck and then for divorcing him. Anyway, to conclude, even though it was nothing mind-blowing whatsoever, I thought it was a decent and entertaining romantic comedy (something rare nowadays...) and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

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Posted : 14 years, 5 months ago on 24 January 2011 12:08
(A review of
Rogue)
I wasnāt expecting much from this flick but since I have a weak spot for Sam Worthington and Radha Mitchell, Ā I thought I might as well check it out. Obviously, you shouldnāt expect a masterpiece from a movie dealing with a giant crocodile but, to be honest, I thought it was actually not bad at all and actually rather well done. I mean, sure, the ending was really over the top but it belongs to the genre and it didnāt really bother me so much. I thought it was above all pretty neat Ā to see Sam Worthington before he became famous with āTerminator Salvationā, āClash of the Titansā and, of course āAvatarā. The guy really had some charisma, even in such a generic movie and I thought he might become pretty big but, nowadays, he is mostly focusing one some rather obscure features. Concerning Greg Mclean, since he impressed me by making such a solid feature from a rather lame concept, I watched as well āWolf Creekā, his directing debut, but I thought it was rather disappointing after all. Anyway, coming back to our main feature, even though it was nothing mind-blowing whatsoever, I thought it was a well made and entertaining horror-thriller and it is definitely worth a look especially if you like this genre.

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Posted : 14 years, 5 months ago on 24 January 2011 10:55
(A review of
Welcome to Mooseport)
To be honest, I wasnāt expecting much from this flick but since it was the last movie starring Gene Hackman, I thought I might as well check it out. Oh my God... Ā Eventually, it turned out to be even more underwhelming than I expected. For a while, I was hoping that Hackman would Ā at least make another movie because it would be otherwise a terrible way to finish such a brilliant career but, in 2008, he announced his retirement from acting. I mean, basically, it is one of these comedies with a really lame concept, so, right from the beginning, it was rather hopeless. In this case, it was even worse since this concept was also poorly developed. Finally, the last draw was to have Ray Romano to play the lead. Romano is basically one of these supposedly funny guys but I never understood what was so appealing about his gimmick. As usual, it shows that Hollywood still doesnāt know how to properly handle a political satire as the whole thing should have been much darker to become slightly more interesting. Anyway, to conclude, I think I have been actually rather generous with my rating here, it was a very weak comedy and I donāt think it is worth a look whatsoever.

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Posted : 14 years, 5 months ago on 23 January 2011 02:08
(A review of
Grindhouse)
At first, I wasn't really sure what to expect from this flick. Indeed, it really seemed to be some kind of vanity project for Tarantino and Rodriguez. Seriously, except for them, was there seriously an audience expecting an homage to those 70's exploitation flicks? I doubt it. Anyway, it was a flop, Tarantino's first flop in fact, and the whole thing was never released theatrically except in North America. As a result, I had been waiting for 3 years to finally see this movie as the original 'Grindhouse' was literally banned in Europe so my expectations were pretty high. To start with, I really liked 'Planet Terror'. What a ridiculous, outrageous, preposterous picture! I had a grin on my face during the whole thing, thinking 'how could they get away with this and this and this...'. Then, the trailers were in the same spirit and they were very enjoyable as well. Then I was hopping for a nice home run with 'Death Proof'. But, unfortunately, it just didn't happen... I did like the car crash and the car chase but I guess I'm getting more and more fed up with Tarantino's "pointless but so cool" dialogues... I mean, in 'Pulp Fiction' and 'Reservoir Dogs', those dialogues were some of the best ever but, at this point, they have become just really pointless... On top of that, if you make a short movie for an anthology, don't split it into 2 separate stories, for crying out loud!!! Indeed, instead of one fully fledged story like in 'Planet Terror', we ended up with 2 half-baked tales. Of course, this is a personal opinion and I still think that 'Death Proof' was a decent movie and I can't deny that the guy still can direct a movie (Tarantino has said himself that it was his weakest movie so far though). To conclude, the whole thing was a bold and daring project and without Quentin Tarantino's misfire, it could have been really awesome. Still, I thought it was a fun flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Tarantino's and Rodriguez's work.

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Posted : 14 years, 5 months ago on 21 January 2011 08:18
(A review of
The Tourist)
I already saw this movie (In fact, I even saw it in the movie theater when it was released) but, since it was a while back, I thought I might as well check it out again. In fact, I remember very well when this movie was coming out and there was a huge buzz about the damned thing which was quite understandable. Indeed, it was starring Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie who were, back in those days, the 2 biggest movie stars in the world and it was directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck whose previous movie, āDas Leben der Anderenā, was heralded as one of the best movies released during the last 10 years. However, eventually, it was rather poorly received, the critics were not really positive and, indeed, Iām afraid I would have to agree with them. At least, even though it was nothing amazing, I thought it was a decent watch above all thanks to Johnny Depp who was still able to provide an enjoyable performance back in those days. However, I was still amazed by how sleep inducing the whole thing was, especially when you rewatch it. Indeed, it was nothing original whatsoever and, honestly, I thought that the story was actually rather boring. On top of that, none of the characters was developed whatsoever but, even worse, none of them was really entertaining and/or interesting. Since then, both Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie made more headlines about their respective divorces then for their acting work. Jolie doesnāt act much these days and she had actually the ambition to become a director but it didnāt exactly really work out after all. For Depp, the situation is even worse, his behavior has been increasingly erratic, he got involved in many misguided lawsuits and some say that this acting career might be now finished which would be a shame. Anyway, coming back to our main feature, to conclude, I guess the damned thing was mildly entertaining but this movie was still probably one of the most disappointing released in 2010.

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Posted : 14 years, 5 months ago on 21 January 2011 06:50
(A review of
The Night Before)
Nowadays, I have HBO, Netflix and even Popcorn to watch movies but, not so long ago, I used to buy some very cheap DVDs at some various 2nd hand shops and I would rather often end up watching some rather obscure movies with some really dubious qualities. Well, this movie is a perfect example and, to be honest, I had some really low expectations and I thought it would be really terrible. Eventually, to my surprise, Ā I though Ā it was actually not bad at all. Basically, it is one of these typical goofy-cheesy movies that they used to make in the 80's and, usually, I donāt care at all about this genre but, for some reason, I thought that this one was actually fairly entertaining. In fact, I thought it was rather interesting to see how similar āThe Hangoverā was to this movie. Another neat thing was to see a very young Lori Loughlin who was probably a major childhood crush when I used to watch her in āFull Houseā when I was a kid. To conclude, against my expectations, even if it was still nothing really amazing, it was actually a decent watch and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.Ā

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